During the Chuseok holiday break of 2020, I conquered three hikes in this national park and I couldn’t recommend it more!

Woraksan is centrally located between Daegu and Seoul, and close to the medium sized city of Chungju. Due to its location it’s only accessible by bus or car, with no direct line of transport by rail. While Chungju is the major transportation center, I stayed and would recommend staying in Suanbo (수안보) which is a well-funded and maintained tourist town.

Jump to:

(1)Yeongbong Peak/영봉 Hike (main hike in Woraksan)

(2) Transportation to Woraksan

(3) Mansubong/만수봉 and Poamsan /포암산 Hike

(4) Bukbawisan/북바위산 Hike

(5) Accommodations: Staying in Suanbo

There are three main hikes in Woraksan, a must see tourist spot (alligator peak) and additional hiking options. Furthermore, this area has a number of food specialities and spots in Suanbo worth noting.

Yeongbong Peak/영봉

The Yeongbong peak is the #1 must see spot of this national park and its a part of the Black Yak 100 mountain challenge. I would say this hike is on par with Seoraksan’s Dinosaur Ridge when it comes to scary drop offs and intensity. Its not as long as the Seoraksan hike and thus easier but I wouldn’t recommend this hike to newer hikers. But still a must see spot. I’ve seen this hike online in the winter and it looks great with snow on the ground as well as during summer.

There are three starting points for this hike, so there are a number of different ways you can do it.

The most beautiful route: from Deoduk (a) to the peak and then ending at the (c) Bodeogam temple.

The most convenient route: from (a) Deodok to the peak and back (great for people relying on one car or the bus).

• When ascending the best forward views are seen during the Deoduk route
• The (c) Bodeogam temple to peak route has three smaller peaks overlook the Chungju lake – I consider this the most beautiful section of the hike especially when descending so you can constantly see the lake.
• * * THE PROBLEM * * The buses from Budeogam are nearly non-existent. According to Kakao maps they exist but I ended up waiting 2 hours at various points and I was forced to walk 12km around the road to reach the Songgye valley in order to find a local taxi number. (Kakao taxi doesn’t work here) You can arrange with a taxi company to pick you up from the end point ahead of time – but if you are staying in Suanbo the taxi will be 40,000won+ and significantly more if in Chungju.
• My dream trip: with two cars, park one at the Budeogam end point then start at Deoduk.

Starting from Deoduk area, there are a number restaurants, a small shop for last minute needs and a coffee shop – which was sadly not open during Chuseok much to my coffee addiction’s disappointment. After about 1km ish of required road walking you reach the average looking temple and the start of the hike.

It’s 4.9km to reach the summit area. I spent the hike up listening to the first presidential debate and video calling my mom to show her the views. The first 2/5s of the trail are fairly reasonable, the grade isn’t too high.

Starting at about 1/2 mark, the trail turns into an intense steep trek which luckily transitioned into more stair based hiking than just the sheer rocky face.

The views were very beautiful once the stair portion starts.

Theres a bit of ridge hiking after a steep climb so a lot of ground is covered this way. Then the steepness picks up again.

Some of the ridge sections have covered walkways that gave me flashbacks to Jurassic Park III’s pterodactyl scene (I did need to google how to spell the dinosaur name).

The last 100 meters or so, is probably intense for people with acrophobia, the peak is just a large rock that stairs have been built into the side of. Looking downward made me less than thrilled to be there. It got especially worse when descending after summiting. I kept thinking that if I was to trip while walking down nothing would stop me as I flip over the railing. Fun thoughts haha.

It was the first weekend of October so I tried to distract myself by marveling at how nice the leaves are near the top.

A little bit of orange can be seen – very beautiful.

The summit has two sections- a viewing area and the actually peak/ name rock area. Radically different views can be scene from either side.

After summiting, the route to (c) Bodeogam Temple has a lot of elevation change. There are 3 middle peaks listed but I think 4 or 5 is more accurate. There is a lot of descending to just ascend 10 minutes later so its more difficult as a descent than say just turning around and descending by way of (a) Deokju. But it’s by far the most beautiful section of the hike, as the various peaks are visible with the lake and other mountains in the background.

Looking back after starting the hike, reveals the ridge in its full splendor.

The first of the three additional peaks are visible with the Chungju lake in the background

Most of the descending parts of the trail are stairs while the climbs are rougher mixes of dirt and rocks.

The bridge connecting the two half of this peak can be seen.

There is no shortage of views on the descent.

The final peak before a straight drop to the bottom has a nice viewing area, perfect for a snack break.

The bottom of the trail has a small bathroom and a tiny temple. A 1km walk will bring you through a small town to the main road.

Transportation

The buses at go into Woraksan National Park all start in Chungju. There are essentially two official buses that enter the park – they different in how far they go into the park. (I say ‘official’ because there are buses that come that aren’t listed as well). They both have a there and back route type and start/end in Chungju. Therefore, staying in Suanbo will not get you to the mountain any quicker if you are relying on bus when compared to staying in Chungju.

Bus 246: this bus goes to the Songgye valley (the start B location), it is the bus that can bring you to any of the hikes. The turn around area has the largest selection of restaurant within the park (Suanbo is not considered to be in the park).

Bus 245: Goes as far as Mireukri (미륵리). This end point is one of the starting points of the Mansubong hike.

This is the official bus time schedule of all the buses that pass through Suanbong, if you study it you can determine the Chungju departure and arrival times, when it reaches Suanbo, when it reaches its turn around point ect. Very helpful in scheduling you trip regardless of if you are staying in Suanbo or Chungju. The last bus in the national park departs Songgye at 5:35pm and first bus passes Suanbo at 6:40am (with the second at 8am).

I would also like to recommend this taxi company. The gentleman was very fair, good response time – used the meter! My Korean friend was worried I might get ripped off because I was calling after all the buses finished running so a taxi was my only option, but it was all very professional.

Mansubong/만수봉

I’m a little bit stubborn – I often times want to do the full trail or the longest option thinking I might discover something that most people don’t. Well, I discovered it just best to do a direct route to the main peak of Mansubong and don’t waste you time with the full loop.

If you decide to do the loop hike, the starting place is the end point of the shorter distance bus (bus 245) so there are more departure times. This hike starts with a 1.8km ‘green trail’ perfect for families with children or elderly people. It’s completely covered in fun information signs and places to rest. It’s more of a walk than a hike.

You then reach the hill and begin the hike. Which is insanely difficult when compared to most other Korean hikes. It might be the single most intense 1km I’ve done on a mountain in Korea. The trail is marked by red flags, is fairly sun exposed and has a very intense grade which isn’t lessened too much by the switch backs that occur ever 3 meters.

The trail then transitions into stairs and shortly afterwards you reach the summit. There are views on the ascent but I’m not sure they are worth the effort.

After 1.6km you reach the first summit.

After the first summit, it’s 4.5km until Mansubong. It looks like a ridge hike on the map but there is a significant descent and ascend required between these two points. With the low point at 650m, a 300 meter descent from the first peak.

The first summit area doesn’t have a view nor does the next 4.5km to the next summit (Mansubong). There are some views that peak out between trees but they aren’t frequent.

The only place with a viewing area is the Mansubong summit area. That view is unbelievably beautiful – it makes the hike worth doing. I just would do it directly next time.

At the peak there is a railed off viewing area. I had a lot of fun setting up camera and taking photos with my DSRL through my phone here.

During the descent you hike along side the mountain so there are near constant views through trees and even a large viewing area which you reach after a 1km. The mountains create a nice breeze.

The trail is a bit steep (like maybe your knees hurt because of the larger drops between steps) but grade of the hike in manageable.

The hike ends with at an official park service building that has some detailed maps worth checking out. Across the street is a restaurant complex and place for parking.

Bus Issues in the Park

Taking the bus is a bit complicated. The bus stops are staggered, so the ones on the same side of the road are 4km+ apart but not across the street from each other. So every 2km ish there is a bus stop but its on the opposite side of the road each time. If you are heading toward Chungju/Suanbo as a finally destination, walk in the opposite direction to reach the closest bus stop heading in that direction. If you walk toward Suanbo it will be 4.5km until you will reach an applicable bus stop if you are at the Mansubong ending area.

Additionally the bus drivers have no imagination so being clever with the buses isn’t really an option.

Knowing that the buses double back on the same road and the turn around point (Songgye) was close, I tried to get on the bus going toward Songgye to ride it to the end and then take it back. Simple? Wrong.

The bus driver literally closed the bus door in my face when he asked where I was going – he wasn’t letting me on without knowing and when I indicated my goal was in the opposite direction he stopped listening to me explain that I wanted to ride it there and then back. Even though I was speaking in Korean well, he just assumed I didn’t understand what I was talking about and I had to literally run the 2.6km to reach a bus stop on the correct side of the road to catch him on the way back – I made it with only a couple minutes to spare.

Therefore, I would highly recommend just doing the walking to begin with rather than thinking that you can be logical about solving the problem. Clever thinking has no place here.

Bukbawisan/북바위산

This hike can be done as a line (starting and ending at different points). I actually hike it this way, but I don’t recommend it. This hike was extremely beautiful so if you have the time I would recommend it, but I would recommend starting and ending at Deokju/덕주 area (near to the (a) point of the Yeongbong hike). The ‘there and back’ route is 6km and is quite steep but is well constructed and extremely beautiful with large rock faces.

The other side of the mountain is nothing to report, I didn’t take a single photo with my DSRL camera until the peak and then I was constantly clicking on the way down. So best to just go there and back.

If you decide to do the line route, the starting point has a small restaurant rest area and about 20 meters into the trail is an unexpectedly nice bathroom – complete with fake bamboo features (ohh la la).

Staying in Suanbo/수안보

Suanbo is the most convenient place to stay while hiking Woraksan – with lots of options of places at fairly reasonable rates to choose from.

Booking.com

Besides bing convenient and well connected by public transportation, I would recommend staying in this small town for a couple reasons.

• The food is quite good and has specialities not as easily found as in Chungju

Specifically quail and various fancy mountain mushrooms. I was traveling alone so because of servicing size minimums I couldn’t try everything I wanted to, but what I did try was delicious.

• The large CU for night time beer drinking

• The river area and its night time atmosphere

• The adorable 30 minute bug hike in town

The town has a bug theme. They have a bug museum and this short hike has various bug statues – which were cute. They light the top area up at night – can be seen from the main downtown area.