The Great Wall of… South Korea? Namhansanseong Fortress

The Korean Peninsula’s strategic position between China and Japan has increased its risk of military invasion for centuries. Vestiges of this history remain in the form of protective fortress walls in Seoul and beyond, many of which are now maintained and utilized as hiking trails. The ease of accessing these trails, as well as their tendency to be well-maintained, have made them a go-to for our hiking adventures since we arrived in Seoul.

In addition to trekking the Seoul city walls, we have visited Namhansanseong Fortress just outside of Seoul, and Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon. Each is worth the trip from the city and provided very different opportunities for exploration.

This is essentially one post in two parts. In this post: Namhansanseong. In the next post: Hwaseong.

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Namhansanseong Fortress

The remains of Namhansanseong Fortress, a Provincial Park and UNESCO World Heritage site, are situated on Namhan Mountain, about 25km southeast of Seoul. Situated just outside the Joseon Dynasty’s capital city, Hanyang (modern-day Seoul), the emergency palace and surrounding fortress were meant as a refuge for the king and other government officials in the event of an invasion by the Manchu Qing dynasty. However, it was built large enough to accommodate a large percentage of regular citizens in the event of war.

Long after its construction, the fortress also was a staging ground for the Korean liberation movement during the Japanese Colonial Period of the 20th century.

The extensive fortress walls provide more than 12km of hiking trails along both wooded and stony paths, surrounding the town and the palace in the center of the park. Don’t be deceived – the complex is very large, and hiking one of the larger loops from the South Gate around the fortress walls to the palace is not a quick walk. There are, however, shorter loops you can take if your time is limited.

The paths are well-maintained but often with very, very steep and rocky steps. I didn’t bring my hiking poles, and I was sorry for my knees!

Several remaining fortress gates provide a scenic punctuation to the stone walls, along with extensive views of Seoul and nearby mountains. Below, you can see the marked difference in the scenery from summer to fall!

Very unusually, Namhansanseong was constructed and managed by a cadre of Buddhist monks and originally contained 10 Buddhist temples within its walls. This was particularly strange since Confucianism was the accepted ideology during the time when the fortress was built. We noticed Mangwolsa Temple in the distance as we hiked along the fortress walls and took a detour hike to visit it.

Our stroll through the temple’s quiet, well-tended grounds and colorful lanterns turned out to be a very memorable portion of this hike. This is one of our favorite temples we’ve visited so far.

After our scenic detour, we returned to our original goal: touring the palace within the fortress walls. The walls originally were built in the 17th century to protect the Namhansanseong Emergency Palace. Although the palace reconstruction is small, it’s beautifully done and worth a visit.

In the picturesque town between the fortress trails and the palace, there are lots of cafes and various places to eat a meal or a snack.

Namhansanseong is not the easiest trip from Seoul, mostly just because the buses to and from the subway station can be really crowded. (And the car traffic didn’t look any better!) We made sure we had a whole day to spend, though, and we were fine since we weren’t in a rush. You can find good instructions for the journey here.

You can hike up Namhansan, which we did in the summer, but the hike up the mountain, around the fortress, and touring the palace in one day seemed like a lot, so we made this two separate trips.

One note about the buses running helter skelter up and down the mountain: if you are prone to motion sickness, I recommend taking a little Dramamine (or your chemical aid of choice) for the ride!

You can see more photos of our visits to Namhansanseong Fortress (summer, late autumn, and winter) on our Flickr page.

Stay tuned for the next “great wall” post: Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon.