Mountain park · North Chungcheong, North Gyeongsang
속리산국립공원
Beopjusa temple and its great bronze Buddha, under a rocky ridge.
The name translates as 'mountain away from the ordinary world', which tells you what it was for. The main draw is Beopjusa, a temple founded in 553 and one of the seven Korean mountain monasteries inscribed together as a World Heritage Site in 2018.
The standing bronze Maitreya in the temple courtyard is 33m tall and visible long before you reach it. Behind it, trails climb to Munjangdae and the ridge at around 1,050m.
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.
Bus
Direct express coach from Seoul Express Bus Terminal to Songnisan terminal, about 3h. It drops you a short walk from Beopjusa, which makes this the rare park with a door-to-door coach.
Train
KTX to Osong or Daejeon, then a bus on — slower overall than the direct coach.
Car
About two and a half hours on the Jungbu expressway.
Wild boar, roe deer, marten and otter along the streams. The old-growth around the temple is good for woodpeckers and owls.
The Jeongipum pine on the approach road is over 600 years old and holds a government rank granted by a king — it is a natural monument. Beyond it, old pine and oak forest, with maple colour in late October.
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.
What grows and lives here
Songnisan means ‘the mountain that leaves the ordinary world behind’. It is a broadleaf mountain — maple, hornbeam, wild pear, oak and lime rather than pine — which makes it quietly green all summer and one of the better autumn valleys in central Korea.
Gwaneumbong, seen from Munjangdae
Songnisan
Photo by Yoo Chung, CC BY-SA 2.0
One of the valleys below the ridge
Songnisan
Photo by Ashy Minivet, Public domain
Mogyokso, a pool in the brook
Songnisan
Photo by Yoo Chung, CC BY-SA 2.0
Korean maple — the tree that turns the valley red
Songnisan
Photo by Ashy Minivet, Public domain
Hornbeam, the quiet backbone of the forest
Songnisan
Photo by Ashy Minivet, Public domain
Wild pear, one of the park’s native fruit trees
Songnisan
Photo by Ashy Minivet, Public domain
Walking it
Nearly everything at Songnisan starts at Beopjusa. The temple is the destination for most visitors; the ridge behind it, and the flat-topped rock called Munjangdae, is the destination for everyone else.
Flat, and the main event
Route: Park information centre → the temple avenue → Beopjusa
Getting to the start: Intercity bus to Songnisan terminal at Sokrisan, from Cheongju, Daejeon or Seoul.
An easy walk through old pines to the temple. This is what most visitors come for and it needs no equipment or fitness at all.
The classic climb
Route: Beopjusa → Sesimjeong → Munjangdae (1,033m)
Getting to the start: Start from the Beopjusa information centre.
The long way up to a broad flat rock platform on the ridge, with steel stairs at the top and a view over the whole park. Thirteen kilometres there and back from the temple, and a full day out.
The actual summit
Route: Beopjusa → the ridge → Cheonwangbong (1,058m)
Getting to the start: Same start as Munjangdae.
Higher than Munjangdae and much less visited, because Munjangdae has the better view. Combining the two along the ridge makes a long and very good day.
The short cheat
Route: Hwabuk ranger station → Munjangdae
Getting to the start: From the northern, North Gyeongsang side of the park.
Roughly half the distance of the Beopjusa route to the same rock, because it starts higher. Steep, and it misses the temple entirely.
Distances as published for the Beopjusa routes; the Munjangdae round trip is the commonly given figure from the park information centre.
The temple
Beopjusa was founded in 553, in the Silla period, and at its height is said to have housed thousands of monks. What makes it worth the trip is Palsangjeon: a five-storey wooden pagoda and the only one of its kind left standing in Korea. Every other surviving Korean pagoda of any age is stone. This one is timber, it is a national treasure, and the rebuild dates from the early 1600s after the Japanese invasions burned the original.
In the courtyard stands a bronze Maitreya Buddha 33 metres tall, which is the first thing anyone sees on arriving and the least old thing in the complex — the present statue was completed in 1990, replacing earlier versions on the same spot.
The mountain behind is granite, and the feature everyone climbs to is Munjangdae, a flat rock platform on the ridge at 1,033m reached by steel stairs. The story attached to it is that King Sejo of Joseon came here to read, which is roughly what the name says.
The park is 274 km² spread across two provinces, and it is one of the best broadleaf forests in central Korea — maple, hornbeam, lime and wild pear rather than the pine you might expect. It turns colour in the last week of October, a fortnight after Seoraksan and a fortnight before Naejangsan.
Taeanhaean
Beaches, dunes and mudflats along the west coast.
Taebaeksan
An ancient ritual peak, and the most reliable snow in the country.
Wolchulsan
The smallest park, and the most vertical — with a bridge slung between two peaks.