Walk the walls of suwon…

The city of Suwon, just south of Seoul, was formerly enclosed in stone walls. It retains  its walls and gates, and you can walk them. Suwon is only an hour outside of Seoul, an easy excursion by subway or train. It makes for a great half-day break from Seoul, too.

Here at WoWasis, we decided to take the Seoul Metro to get there. 1000 won, and it took an hour. It’s on the Number One line, which you can catch from Seoul Station, or anywhere on the line. You have to transfer off the metro at Guro, then change to another train, destination Sinchang. Suwon is 14 stops later after you board. When you arrive at Suwon’s train station, take exit 5, then walk a few meters to the tourist information office. There, they’ll give you a slip f paper with taxi directions in Hangeul (Korean) to the Hwaseong Palace on one side, then back to the train station on the other side.

… and visit Suwon’s majestic palace

Start by visiting the palace. Built in 1789, the Hwaseong Haenggung palace was the home of King Jeongio, and much of it has been restored, after suffering extensive damage during Japanese occupation.  Still being restored, the nicest elements are at the rear, toward the mountain (don’t miss the Naknamheon and the Unhangak).  At 11 am every Tuesday through Sunday, march through Novemeber, there’s a wonderful show depicting how arms of the day were used to fight enemies. It’s well worth seeing, and 20 or so costumed individuals participate.

After seeing the palace, take the trail behind it uphill to the Mirohanjeong lookout tower, which abuts the walls. It’s roughly 300 meters, and the toughest part of the walk. Once you get to the top, there’s very little climbing at the wall level. From the lookout tower, you can take the wall trail east, which eventually gets you to the eastern gate (Janganmun), or west, which will return you to the Paldalmun gate, adjacent to the palace. The walls are scenic, have wonderful explanations in English, and are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

To return to Seoul, either take the metro or take the train. The train is 5,000 won ($5 USD), but takes only a half-hour to get to Seoul station, as opposed to an hour by Metro.