Taking in the beauty and history of Seoul

The East Section of Seoul CIty Wall: Naksan Section

March 17th, 2018 - St. Patrick's Day

Maybe it's because of all the mountains I'm constantly surrounded by, maybe it's the idea of losing weight or maybe it's the idea of being alone on a walk... whatever the reason, I seem to always find myself on a hike when I take the trip to Seoul. Hiking is acting as a great past time for me on the weekends since I can escape from the busy bustling life of a city (not that I live in a city in South Korea).

Hiking also provides me with some much needed alone time... I do most of my deep thinkings by myself (away from my friends and just people in general). There is no one to judge you if you decide to sit on a rock and wonder about life, there is no one to disturb your thoughts... To me, hiking is a great way for me to escape from the stresses within my life.




Since the weather is getting warmer in South Korea, I've been getting anxious since I can finally start completing my bucket list again (most of the places require warm weather since it would be too ugly in the winter :P).

So on Friday night, I booked a last minute accommodation for Saturday night and started another weekend trek the following morning.

"한양도성, aka Seoul city wall trail, is a collection of trails that follow the old fortress from back in the days. The wall follows the ridges of the four mountains that surround the center of Seoul and has been constantly managed since its initial construction in 1396. The wall measure between 5 - 8m high and it is 18.6 km in length and it bears witness to the role played by a city wall in the life of a capital city - still sustained in modern-day Seoul." - Seoul Metropolitan Government.

I've wanted to do this hike ever since November (when I obtained a stamp tour map for the wall)! The Seoul city wall stamp tour is both a map and stamp collector. It specifically outlines which stamps are needed and where each of the stamps is. At the bottom, if you look closely, it says that "after collecting all stamps at each stamp point, you can get a commemorative badge". [This was the sole reason of why I wanted to finish this 18km hike.]

Since I booked a guesthouse near Sungkyukwan University, I started my hike/walk on the "Seoul city wall" (한양도성) at Hansung University station Exit 5. Coming out of the station, I walked towards Hyehwamun (which is located 5 minutes away from the station). Walking the city wall trail is actually quite easy since all you need to do is follow the old fortress! Of course, there are sections of the wall that is demolished because of the city but it is quite easy to find the way to connect and there are directions at each of the sections!

The Start of my hike!

Following the trail, you would need to walk some steep sections of stairs and hills in order to reach the Malbawi Information Center (which houses the first stamp I need: The sukjeongmun stamp). From Hyehwamun Gate to Changuimun Gate, it is considered to be the Mt. Baegaksan Trail.

Steep stairs!!

**Pleast note that if you want to continue on from Malbawi Information center, you would need to bring your passport/ARC and apply for a permission badge in order to enter. This is to ensure that they know the people going into the trail and also since this trail is directly behind the blue house of Korea, it is also a security measure for protecting the president.

My security Tag!

To reach Malbawi Information Center, you would need to go on a set of wooden stairs (as seen above). It's not easy but it was definitely worth it... also, if you think this is the only set of stair: you could not have been more wrong, unfortunately.

**The Malbawi Information Center stamp is the most important stamp! (If you are trying to complete the stamp tour and receive a badge). When they were checking my map, they only double checked the Malbawi Stamp!

A panorama view of Seoul after ascending the set of stairs.

With the security tag, you would need to wear it all times when you are within the security area section of Mt. Bugaksan. Please note, you would need to depart at either point of the security area by 2pm in order to be let in. Another interesting thing to note would be that photography is only allowed in designated areas, towards certain directions so don't get into trouble!

It was so hard and yet I was only 293m above sea level.

See what did I tell you: The first flight of stairs was not the last of it.

After descending from the wonderful Mt. Bugaksan, I handed in my security tag at the Changuimun Information Center. Time to continue on the journey: this time, Inwangsan.

Since this section of the fortress wall was not accessible, I was actually lost... Thank goodness there were two police officers (my thought: police officers in Seoul can all speak some English) passing by, so I asked for directions. One of them spoke perfect English and he told me to follow him so he can bring me to the beginning of the Inwangsan trail. [Moral of the story: when lost, as a police officer].

Inwangsan stands at 339m above sea level: so this means - stairs, yup lots of uphills and stairs again. To be honest, at this point, the view was getting quite repetitive haha - it's just interesting to be seeing Seoul from different directions.

Inwangsan was actually a more challenging hike than Mt. Bugaksan because the entire trail was actually built on a huge rock. Yup, this turned into climbing rather than hiking... I don't even know what to say anymore.

another set of stairs

 However, even though Inwangsan was quite challenging, the view was definitely worth it. The view is similar to that of Bugaksan but the lack of trees on Inwangsan made the view that much better.

You can clearly see N.Seoul Tower

The fortress wall on Inwangsan.

panorama shot of Seoul from Inwangsan.

After descending from Inwangsan, this is where it gets tricky since most of the fortress wall is gone. But, if you follow the general direction, you will find the next section again!

Since the view was getting repetitive and the sun was setting, I just gave up on taking pictures and just aimed at finishing the hike as soon as possible (My legs were jelly after this hike).

My last stamp of the city wall tour is at Heunginjimun Gate, but since I arrived after 4pm... I could not exchange my stamps for the actual badge so I had to come back the next morning.

Badge received, Bucketlist checked!

I would recommend this hike to anyone looking to see Seoul from a higher ground. I would recommend checking the air quality first though because if the air quality sucks, you can't see much even if you are on the mountain.

For those of you who would like to complete this hike: You can start off your hike at various entry points. However, I recommend starting at Hyehwamun since I realized that I have gotten most of the steep parts of the hike out of the way when I had a lot of energy!

我的小手账~