I’ve been seeing this birch forest online for years. Every year my Facebook is littered with ads from foreigner travel groups hosting trips to this spot and I always wondered what’s the point? I grew up in Vermont and so I’ve seen no shortage of Birch trees, so I didn’t really see the appeal of a full day event. So it is it really worth traveling deep into Gangwon-do to see some trees? Short answer, yes. And if you can combine it it rafting (a 5-10 minute drive from the forest) then a hell yes.
To answer the question that might have come to mind, yes it’s an agroforestry plantation. (As a fun fact, I’m a graduate student focused on agroforestry, but I’m keeping my geeky comments to a minimum) As much as I wish Korean forests had more diversity naturally this forest was actually planted by the Korean post office decades ago in order to meet paper demands. Now its a protected area / tourism hotspot.
And it’s ACTUAL hiking. This isn’t an easy stroll. While there might not be a peak, I did 500 meter elevation gain over a distance of 9 kilometers. So its not nothing!
Hiking Courses and Views
The majority of the distance and elevation gain effort is along a dirt/rocky road that connects the entrance to the forest itself. It’s 2.7km course uphill along the road until you reach the first intersection. The map estimates that this section takes about 50 minutes.
Going straight brings you to the ‘달맞이숲’, which transitions the course from a road to a proper hiking trail. This section of the course is estimated to take 25 minutes. The course has some birch trees, but the majority of the trees continue to be those you might find in any other Korean forest. Along this trail is an adorable hut with coffee and ramen for sale. Shortly after this, you enter into the birch forest. And it’s beautiful.
With white trees in every direction it is quite a treat after years of hiking in standard Korean forests.
Continuing up the path you come to an education area which has a large open space and a variety of structures made out of the birch trees. As well as employees who do speeches in Korean talking about the forest, the trees and more generally about nature; as well as help you take pictures.
From here you have a couple small hiking options.
The Birch Tree Loop (dark blue course) – 0.9 km estimated 20 minutes – where the majority of the birch trees can be seen. The education area with the tree fort in located along this loop where the light and dark blue lines meet.
The Healing Loop (light blue) – 1.5 km estimated 30 minutes – has less people and due to the edge being a cut down forest, which explains why we saw deer along this path
Once you have finished exploring this area, then you can return back to the entrance.
When I went in the summer of 2022, there was only one of the two major walking courses open. Specifically the brown course in the above map was closed. If I was to go again even if the brown course was open I would do the red/yellow course to get to the forest. Why is that? This freaking cool mushrooms I spotted on the yellow road course!
They smelled horrific but they were the coolest mushrooms I have ever seen. I’d seen some Korean mushroom instagramers post pictures of these bad boys before, but it was my first and only time spotting them in person. A personal highlight.
After walking back down, there is a local restaurant right next to the parking lot. We headed there for lunch before going to the rafting facility. And of course I had to have the local makgeolli and mountain vegetable bibimbap.
We then got on our tour bus and traveled for 5-10 minutes to get to the rafting area. I didn’t take pictures of this part because I was worried about losing my phone to the river. Overall, I can say it was not an intense white water rafting experience, but it was a lot of fun in a casual way.
The rafting part of the trip was pre-arranged for us by the tour company. But if you want to raft here as well there are a couple of companies that share this space. The rafting camp offers an 8km course, which is a 2 hour event which according to their site is fine for anyone 7 years and older. Its 35,000원 per adult and 30,000원 for children or for groups of 30 or more.
Transportation:
Major buses leave from from multiple times a day to Injae (인제) and charge roughly 13-15,000원 each way. Once at the Inje Intercity Bus Terminal, there are booth taxi and bus options. It’s roughly a 15 minute ride by taxi or by bus. But the bus had limited times its in operation. Since bus schedules and times are subject to change, instead of me detailing the current status which could likely change and ruin your trip I would encourage you to search for the bus stop in 원대리 마을회관, which is the middle of Wondaeri. The birch forest is another 10 minute walk. I would recommend going with a tour or by car if possible since the combine prices of the tickets will add up quickly (26,000 per person for the bus round trip, and then a 20,000 taxi bill each way). Joining a trip at 46,000원 per person or less is money saving, and personally if its slightly more I think it’s worth the lack of stress.
For nicely made maps of all the buses/public transportation routes and further public transportation information, I would encourage you to check out this great article on the birch forest
Hours and Dates:
May – October: 9:00 – 18:00 ( Last entry at 15:00)
Mid-December – Mid-March: 9:00 – 17:00 (Last entry at 14:00)
Happy Trekking Everybody!
