Inwangsan Mountain (인왕산).

Inwangsan (인왕산)

Inwangsan (인왕산) is a mountain in the city of Seoul. It’s one of the four of Seoul’s inner mountains and is situated to the north-west of Namsan Seoul Tower. The highest peak is 338.2m. The difficulty level is easy to intermediate, if your medical condition allows it. I suggest bringing enough water and a towel on warm days, and good all-terrain hiking shoes that are comfortable to wear. In winter time, especially on Icy days, watch your steps carefully.

The mountain is open 24 hours and 7 days a week. A great spot to catch a sunset or sunrise., though I, myself, have only visited it once, during late morning and afternoon. Access to the mountain was once prohibited after a unit of North Koreans infiltrated it in 1968. The mountain reopened to the public in 1993.

Some interesting sights at Inwangsan, besides a great view of the city, there are some great rock formation. The famous ones are (and I quote from the booklet): “The Rock of women’s Skirt” (Chimabawi), the “Rock of the Meditating Monk” (Seonbawi) and “Rock of train” (Gichabawi).

My Visit to Inwangsan

In the morning of Saturday, 22 October 2022, I took Line 3 to Dongnimmun Station (Stop 326), stocked up on some snack and drinks from a convenient store: A pack of two soft-boiled eggs, I really love these eggs; a bottle of banana flavored milk and a bottle Milkies 🙂

I then headed to the Site of Ernest Thomas Bethell’s House and entered the Inwangsan Mountain Trail from there, going through Sajik Neighborhood Park. The way up was tiresome, but absolutely worth it. I stopped a while at the A5 overlook, had lunch there, and continued the climb to the peak. After a good hour and 15 minutes total, I reached the top, enjoyed the views and then headed back down, the same way I got up.

Apparently, there’s a trail that goes down from the Peak to Changuimun gate, if you’re interested in doing the whole trail. For me, though, I had plans to go to Myeongdong for the rest of the day, so I came back down, all the way to the main entrance of Inwangsan, where there’s also a 7-Eleven. I thought it would be easier for connections to Myeongdong from there. I rested for a while at the entrance, and took a booklet about the Seoul City Wall.

Getting to the Mountain

It’s worth noting, that I deviated from the trail that is provided in the booklet. My starting point was at Sajik Neighborhood Park, while the official trail start at the site of Donuimun Gate. As I told you above, I got off at Dongnimmun Station (Line 3) and went on by foot to the House of Ernest Thomas Bathell, where you can enter the Sajik Neighborhood Park, and follow the mountain trail.

The official trail however starts at the intersection of Songwol-gil with Saemunan-ro, at Donuimun Museum Village, and is easily accessible via Metro Line 5, Seodaemun Station, exit 4. Follow Songwol-gil street north-west, through Woram Park and past Hong Nampa’s House, and you’ll eventually end up at the point where I started my climb. See the booklet that I provided below.

The above pictures are from the booklet “Hanyangdoseong (한양도성), the Seoul City Wall“, May 2019 Edition. For your convenience, I’ve provided a scanned copy, available on OneDrive. Click here, to download from OneDrive. Courtesy of Seoul City Wall (seoulcitywall.seoul.go.kr). Copyright disclaimer notice: This booklet is published by Seoul Metropolitan Government, Culture Headquarters, Hanyangdoseong Division, Mayor of Seoul, and designed by aCreative.

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