This is my second South Korean trip. I really didn't expect to be back so soon. But I came to known about Seoraksan and got interested in it. As I did my research, I found that there are really many mountains and nice trekking destinations in South Korean. I believe I will be back again pretty soon.
The highlight of this trip is to trek at the Seoraksan National Park. Seoraksan (雪岳山), means Snow Peak Mountains in Korean and is located on the north easten coast of South Korean. Seoraksan is quite a big national park and there are several park entrance. Most visitors go to the Seorakdong park entrance where the Sinheungsa temple is located and is easily accessed from Sokcho. Those who want hot springs should go to Osaek.
For my trip, I was just doing the simple day treks from Seorakdong.
You can get to Seoraksan from Dong Seoul Bus terminal next to the Gangbyeon subway station or from the Express Bus Terminal in Gangnam.
I took the express bus from the Express Bus Terminal (used to be called the Gangnam Express Bus Terminal, now just simply the Express Bus Terminal. The subway station has same name.) I arrived at the terminal at 8:40 am and managed to get tickets for the 9:00 am bus.
I heard that tickets can be hard to get on weekends and holidays. I was there on Monday in May. The bus was almost full when it departed (on the dot).
The bus was comfortable with spacious seats (three seats in a row). It took the expressway all the way with a 15 min stop halfway. We arrived at the Sokcho Express bus terminal at 11:30am. The journey took only 2.5 hours even though Sokcho is on the east coast (Korea isn't that big after all!).
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| The Sokcho Express Bus Terminal |
There is an Tourist Information booth in front of the terminal. The staff in the booth could speak English and was very helpful. There are maps outside the booth so you still get a map even if it is closed.
To get to Seoraksan, you need to cross the road and take bus 7 or 7-1. The bus fare is now 1200 (as of May 2016). The staff at the Information booth told us that we can't use T-money as the buses here use a different store value card. We ended up paying by cash for the next few days, so it's useful to keep exact change. Actually the bus driver can give change if you don't have the exact change. I think you need to tell the driver how much you are paying. I find it easier just to prepare the exact change.
As we arrived around noon, we decided to have lunch first before heading to Seoraksan. There is a row of small little restaurants along the road next to the Express Bus Terminal (between the terminal and the traffic light). We tried several of these restaurants over the next few days and they were all not bad. These are small mom-and-pop restaurants (actually more of a one-woman operated restaurants). They are quiet and on some days, we were the only customers. They serve the usual Korean food -- jiggaes (stews), bibimbap, sundaes (pronounced "soon day", they are stuffed intestines or squids) among other things. The owners do not speak English but English menus are available. Prices start from 7000 won for a bibimbap or jiggae (most were 8000won).
After a satisfying meal (I'll blog about the food seperately), we cross the road to the opposite side. I was surprised that buses are quite frequent. Both 7 and 7-1 comes roughly every 15 minutes and runs to 9:15 pm. If I had known that, I would have stayed in Sokcho rather than up in the mountains. You only need to stay in Seoraksan if you intend to trek very early in the morning. (In May, there was daylight at 4am).
The bus journey to Seoraksan was only 20 minutes. The bus terminates at the entrance of Seoraksan. We were staying at the Sorak Park Hotel, which was one bus stop before the entrance.
The Sorak Park Hotel is one of the hotels closest to the National Park. There is a Seoraksan Tourist Resort which is right inside the park, but it was closed for renovation. The Kensingston Star Hotel is just outside the park entrance. I tried to look for the hotel for my trip but, curiously, it was not available on several of the hotel booking websites I searched. I thought it was closed. But it was evidently open and looked well occupied when I was there. It looked like a nice hotel and would most likely be beyond my budget anyway.
There are two clusters of hotels outside Seoraksan Park entrance. The Sorak Park Hotel is the nicest hotel among the smaller cluster which is closer to the park. The other cluster is about another km away and has more hotels and shops/restaurants.
The Sorak Park Hotel looked pretty grand from the outside. It has a pointed triangular shape that is quite recognizable. It is perched on a slope, so you do have to walk up the slope from the bus stop. I saw some guests complaining about that. But hey, if you are here to do some trekking, the little slope should not be anything to complain about!
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| The Sorak Park Hotel |
This is a hotel that has seen better times. It used to host a casino as well. All the amenities within the hotel are closed, including the restaurant and convenience store. (I am not sure if they open in peak season, but they were closed when I was there). The hotel was almost deserted when I was there. I only saw one staff at the reception counter, and another cleaning staff. I think only 2 or 3 other rooms had guest during my stay. At night, almost all the rooms were dark.
But the rooms were great, especially since I only paid roughly USD60 per night (for 2 persons, including taxes, excluding breakfast)! The rooms were spacious and you get a great view of the mountain. You can even see the sea and the Sokcho town from the balcony. The bathroom has a bathtub which is nice for a soak after a long day of trekking (but I generally don’t use the bathtub, it’s too wasteful in terms of water and heat use). It’s nice to make a cup of coffee and sit by the coffee table, enjoying the view outside.
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| Spacious room with nice view of the mountains in Hotel Sorak Park |
I didn’t get the breakfast because it was not worth it (it was almost another USD15 per person). You can get bread or instant noodles from the stores near the bus stop. If you are not starting too early, you can actually eat breakfast in the restaurants and cafes within the park. I was surprised to find the restaurants in the park are very reasonably priced. They did not charge “resort” prices -- it’s almost the same as the restaurants outside the park and in Seoul (e.g. 8000 won for a bibimbap).
I stayed 3 nights in Sorak Park Hotel. As much as I enjoyed the hotel, I must say that I won’t recommend staying there if you are just visiting Seoraksan for causal treks. It's not that the hotel is not good (it is!), but because there really isn’t much dining options or activities after dark, and the buses between Sokcho and Seoraksan are pretty convenient and frequent. You are better off staying in Sokcho and take the bus up each day.
In my opinion, you only need to stay in one of the hotels in Seoraksan only if you need to do long treks and need to start real early or may come back late. After the first night, we ended up taking the bus to Sokcho after our treks anyway.
To be sure, I was there at low season. I am not sure what the bus situation will be like during peak season.
To be continued...
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