Ansan Mountain, Temple & Sauna

Ansan (안산) is a 296 m hill in Seodaemun-gu with Yonsei University at its feet and the whole of Seoul laid out from the top. Small enough to climb in an afternoon, high enough that Inwangsan and Bukhansan line up on the horizon.

Two routes, both turn by turn:

• The temple route — start at Bongwonsa, head straight up. Short, direct, and best on a Saturday.
• The full route — start at the Hongjecheon waterfall, walk a clay path barefoot, climb to the summit, come down through the temple and finish in a jjimjilbang.

Every turn is written out, because the trails on Ansan branch constantly and the signs assume you already know the hill. Each start point, the trail itself and the sauna carry a scannable code and a typed-out link.

Also inside: the free vegetarian lunch Bongwonsa serves on Saturday mornings; what the Taego Order is and why the temple is a working one rather than a museum; the Ansan Jarak-gil, Korea's first circular barrier-free forest trail; the waterfall's running hours, which used to stop for five months every winter and no longer do; and what to do at a jjimjilbang if you have never been to one.