Mokpo Blooming: A Trip to the South Coast

South Korea is justifiably proud of its spring cherry blossoms. When I set out to plan a trip to the south coast of the country to coincide with the blooming season, I didn’t understand that you don’t necessarily have to plan a lot to see cherry blossoms here. They just are. Particularly when driving along the coast from Mokpo to Yeosu, we saw more blooming cherry trees than we could have imagined.

We drove the 350km (about 220 miles) from Seoul to Mokpo to start our coastal road trip. A wicked windy and rainy day wrecked one of our two days there, so we weren’t able to take a boat out to any of the islands off Mokpo’s coast, one of the main attractions of the city. However, we made the most of the one nice day we had to see Mokpo’s cherry blooms. We centered our day around Yudalsan Park, which offers walking paths as well as hiking trails, and even features a cable car for aerial views.

Yudalsan Park

We entered the park first thing in the morning from the entrance in the southwest corner. This got us to one of the park’s most famous areas for viewing cherry blossoms ahead of the crowds that would swarm in later in the day.

We headed along the still-quiet main path toward Yudalsan’s peak, Ildeung-bawi (일등바위). In addition to the cherry blossoms, the treed paths included plenty of blooming camellias, miraculously hanging onto their petals despite the wind and rain of the previous day.

It was still pretty foggy while we climbed, but we could get a sense of the mountain’s views over Mokpo, including a few islands of Dadohaehaesang National Park’s archipelago. One of our favorite features of Mokpo was its color. So many buildings are brightly painted, making the views unique.

It was also an excellent time to watch some feathered friends enjoying the quiet trees after the rain.

Even from the somewhat foggy peak, we enjoyed views back over the mountain park and the cable car course, and especially the crazy rocks that seemed to be everywhere!

Meanwhile, we continued to encounter plenty of the star of the day – blooming cherry trees.

The theme continued as we wound with the trail down into a large sculpture park. And hallelujah – the sun came out!

Mokpo Marine Cable Car

Still hoping for some better views of the Mokpo coast and the islands just offshore, we opted for a trip on the Mokpo Marine Cable Car. The course is just under 3.5km (over 2 miles) long and 155m (500 feet) high. It was pretty fun to head back over Yudalsan to see the peak we had just hiked!

We were a little bit terrified when we realized exactly how high up we were, but we were the ones who were looking for a better view! With the sun finally out, we enjoyed some clearer views over the water, as well.

What We Ate

With such a short time in Mokpo, we sadly didn’t get to try much of the local cuisine. However, we did accidentally eat what we later learned is a Mokpo delicacy: croaker (mineo in Korean) served raw (hwe). Whenever we leave Seoul, it seems we find some unexpected adventure in dining!

On the cold, rainy night preceding our Yudalsan adventure, we set out to look for a restaurant in what was obviously not the correct part of town, as we had a really hard time finding anything open. When we finally found an open restaurant, the proprietor was filled with anxiety as she was certain we would not be happy to eat anything but hwe, and she had sold out for the evening.

Our efforts to dissuade of her of this belief were not successful, even after speaking on the phone with several of her English-speaking friends. (Whom she called to assist with this important conversation.) This lengthy discussion ultimately yielded a decision that we should eat at a restaurant still serving hwe, to which we were delivered by an employee of the first restaurant.

At that point, we would have eaten anything, and anything turned out to be a huge platter of mineo, served with fresh greens for making wraps (ssam) with the fish and sauces. It was a little chewy for our taste, but luckily we are good eaters and will try most anything once. We received the rest of the fish in the form of a hot stew following the main course, which was a welcome addition given we’d been wet and freezing!

We can’t say we saw as much of Mokpo as we would have liked, but we enjoyed our time there and would definitely recommend visiting this area during cherry blossom season. For those who want to enjoy a small Korean city with a slower pace, a visit to Mokpo by train would be a reasonable weekend trip from Seoul.

For more photos of our day in Mokpo, you will find our Flickr album here.