Mountain park · South Jeolla
Wolchulsan
월출산국립공원
The smallest park, and the most vertical — with a bridge slung between two peaks.
At 56 km² Wolchulsan is the smallest of the national parks, and it rises out of flat farmland so abruptly that it looks larger than it is. The name means 'moon rising mountain'.
The Gureumdari cloud bridge hangs 120m above the valley between two rock towers, and the scramble to Cheonhwangbong at 809m is steeper than the height suggests.
Photograph by Wikimedia Commons contributor, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. 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 Naju or Mokpo, then a bus to Yeongam — roughly 3h 30m in total.
Bus
Express coach from Seoul Central City to Yeongam, about 4h 30m.
Car
Around four hours. A long way for a small park, which is why most people combine it with the south-west coast.
Wildlife & plants
Animals
Goral on the rock faces and peregrines nesting on the towers. The lower slopes hold the usual boar and roe deer.
Trees & flowers
Because it stands alone out of flat farmland the flora is unusual — dwarf pine clinging to the rock, and one of the northernmost stands of evergreen broadleaf species. Wild azalea covers the lower slopes in spring.
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
Woraksan
A rock peak standing over the water of Chungju Lake.
Bukhansan
A proper granite mountain inside Seoul, reachable by subway in under an hour.
Byeonsanbando
The only park that pairs mountains with a west-coast shoreline.