Gwaneumsa Trail | Hallasan National Park — Attraction in Jeju

We hiked the Gwaneumsa Trail up to mount Hallasan and parked at the “Visitor Information Center | Gwaneumsa Trail” parking spot. We spent 5 hours in total going up and down the same trail (excluding breaks). Worth mentioning is that you need to register in advance or on site, I assume there is a risk not having a slot if you choose the latter. In terms of timing you need to be at Samgakbong Shelter before 11:30 AM, maybe this changes in winter which is worth checking!

The hike is on stairs and a built-up trail (not a “natural trail” as such). Until you get up to the Samgakbong Shelter you will not have a view, you are walking in a forest. After that it is quite spectacular with a view over Jeju and the Volcano itself. In other words, if the weather is not nice, there is absolutely no point doing the hike. If it rains, I assume the trail will be slippery as you are walking on stairs of wood and a trail or rocks and wooden planks.

In terms of physical shape, you will climb up and down 1500 meters on stairs. If you have bad knees or similar it will be painful. There are no exposed parts of the trail, you are safely walking on a staircase in the “red parts”. The colour mainly refers to the steepness of the trail in my understanding. There are toilets up the trail, the last one is at Samgakbong Shelter. The toilets are high standard. There are potable water sources, but no place to buy food or snacks along the trail.

The key experience for us was to meet all the Korean hikers especially at the top queuing up to take a photo with the rock marking the top. Fellow hikers were cheering for us when we were battling up the last few stairways...

This is the Gwaneumsa hiking trail leading to the Hallasan summit. It is a hard trail. Don’t be fooled by the relatively easy first 3 km. What comes after that is brutal - seemingly endless stairs and rocky paths. You need above-average fitness, good shoes and sufficient supplies (water and food).

The trail is very well maintained, about 30-40pct is boardwalk/stairs. It is also fully marked and no forks or alternative routes so easy to follow. The scenery until the Samgakbong shelter is uneventful but after that you get rewarded with sweeping views of the rocky slopes and valleys.

There are toilets at two spots along the trail but no drinking water.

Early start highly recommended. It took me 7 hours to get up and down again, but estimate that for most people this will take around 8h. You cannot proceed past the Samgakbong shelter after 12:30pm in summer (11:30am in winter) since from there, it is about 75-90 min to the summit and you will need between 3-4h to get back down before sunset. And yes, they do check up there at the Samgakbong shelter and will stop you after that time. Reaching the shelter from the trail head took me 2h30h. So counting on it taking 3h, there is no point getting on this trail after 09:30am (08:30am) if you want to reach the summer.

Until the Samgakbong shelter, the path leads through a forest and is shady. Above the shelter, the forest thins out and for the 45 min or so of summit ascent and descent you will be in full sun if the weather is clear. Being protection (not just sunscreen, also hat and cover - you are at 1800m altitude, UV intensity is...

Of the two trails leading to the summit of Hallasan, this one is certainly the more beautiful of the two. It is also the shorter one in terms of distance, but that also means it is the steeper of the two. I took this trail on the way up and the Seongpanak Trail on the way down, but you could easily do it the other way if you wanted.

This trail is an awesome hike, probably my favorite so far in Korea, and the views are amazing. It sn't exactly easy, but if you're in at least decent physical condition it shouldn't be too hard. But unfortunately, all of the best views are beyond the final shelter, which you must arrive at by a certain time, otherwise you won't be allowed to continue towards the summit.

I started at around 9:30am and reached the final shelter at 11:40am, only 20 minutes before they stopped letting people continue to the summit (I went in November, I think in summer they give you until later in the day to reach this shelter before they close access to the summit). A 10am-12pm permit probably won't leave you enough time unless you move at a breakneck speed and don't stop for pictures or to catch your breath a couple times. So try and get an early permit and keep checking the website to see if additional times open up, because they do, trust me. I got my permit the day before my hike, because hiking to the summit was prohibited on the day I had my original permit for due to high winds.

Either way, this is perhaps my favorite thing I've done during my time in Korea, and it was definitely my favorite hike....