Hanyangdoseong – better known as the Seoul City Wall – stretches around an 18.6 kilometer (about 11.6 miles) loop right in the heart of Seoul. With incredible views of the city, parts of wall dating back as early as 1396, and well-paved trails, many sections of the wall are the perfect leisurely stroll. BUT with four mountains located along the wall’s path, hiking the entire wall is a great trek for even the most adventurous hikers out there.

Hiking the ENTIRE Seoul City Wall

Months ago when we were visiting Seoul, we saw Dongdaemun Gate (also named Heunginjimun) and hiked a very short part of the east side of the Seoul City Wall. The gate and the east wall were the first things I added to our South Korea bucket list when I learned we were moving here. At that time, we were unable to hike the entire wall because 1) we had our kids with us, 2) we were not at all prepared for a 12-mile hike, and 3) we actually didn’t even realize you could hike the whole wall.

After that trip to Seoul was when I learned that you could, in fact, hike the entire Seoul City Wall. And while some parts of the wall have been destroyed for one reason or another, the City of Seoul has provided maps and signs to make it possible to follow where those sections of the wall USED to be.

So we decided that for our 13th wedding anniversary, we’d hire babysitters (thanks Daeli and Gabby!!!) and Brandon and I would complete the hike together. And SPOILER: following the wall proved to be much more challenging than we thought it would be. Still, we finished the hike and hit ALMOST every section of the wall (minus about 100 meters that we missed due to getting lost). It was incredible, exhausting, surreal, and one of the hardest things I’ve ever physically done. But we finished and we finished in one day.

Here’s a little Korean lesson for you from someone who doesn’t speak Korean. Mun (pronounced like moon) in Korean means “gate.” Sometimes you’ll see things written (as I did earlier) like Dongdaemun Gate – when really the name would be Dongdae Gate or just Dongdaemun. Similarly, san (pronounced like sawn) means mountain. You may see things like Inwangsan Mountain when the name should really be Inwang Mountain or just Inwangsan. It’s likely that I’ll use the incorrect version a time or two out of habit, but understand that whether I’m saying Inwangsan, Inwang Mountain, or Inwangsan Mountain (just as an example), they are all the same.

We started the hike at Heunginjimun and immediately crossed the road to the east gate wall. Since we’d already visited this gate in the past, we decided to start with the familiar, as we were very quickly going to be venturing into the unfamiliar. And for those curious – yes, I did use our diaper bag for my hiking backpack. That’s how the professionals hike…

And I guess this is the part where I preface this whole thing by saying that I am NOT in fantastic shape currently. Sure, I can usually hike and ride bikes and play with my kids. My energy levels are fine. But I have not been making regular exercise much of a priority lately – and it’s something that I’m okay with. The season I’m in right now with homeschooling young kids is a weird one – and one that’s not going to last forever. And so I’m comfortable with where I’m at.

THAT ALL BEING SAID, if you aren’t a regular exerciser or you’re not in fantastic shape, I do NOT recommend trying to complete the whole wall in one go. It would be easy enough to do a few sections at a time (the entire wall is basically separated into six different hikes). But also, if I can do it in one go then I honestly think just about anyone can. Just don’t ask me how sore my calves were the next day.

Not only does this hike boast FANTASTIC views of Seoul, it’s honestly just an amazing way to see different parts of the city. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a hike that had as much variety as this one. There were times when we were just walking through the city like tourists. Other times we found ourselves in the middle of dense forest. Some of the more challenging parts had us scaling rock faces and using ropes to leverage ourselves up. Even if you don’t complete the entire hike, there is something for every kind of hiker along the wall.

We couldn’t have done the wall at a better time either. It was warm all day long, but never got above 84 degrees Fahrenheit. It wasn’t OVERLY humid (although with all the stairs we climbed we were sweating so much we wouldn’t have noticed the humidity anyway) and there was a nice breeze every once in a while. The AQI was amazing and the sky was bright blue which made visibility from the mountain tops the best I’ve ever seen in Korea (although it doesn’t always show in the pictures due to the morning fog that was lingering in some of them). The perfect weather was a welcome surprise – since rain had been predicted for that day. Not a drop fell while we hiked – which was a very good thing because I would NOT recommend completing it in the rain.

Seeing Lotte World Tower and Seoul Tower at the same time was something else – considering that they are nowhere close to each other in Seoul. And to give you a perspective on how far we hiked – the above picture of me was taken at ABOUT the half-way point for us, and we still hiked all the way to Seoul Tower (the tower in the right of the picture on top of the mountain) and beyond. Woof. No wonder I was struggling so hard.

I won’t give a FULL detailed account of every single part of our journey here (for more information on the hike itself and for a map created by yours truly, see the “How to hike the Seoul City Wall” section at the bottom of this post), but there are a few things I’ll share about it, sprinkled between the far-too-many-photos I took.

The Seoul City Wall (also sometimes called the Fortress Wall of Seoul) was built in 1396. It’s purpose was to protect the city from invaders and to show the boundaries for the city during the Joseon era. Of course, the city has grown SIGNIFICANTLY since that time, so it no longer borders the entirety of Seoul. A large section of the wall was named Historic Site No. 10 in Korea, so it has been restored and maintained as such.

The Seoul Wall takes you to the location of the eight different gates – Four Great Gates and Four Small Gates – that served as entrances into the original city. Out of the eight, six of them are still standing. Two of them are no longer there, but the hike takes you to the site where they once were and you can see a plaque with some history behind those gates. The gates themselves all look about the same, but it was fun to check another one off each time we reached a new one. AND now I can say that I’ve visited all eight gates of Seoul – so that’s pretty cool.

In addition to the eight gates, the wall also takes you to the top of four mountains. The smallest being Naksan and the tallest being Baegaksan (sometimes called Bugaksan). Each mountain boasts its own incredible views, challenges, beauty, and charm. And each one is an entire hike on its own. My favorite section was Inwangsan – which had stairs upon stairs upon stairs on one side of the trail, and a rock face with ropes on the other. Although I was beyond exhausted by the time we reached the Inwangsan Trail, I found this to be one of the more exciting sections.

After making it about halfway up the second mountain (Baegaksan), my legs started cramping really bad. I’d been careful to drink enough water and also replenish electrolytes, but we were sweating so much that I’m sure it wasn’t quite enough. We took frequent breaks where we snacked, drank water, and massaged my legs where they were cramping. Brandon was so supportive and the best cheerleader I could have asked for. I know he could have done the hike at a much faster pace than we did, but it was so fun to be able to spend that time with him.

We completed the hike in about 9 1/2 hours – which was far from the estimated time of 6 hours that I’d seen someone give online. I can only assume that those who complete it in 6 hours are in MUCH better shape than I am – and I’m okay with that. The point wasn’t to finish in 6 hours. The point was to finish. We got lost a couple of times, which brought our total hiking distance from 11.6 miles to a whopping 13 miles.

Something fun about this hike is that the city of Seoul offers a Hanyangdoseong stamp trail tour – where you can visit the various trails and get stamps when each one is completed. In the end you can get a certificate of completion signed by the mayor of Seoul. Personally, I would have probably liked to complete the stamps and get a certificate – not that I would know what to do with it – but I found information online about the stamp passport to be lacking. Ultimately, I just wasn’t willing to expend the amount of brain-energy needed to figure it out. And that’s okay. For more information on the stamp map, visit the Seoul Metropolitan Government website.

If you ever wake up one morning and think, “I feel like climbing 4,000 stairs today” then the Seoul Wall Hike is the hike for you! But even if you don’t feel like completing the ENTIRE wall is something you want to do, I recommend at least checking out a section of this incredible piece of Seoul history.

’til next time…

Ash

How to hike the Seoul City Wall

Know before you go: Because the Baegaksan area is near a military base, pictures are not allowed in that area. There were certain parts that seemed to allow photos, but we played it safe and refrained from taking pictures for the entirety of that section.

Amenities: There are plenty of cafés and restaurants along the wall trail, since some of it goes through city areas. In addition, there were bathrooms at all the visitors centers for each mountain trail, as well as resting areas and drinking fountains. Even so, pack enough water, electrolytes, and snacks to hold you over as there is a significant distance between some amenities.

Difficulty: Hard. Some of the individual sections would be classified as moderate, but because the entire hike is so long, they are extremely difficult to complete all together. But, as I said earlier, if I can do it, just about anybody probably can.

Cost: FREE

Directions: It’s not realistic for me to give a FULL account of every direction you have to take on this hike. What I can do is offer pins for each of the gates that the wall hike will take you to. Start at whichever gate you want and follow the wall until it disappears. From there, follow signs that direct you to “Excursion Trail of Hanyangdoseong” and where necessary, use Naver to help you get to the next location. AllTrails was helpful for some of the individual hikes, but we found it wasn’t helpful during the city areas. Below is a rough map of the different gates and mountains that the hike includes, as well as distances (rough estimate, but checks out based on the research we did and our own experiences with the hike) of each individual section. Below the map I include pins for each of the gates included in this map.