Seokbulsa — Attraction in Busan

If you don’t want to exhaust yourself completely, take a taxi to the temple itself. It’s 500m away from where they can drop you off, and it’s up an extreme incline.

If you want to go to the South Gate, take the cable car. I would suggest lots of water and hiking boots. From the cable car to South Gate it is a mild hike. If you walk around the perimeter of the gate it’s about 13km if I remember correctly, but it’s only approx 2km from the cable to the gate.

If you walk from the cable, to the gate, then to the temple, you need good hiking shoes, lots of water, and do not go on a rainy day. This is a moderate hike (read: for an experienced hiker, if you don’t do this normally it’s painful/exhausting/and you’ll likely fall/slip at least once).

You will walk out the South Gate on the somewhat paved area. You will think to yourself that this will be a fine experience and easy 2km walk. It’s not.

Once you hit the village you will need to follow the trail to the right next to very outdated tennis courts. From there it’s a pretty easy to identity (don’t confuse with easy to navigate) trail. Follow this all the way to the road where you think you have finally made it, but you haven’t.

You will go right and walk another 500m (approx, but my legs determined that was a lie) up a continuous cut-back road until you finally make it to the entrance of the temple.

When you walk up, it doesn’t really seem all that spectacular, but the carvings in the rock face and the stairs/small prayer areas/etc are actually beautiful and interesting.

It is beautiful, it it’s worth it, it is not something you will do in 1-1.5 hours and then go relax...

Felt like a mystical experience for me:

Drove up on a misty wet day where vision is short and floor is wet. Halfway my car couldnt continue to drive up safely on the wet road and I decided to stop it at the nearest safe corner and hike about 15mins up the hill. The temple was closed by the time i got up, but the caretaker was near the gate and noticed me outside the entrance and without being able to communicate due to language barrier, he gestured and then opened the gates specially for me, relocking the gate after i entered, and letting me free solo roaming around the temple. Felt like the mist, hike, wet road was all there to test my determination, and if i pass it all, someone is waiting for me at the top. Did i think too much? At least its what it appeared to be like.

The misty in the mountain creates a mystical feel of the temple, where the tree branches that hangs over the cliff pavilion disappears into the cloud. The Buddha statues crafted in the stones are impressive by itself, but set in the mountains, with the cool wet breeze blowing gently in circles around me, and the mist creating a soft, shadowless lighting. Time seems to had frozen for me. If only i had an extra hour to meditate there and then, i thought to myself.

Some deeper parts of the temple holds places dedicated to the some specific deities, where light seems to not being able to find itself in. Those ares are illuminated mainly by the oil candles on the altar. These places are eerie, peaceful, and I felt reassuringly safe all at the same time.

Something about this temple gives me the...

This was my favourite temple in Korea. Liked it more than Bulguksa or Haedong Yonggung, Bongeunsa or Jogyesa. You can easily get by taxi but I liked the route via the Geumsang cable car. A pretty forest hike. Quite easy following the signs to South Gate (and if you want, the Observatory and Watch Tower #2), and then go down all the way to the road that leads up to this gorgeous temple. It is not an easy climb up but worth it for sure.

The place was empty when I visited, which made it even more magical. Just gorgeous carving in the rock, and the temple itself is beautiful. The view is outstanding and you can even feed the friendly crows if you feel like...