Korea National Park Booking Site in English: What Works

Last checked: October 9, 2026 · Source: Korea National Park Service booking site (reservation.knps.or.kr) — pages linked below.

New here? Start with our overview of all 13 Korea national park shelters: beds, prices and which ones stop sales from Nov 14 to Dec 15.

The KNPS booking site has an English version that covers only two things: shelters and campsites. You can sign up with just an email address — no Korean phone number is asked for on the English form. Everything else on the Korean site — the lottery (which is now how popular shelters and campsites are allocated), eco-tour centers, trail reservations, guided programs, the Taebaeksan lodging village and Green Point bookings — has no English menu. Several English pages are also out of date: they still say bookings open on the 1st of the month and that you pay on site or in cash. For anything that matters, check the Korean page as well.

English site vs Korean site at a glance

The English home page on the English version of the Korea National Park Service booking site, captured October 6, 2026. (1) Shelter availability. (2) Campsite availability. (3) My Reservation. (4) Login / sign up.

Booking type	Korean site	English site
Shelters (대피소)	Yes	Yes
Campsites (야영장)	Yes	Yes
Lottery for shelters / campsites (추첨제)	Yes	No menu
Eco-tour centers (생태탐방원) — lodging + programs, 10 locations	Yes	No
Trail reservation system (탐방로예약제) — 20 parks	Yes	No
Guided programs (탐방프로그램)	Yes	No
Lodging village (민박촌), Taebaeksan	Yes	No
Green Point bookings	Yes	No
Login with Kakao / Naver	Yes	No (email account)
Notices	Daily updates	A handful per year

The English menu has four sections: Shelters, Campsites, Board (news, reservation guide, FAQ, Q&A) and My Reservation.

Signing up without a Korean phone number

The English sign-up form (EN → Sign up) asks for:

Field	Notes
First name, last name	Use the name on your passport — shelters check ID
Email	This becomes your login ID
Password	8–16 characters, at least 1 uppercase, 1 lowercase and 1 special character
Birthday
Sex	Male / Female

No phone or identity verification appears on the form.

The Korean login page is different. It offers member login, Kakao and Naver login (which only work once you’ve joined KNPS and linked the account), and a non-member login that needs mobile phone, i-PIN or real-name verification. Those are Korean identity services, and the page shows no option for foreigners. For a visitor, the email account from the English form is the practical route.

KNPS doesn’t say whether the English-form account also works on the Korean menus (lottery, eco-tour centers, trails). If you plan to use them, ask on the English Q&A board or call the help line before the application window opens, not on the day.

Tip: Whatever way you sign in, keep using it. The KNPS FAQ notes that a non-member application only shows up when you log in as a non-member.

Shelters: what the English site gets right and wrong

Right:

You and every companion need an ID card or passport when you register at the shelter.
You can’t add companions or change the date after booking.
No cooking with fire outside the shelter’s cooking area, and no drunken disturbances.

Out of date:

It says bookings open on the 1st of each month at 10:00 for the following month. Shelters in Jirisan, Seoraksan, Deogyusan and Sobaeksan are now allocated by lottery in two-month rounds, with applications opening on the 1st of even-numbered months. For the Nov–Dec 2026 round, applications ran Oct 1, 10:00 – Oct 6, 10:00 KST, and leftover beds went first-come from Oct 8, 10:00. Each round follows the same pattern, so check the lottery page for the next one’s exact dates. In that round, eight shelters — Byeoksoryeong, Seseok and Yeonhacheon (Jirisan), Suryeomdong, Socheong, Huiungak and Yangpok (Seoraksan) and Satgatjae (Deogyusan) — are not sold from Nov 14 to Dec 15 because of the wildfire-prevention closure.
It says you pay at the shelter. Lottery winners pay online inside a fixed window (for the Nov–Dec 2026 round it was Oct 6, 16:00 – Oct 7, 22:00 KST). Unpaid wins are cancelled.
Some capacities are old. Seoraksan’s Socheong shows 69 on the English page; the 2026 lottery list says 50.

You can apply for up to 4 shelter bookings a month in the lottery (the Korean policy page allows up to 6 for Jirisan shelters). For park-specific steps, see our Jirisan shelter guide (see also our Seoraksan shelter guide).

Campsites

The English campsite guide lists 38 campsites in 20 national parks, with auto-camping sites, tent sites, cabins and caravans. Its rules:

Rule	English page says
Booking opens	1st of each month, 14:00 (out of date — see below)
Leftover bookings	Until 14:00 on your arrival day
Max bookings	4 per month, no overlapping dates
Max stay	3 days / 2 nights per booking
Standard sites	14:00 on arrival day to 12:00 next day
Full-option sites	15:00 to 11:00 next day
Pets	Not allowed (the Korean site runs a dog-friendly pilot at two cabins in Gyeryongsan’s Donghaksa campsite — Korean-only)

The Korean policy page now lists campsites under the lottery, with applications opening on the 1st of every even-numbered month — the same rounds as shelters. The round-6 lottery notice (Sept 29, 2026) covers 2,360 campsite pitches across parks such as Jirisan, Seoraksan (Seorak-dong, 161 pitches, open year-round — KNPS warns your pitch may be switched after heavy snow), Naejangsan, Bukhansan and Dadohae. Many campsites also close for winter — the list gives closures starting between Nov 1 and Dec 1, 2026 and ending between February and April 2027. Go by the Korean lottery page, not the English “1st at 14:00” rule.

What you can’t book in English (and what it is)

Eco-tour centers (생태탐방원). KNPS describes these as facilities offering “stay-type special programs and lodging, plus education and meeting facilities.” There are ten: Gaya, Gyeryong, Naejang, Mudeung, Byeonsan Peninsula, Bukhansan, Seorak, Sobaek, Jirisan and Hallyeo Marine. Booking is Korean-only and requires login. For stays from October 2026, you pick the exact room when booking. Rules differ by center: Naejang, for example, books lodging through a program reservation for 2 or more people, with rooms from ₩50,000 (3-person, weekday) to ₩160,000 (8-person, weekend), 15:00 to 11:00 next day.

Trail reservation system (탐방로예약제). Some trails cap daily hikers and need a booking. The Korean overview lists 20 parks with reservable trails. Two examples from KNPS pages:

Trail	Section	Daily cap	When
Jirisan Chilseon Valley (칠선계곡)	Chuseong parking lot → Chilseon Falls → Cheonwangbong, 10 km one way, ~8 hours	60	May 1–Oct 31, Fri–Tue (KNPS’s page still shows 2025 dates — check it for next year’s season); meet at Chuseong lot by 06:40; online only
Seoraksan Gombaegol (곰배골)	Jeombongsan office → Gombaeryeong, 3.7 km, ~4 hours return	350	Year-round except fire-prevention periods and Mon/Tue; 9:00–14:00, last entry 11:00; online or on site

When KNPS launched trail reservations in 2022, it said elderly people, people with disabilities and foreigners can book by phone through each park office. Call the park office to check this still applies.

Guided programs (탐방프로그램). Ranger-led walks and activities. Korean-only.

Lodging village (민박촌). KNPS lists a lodging village in Taebaeksan National Park. Korean-only.

Green Point. KNPS holds 10% of shelter places for Green Point bookings (points earned by carrying litter out), according to the policy page. There’s no English entry for it.

Note: Hallasan is not on this site. It’s run by Jeju Province on its own booking site. See our guide on how to book Hallasan.

Payment

The KNPS policy page lists:

Credit / debit card
Real-time bank transfer
Virtual account
Easy-pay apps: KakaoPay, Naver Pay, Samsung Pay

KNPS asks you to finish transfers and virtual-account payments before 22:00 because of bank cut-off times. For the lottery, pay at least an hour before the deadline.

The English FAQ still answers “What payment methods can I use?” with “you don’t need to pay and you can pay by cash.” That contradicts the lottery rules, where unpaid wins are cancelled. Plan to pay online. No KNPS page says whether foreign-issued cards go through, so ask on the Q&A board or by phone before your payment window.

Cancellation rules (from the Korean policy page — the English site doesn’t list them)

From the KNPS reservation and refund policy:

You cancel…	Refund
3+ days before	Full
2 days before	90%
1 day before	80%
On the day, before 12:00	70% (the table says a no-show restriction applies, but the same page says cancelling online yourself before 12:00 waives it — not officially confirmed which applies, check before you go)
No cancel / no show	None + penalty

No-show penalty: 1 month without bookings the first time, 3 months after that. Records are cleared after a year without another no-show.

When the English site gets stuck

I can’t find the lottery in English.

There’s no English menu for it. Switch to the Korean site (KR, top right) and go to 예약하기 → 추첨제. Check in advance that your login works there (see sign-up section).

The English page says booking opens on the 1st at 10:00, but nothing was available.

For lottery shelters and campsites, the 1st of an even month opens the application window. Places are drawn days later, then leftovers go first-come (for the Nov–Dec 2026 round, from Oct 8, 10:00).

The FAQ says I can pay cash.

That answer is old. Lottery wins must be paid online by the deadline.

Kakao and Naver login don’t work for me.

Kakao and Naver login only work after you have joined the KNPS site as a member and linked the account once. Use the email account from the English sign-up form instead.

I can’t see my booking.

Is Hallasan on here?

No. Hallasan uses visithalla.jeju.go.kr.

Help

KNPS reservation help line: 1670-9201 (a Korean nationwide number that may not connect from abroad), weekdays 09:00–18:00, lunch 12:00–13:00. The English site also has a Q&A board for written questions.

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