Once you visit Seoul you will realize that one of the best features of the city is how nature and urban elements blend well in the city landscape and lifestyle: you will always see a lot of people in a hurry but also a lot of people taking relaxing walks nearby the river. Seoul has a lot of parks where you can go to rest and enjoy nature without thinking about the whole crazy rhythm of the city, as well as doing picnics and other activities. In this post, I will introduce two of the best Parks of Seoul for you to visit: Seoul Forest and Yeouido Park.
Yeouido Park
The park is not very big, so if youโre going just to take a walk, itโs around a 1:30 of a slow walk. During the spring, Yeouido Park offers visitors a road full of cherry blossom trees, and also a beautiful โsecretโ garden, where they have a small lagoon surrounded by trees. The view is just stunning, and this kind of garden is an awesome location for taking some pictures โ either portraits or landscape pictures. The mysterious aura of the place will definitely enchant you. This part of the park has a wooden table that is great for a picnic or a light snack.
Talking about picnics, the park has a lot of areas where you can just seat on the grass and enjoy the landscape. Itโs better to go on sunny weather, so the landscape will be even prettier โ the shadows of the trees on the plain grass gives out a very warm atmosphere. The park rules allow visitors to eat while seating on the grass, so take your picnic mat โ that you can buy on nearby convenience stores โ and enjoy a light meal with your friends or on the company of a book you like. Since Seoul is a really safe city to be, you can also take your tablet and watch a movie.
You can also see in this park an old warplane in real life-size. Depending on the day you can even go inside the plane. Right in front of the plane, there is a good space to ride a bike, skate, or skateboard. Itโs a very familiar environment, so you will spot a lot of parents watching their kids having fun. The park also has a bike path that goes all the way from the main gate to the Han River. Is also easy to rent a bike through the app โSeoul bikeโ.
At last but not least, the park also has a small lagoon following the style of the Korean traditional palaces gardens, with carps and everything. Itโs another great example of how Korea preserves its history through small details that you can spot all over the city. It gives you a really nice view of the skyscrapers at the back of the lagoon. There also some fun art installations where you can take nice pictures. These are spread all over the park.
Seoul Forest Park
This park is one of the most loved by the Korean citizens, and itโs located between Jungnangcheon Stream and the Han River. To get there all you have to do is drop off at the Seoul Forest Station at Bundang Line. The park was opened in 2005 and it consists basically of four parks: Culture & Art Park, Educational Experience Park, Eco-Forest Park, and Riverside Park (along Han River!). The whole park was built with the help of over 5,000 volunteers, who contributed either with donations, activities, or planting trees. The best part? Seoul Forest is opened 24 hours a day, seven days a week!
Website: seoulforest.or.kr
There are a lot of different activities you can do in Seoul Forest. Starting off with the common ground, itโs obviously a great place to jog, take a walk or ride a bike. You can pretty much go all over the park with your bike โ or a rented one โ and you can even go all the way down to Han River. A good thing about cycling in Seoul Forest is that it doesnโt have many hills, so you can ride your bike comfortably in a slow rhythm. If youโre more into skating, Seoul Forest also has the perfect spot for you to skate, with skate ramps and everything.
The highlight of the park though goes to the Deer Corral. As you walk towards Han River, Seoul Forest has a really cute deer corral, where you can see around fifteen deers. They ask you not to feed the deers with human food, but you can grab leaves on the floor just to catch their attention. There is a small track you can follow to see the entire corral, and sometimes the deers will walk along with you โ there is only a small grid between you and the deers, so you will be able to see them very closely.
