Hwadamsup — Attraction in Gwangju-si

Hwadam Botanic Garden 26 October 2023 🍁🍂

[Naver Map] Hwadam Forest 경기 광주시 도척면 도척윗로 278-1 https://naver.me/5QG7EnL6

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We tried to find tour packages before coming but it seems like they’re fully booked during this period. Also tried to book tickets on the website but it requires Korean phone number of which I didn’t have back then.

We called Uber from Hongdae around 8 a.m. and arrived at the garden a little while before 10 a.m. The one way taxi costs 75,100 KRW.

We presented our passports and bought the entrance ticket at the ticket office which costs 11,000 KRW/ person. Cards are accepted.

MONORAIL: by the time we arrived, all the monorail tickets leaving from platform 1 was sold out. However, we were recommended to walk to Platform 2 to buy tickets on the spot.

at Platform 2 there are 2 routes available to book at the machine (use Papago to translate): from Platform 2 - 3 or 2 - 1. We chose the route from Platform 2 -3. It costs 5,000 KRW/ person.

at Platform 3 we also took the monorail back to Platform 1 for fun. There are plenty of tickets available so I chose the one which had 25 tickets available. It turned out there were only us and 2 grandpa/grandma. So we could take photos on the monorail.

In my opinion, if you’re arriving in the morning, there is a better chance of getting the monorail ticket.

It’s worth visiting from Seoul if you plan to spend your time freely here. I have the map with me but still got lost and walked back from Platform 3 to Platform 2. Haha 🤣

The scenery is beautiful, with the leaves turning into pretty colours. 🍁🍂 I would prefer a quieter botanic garden, however I don’t regret coming all the way here from Seoul. It’s so peaceful here. (Look at the trees! 🤣)

The food at the Hanok food court is kind of expensive, yet delicious.

So we headed back to Seoul by using public transportation. The bus stop for the bus no. 9 is in walking distance from the garden, however the bus comes like once or twice per hour. It costs 1,350 KRW/ person if paid by card. The WiFi on the bus works pretty well. We got off at Gonjium Station.

From Gonjium Station we changed the train thrice. (It depends on where you’re going. We came to Seongsu to explore the area.) So from the bus stop it took around 1 hour and a half to get back in...

Disclaimer that this is a direct comparison to Land of Morning Calm garden. I went to both with my parents who are in their 70s.

The Morning Calm garden is located in the valley between mountains with thematic gardens all around: an English garden, a Korean traditional garden, a vineyard, etc…

We found it easy to get in, easy to navigate, and most importantly easier to walk & enjoy. A leisurely stroll from one section to the next was truly a joy & pleasure.

Hwadamsoop felt in comparison an afterthought of a ski resort to make money. It’s affiliated with LG that owns the ski resort. Honestly the hotel area it’s dead in spring/summer/fall—-build a forest for tourists to keep the site active & alive. The hotel benefits from guests all year around now. Great in theory.

Reservations were very difficult for the entrance/monorail online, you really need to do the monorail or suffer uphill walking, & frankly they didn’t have as many things to see. They had a moss garden (which isn’t much to see), azaleas (which wasn’t blooming), Rose of Sharon garden, and a pine tree forest.

My parents rode the monorail for 20 minutes & didn’t want to get off after seeing how steep the walks were even downhill. So we drove 4 hours back and forth for a 20 min monorail without as much to see. I realize why the monorail is in every picture of hwadam bc you literally will suffer without it.

Go to Land of the morning calm garden—it was built by a mother-son group. You literally feel their life’s love put into that amazing place. It represents the heart, passion that Korean ppl have for their work & their mission. You see gardeners all over the place taking care of the gardens/flowers/trees. What you see at Hwadamsoop is ticket ppl in the front and monorail. It was the epitome of...

Quite a gorgeous view during Autumn, the landscape of Hwadamsup was stunningly beautiful. When we visited there with everything covered by golden maples and highlighted by occasional burning red.

The vicinity was not seen popular among foreigners and it was no where you would visit, unless you stayed at the LG resorts; the options for transportation were very limited. Coaches running haphazardly between the garden and the town, and the frequency was nothing you could predict. (Do not expect everyone stays in the queue, although some younger generations were very polite)

The food was unexpectedly cheap for a tourist spot, and the quality was not bad; however the souvenir shop was quite disappointing for the quality of their product.

The monorail tour was amazing and comfy, however the design of connecting two compartments into one was a complete failure; people sitting at the back of the first cart and the front of the second cart were blocked 90% of the time, which made half of the...