How Do You Hike Bukhansan to Baegundae From Seoul? — Korea How Now guide

How Do You Hike Bukhansan to Baegundae From Seoul?

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Last checked: November 4, 2026 · Sources: Korea National Park Service, KASI, Seoul Metropolitan Government and Seoul Hiking Tourism Center pages, linked below.

For a first hike to Baegundae, Bukhansan’s highest peak, take the subway and Ui LRT to Bukhansan Ui Station, walk up to the Baegundae Visitor Center, and climb 1.9 km (about 1 hour 30 minutes one way, per the park service). There’s no ticket and no booking.

Trail gates stop letting people in at 17:00 from March to November and at 16:00 from December to February, so start in the morning. The Baegundae routes are open; a landslide has closed the upper part of the Gucheon Valley trail, and national parks close some trails for wildfire season from mid-November to mid-December.

What’s closed right now?

Checked November 4, 2026

  • Bukhansan is listed as “partial closure” on the Korea National Park Service (KNPS) live list. The closed part is the upper Gucheon Valley trail, from the Gucheon Falls viewpoint to about 100 m below Daedongmun Gate (1.0 km), shut since a landslide in August 2025. Since October 30, 2026, the lower 0.7 km from the Academy ranger post up to the falls viewpoint is open again, per a KNPS notice of October 29. Entering the closed part can bring a fine of up to 500,000 won.
  • The Baegundae summit section reopened on October 2 after repair work.
  • The Dobong side of the park (Dobongsan) has all trails open.
  • Wildfire season: other parks have announced trail closures from November 15 to December 15, 2026 (Odaesan, Sobaeksan, Gyeryongsan). Bukhansan hadn’t posted its list yet. Check the KNPS live closure list the day before you go.

Walking into a closed section can cost up to 500,000 won under the Natural Parks Act.

Which route should you take?

Which Bukhansan route fits you: first time to the summit, Ui side from Baegundae Visitor Center, 1.9 km, about 1h30; starting lower past fortress gates, Bukhansanseong side by bus 704 from Gupabal, 3.4 km, about 2h40; sunrise, gates open 04:00; with kids, Sogwicheon Valley to Daedongmun, 2.5 km; winter, crampons and no entry after 16:00; a few hours, turn around at Harujae, 0.8 km
Drawn by us from Korea National Park Service course pages and KASI sunrise data (checked November 4, 2026).

All times below are KNPS’s one-way figures for going up.

Route Start Distance to the top Time up Good for
Baegundae course (Ui side) Baegundae Visitor Center 1.9 km to Baegundae 1h30 Shortest way to the summit
Bukhansanseong course Bukhansanseong Visitor Center 3.4 km to Baegundae 2h40 Fortress gates, valley, bus from Gupabal
Daenammun course Bukhansanseong Visitor Center 5.8 km to Daenammun Gate 3h Autumn colors along the fortress, no summit
Daedongmun course Baengnyeon Park ranger post 2.7 km to Daedongmun Gate 1h10 Ridge views of Baegundae without the climb
Sogwicheon course Sogwicheon ranger post (Ui-dong) 2.5 km to Daedongmun Gate 1h30 Easy for all ages, says KNPS
Sinseondae course (Dobongsan) Dobong Visitor Center 3.3 km to Sinseondae 1h40 A different granite peak in the same park

Our pick for a first visit is the Ui side. It’s the shortest climb, and the Seoul Hiking Tourism Center near the station rents boots and poles. Pick the Bukhansanseong side if you’d rather walk a gentler valley first and don’t mind about 40 minutes more each way.

How steep is the Baegundae trail?

KNPS splits the Ui-side climb into three parts:

Section Distance Time
Baegundae Visitor Center to Haru-jae Pass 0.8 km 30 min
Haru-jae Pass to Baegundae Shelter 0.6 km 40 min
Baegundae Shelter to the summit 0.5 km 20 min

The first part mixes dirt and rock. After Haru-jae you climb stone steps with wire ropes and wooden stairs on the hard bits. The last 0.5 km is the steepest: a narrow rock path with fixed wire ropes. KNPS advises hiking boots and poles, and a good rest at the shelter before the final push.

On weekends the summit section gets crowded, and KNPS warns that the queue can slow you down a lot. Areas off the marked trail near Baegundae are closed because of the fall risk.

How do you get to the trailhead from central Seoul?

Ui side (Baegundae course)

  1. Ride the subway to Sinseol-dong (Lines 1 and 2) or Sungshin Women’s University (Line 4), then change to the Ui LRT. From Hongdae, take Line 2 to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park and change to Line 4 for Sungshin Women’s University, or change at Seongsu to the Line 2 branch train for Sinseol-dong.
  2. Ride the Ui LRT to the last stop, Bukhansan Ui Station.
  3. Walk up the road past Doseonsa Temple to the Baegundae Visitor Center. KNPS gives 2.0 km and about 30 minutes from its Ui ranger station, mostly on asphalt with a wooden boardwalk near the top.

KNPS’s own directions use Line 4 to Suyu Station, then city bus 120 from the Gangbuk-gu Office stop to the Ui-dong terminus. Pay with a T-money card and you get the transfer discount between the subway, the LRT and the bus. Fares are in our Seoul subway fares and transfers guide.

Bukhansanseong side

  1. Take Line 3 to Gupabal Station.
  2. Take bus 704 (or Yangju bus 37) from the Gupabal Station Exit 2 stop (12111) to Bukhansanseong Entrance Intersection (북한산성입구교차로, stop 12233). KNPS calls this stop 북한산성입구.
  3. Walk to the Bukhansanseong Visitor Center, where the trail starts.

There’s no entrance fee for the park. KNPS’s Bukhansan fee page lists only parking and campsite charges.

What time do the trails close?

Korea National Park Service trail entry-time table for Bukhansan: every entry point including Baegundae Visitor Center to Baegundae (1) and Bukhansanseong entrance to Wimun (2) shows 04:00 to 16:00 in winter and 04:00 to 17:00 the rest of the year
Bukhansan trail entry hours on the KNPS site (Korean only): middle column December to February, right column March to November. Rows 1 and 2 are the two Baegundae routes. Screenshot captured November 4, 2026.

Every Bukhansan trail entry point, including the two Baegundae routes, runs on fixed hours:

Months Gates open No new entry after
March to November 04:00 17:00
December to February 04:00 16:00

The cut-off is the last time you can start up, not the time you must be down. Sunset is the real limit in late autumn.

Date (Seoul) Sunrise Sunset
November 1 06:57 17:34
November 15 07:11 17:22
November 30 07:27 17:14
December 15 07:39 17:15

When should you start on a November day?

Here’s our timing for Sunday, November 15, 2026, with sunset at 17:22. KNPS publishes uphill times only, so we assume the way down takes as long as the way up.

Leg (Ui side) Time
Ui ranger station to Baegundae Visitor Center (road) 30 min
Visitor Center to summit 1h30
Rest and photos at the top 30 min
Summit back to the Visitor Center 1h30
Visitor Center back down the road 30 min
Total 4h30

To be back on the road by sunset, you’d leave the Ui ranger station by 12:50 at the very latest. We’d aim for 10:00 on a weekend: KNPS warns the summit queue can hold you up a lot, and you don’t want the wire-rope section in the dark.

On the Bukhansanseong side, the same sum is 2h40 up, 30 minutes at the top and 2h40 down: about 5h50. That means 11:30 at the latest from the Bukhansanseong Visitor Center; we’d start by 09:30.

The Seoul Hiking Tourism Center’s own loop from its Ui-dong office to Baegundae and back (9.98 km) lists about 4h20, close to our figure.

Do you need special gear, and can you rent it?

KNPS says to wear hiking boots and use poles on Baegundae. In winter many sections ice over, and KNPS says crampons (아이젠, “aijen”) must be worn.

The Seoul Hiking Tourism Center (Bukhansan Center) is about 5 minutes on foot from Bukhansan Ui Station Exit 2, on the 5th floor of 52 Samyang-ro 173-gil. It rents backpacks, hiking shoes, tops and pants, gloves and poles to foreign visitors, and it has lockers and a changing room.

It opens 09:00 to 18:00 and closes on Mondays, January 1, and the Seollal and Chuseok holidays. Prices aren’t on the official site; you book through its link at seoulhiking.or.kr. Phone: 1533-2608.

The center opens at 09:00, so it suits a mid-morning start, not a sunrise hike.

Can you hike Bukhansan for sunrise?

Yes, the trail gates open at 04:00 all year. Seoul’s sunrise in November runs from 06:57 to 07:27, so you’d start in full darkness. Bring a headlamp and allow extra time on the wire-rope section.

What if something goes wrong on the mountain?

Call 119 for rescue. Bukhansan National Park’s office line is 02-909-0497 (the Dobong office is 031-828-8000). For help in English with a call or a sign, the 1330 Korea Travel Hotline can interpret.

Smoking outside designated spots in a national park can bring a fine of up to 2,000,000 won, and so can carrying lighters or other flammables into areas the park designates. Stay on marked trails. If you’re coming for the leaves, Bukhansan isn’t on the official foliage forecast map; see our fall foliage 2026 guide for the nearest Seoul reading.

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