Marine park · South Jeolla
Dadohaehaesang
다도해해상국립공원
The largest national park in Korea — an archipelago of hundreds of islands.
At 2,325 km² this is far and away the biggest of the parks, and most of it is water. The name means 'many islands sea', which is exactly what it is: a scattering of islands and headlands along the south-western coast.
Hongdo and Heuksando are the best known, reached by ferry from Mokpo, and the sunsets from the cliffs on Hongdo are the reason most people make the trip.
Photograph by justinjfj, licensed under CC BY 2.0. Resized for this page.
Getting there from Seoul
Door-to-door estimates for a normal day; they stretch on a holiday weekend. Check the timetable before you rely on a last bus back.
Train
KTX to Mokpo, about 2h 30m, for the ferries to Hongdo and Heuksando. KTX to Yeosu Expo serves the eastern end.
Bus
Express coach to Mokpo or Yeosu, around 4h, if the train is full.
Ferry
The park is mostly water, so the ferry is the visit. Hongdo is about 2h 30m from Mokpo. Sailings are cancelled in rough weather — build slack into the plan.
Wildlife & plants
Animals
Seabird colonies are the draw: black-tailed gulls, Chinese egrets and the rare Styan's grasshopper warbler breed on the islands. Finless porpoise and dolphins are seen offshore. The tidal flats feed migrating shorebirds on the East Asian–Australasian flyway.
Trees & flowers
Evergreen broadleaf forest — camellia, castanopsis and machilus — which barely exists elsewhere in Korea. Hongdo is a designated natural monument in its entirety, and landing is restricted to protect it.
Korea’s wildlife is shy and mostly nocturnal — you’re far more likely to see tracks than animals. Wild boar are the one to know about: keep your distance, don’t run, and never get between a sow and her young.
More parks
Deogyusan
A long, gentle ridge at 1,600m — and the easiest big summit in the country.
Gayasan
Haeinsa temple, and the 80,000 woodblocks of the Tripitaka Koreana.
Gyeongju
The only historical national park — a thousand years of Silla, spread across a valley.