While we may all joke about Korea bragging about having four seasons, you have to admit that each season here has its own distinct beauty, no complaints though as we get to enjoy the amazing scenery throughout each season. You may have already noticed that the leaves are slowly changing in Korea, and this only gives you a short chance to enjoy the foliage before winter comes. So, I want to share some photos from last year to recommend an autumn adventure to please the eye 🙂
This trip we visited Donghwasa temple, and then did a short hiking route up Palgongsan, before coming back by cable car and getting BBQ and cute photos at a cafe. I’ve shown a vague route below, it’s not exact so will take a little figuring out sorry ^^; but it should give you a good indication of where to go at least. The best time to visit is now, with foliage peaking on the 30th so plan your trip sharpish! I will be going again that day so if I see you there say hi!
This route covers the temple, a shortish hike to the cable car (1 hour), and then you can take the cable car down and the bus back to a more central area. You can cable car both ways but it is VERY busy this season. Except a wait of an hour or two if you opt to ride it up. So here is my adventure from last year with recommendations of how to enjoy the best of autumn in Daegu ^^
We started our trip by taking the subway to Ayanggyo Station, then the 급행1 towards Palgongsan. Get off at Donghwasa and walk up the hill towards the temple. There is a small entry fee (3,000?) but worth it for the views. The temple hosts one of the largest stone Buddha statues in the world, so it’s definitely worth stopping by here if you haven’t been before! The temple complex is also nice to walk around, and they have a giftshop if you need to pick up somethings to send home before Christmas. Click here if you want more detailed information about the temple.
After viewing the temple you want to exit and head left ove Gyo Bridge. It’s a little hard to explain but there are many friendly guides, who might not speak English but can point you towards the exit shown on the provided map. When you exit by the car park there are some great food trucks where you can sample some lovely autumn food like hotteok!
After you walk past the small pond you’ll see some restaurants and cafes, and there is a route up the mountain towards the back corner. You’ll see steps and some camping grounds that you can walk past up the hill. Keep heading up the hill through the woods and up lots of steps. You’ll go up a load more stairs then come to a flat part, turn left here and keep heading up. The hike takes around an hour if you’re slow, and does have some tricky parts with ropes and rocks (not full on climbing but not exactly gentle paths). I am not an experienced hiker and was fine, but if you get nervous about this kind of thing I would def recommend the cable car for a safe and comfortable trip.
Doing the hike though offers so many beautiful views, so if you are able I would recommend giving it a try! No need to rush, take your time, some water, some snacks, and plenty of breaks. It’s worth it!
Once you’re at the top you can enjoy the beautiful views, as well as the restaurant, but it is packed during this season. We stopped for a few photos before heading to the cable car. We bought tickets and only had to wait a few minutes to ride. The views are AMAZING so you should definitely plan to go at least one way by cable car. Once we got to the bottom we saw the insane queues to ride up. Like I said, if you want to go both ways by cable car expect a pretty long wait. Cable car timetable is also below, it closes earlier in winter.
After we finished at Palgongsan we took a bus to a BBQ place (팔공노을철판구이). We had to wait a while for a seat, but they do giant flame shows while cooking your meat which is pretty rad! The food was decent, not *too* expensive, and the flame show made it that wee bit extra special. I’d recommend dropping by here for some post hiking BBQ because you will definitely be hungry!
We also stopped off at a cafe (벨빌베이크하우스 팔공산점) that had decorated for Halloween. The decor was super cute but it was packed! They were advertising Halloween cookies online too but they must have sold out when we got there because we didn’t see any 😦 We just picked up some sweet treats for take out and headed for the bus. All in all we were out from the morning to mid afternoon, and it was an absolutely lovely day! I hope to see you at the top of Palgongsan next weekend!
Dig In Daegu 