Cycling Seoul to Busan Short Guide My cycling partner, Evelyn, and I cycled from Seoul to Busan between April 2nd and 7th, 2015. We cycled from our home near Noksapyeong station to the end of the Nakdong bike path in Busan. This is a short guide about our trip. I will outline our experience and give details on where we found accommodation, places for lunch, things to look out for,etc. Contents: GPS Locations Map Guide Signage Notes Certification Information (Passport and Stamp Notes) Daily Summaries
GPS Locations For all our GPS locations on this trip I will give the coordinates that I got from Google maps. For example, our starting point in Seoul was right beside Noksapyeong station, so if you copy these numbers and paste them into Google where shown in the screen shot below you will find the location. Maps Before the trip, I planned our route and the distances we wanted to do for each day. I got a lot of information from the Cycling Seoul to Busan Facebook page and from the Korea Tourism organization s Hangang and Nakdong bike path maps (pictured on the next page). I borrowed them from a friend who got them at a bike shop on the Yongsan US army base. I would highly recommend trying to get ahold of these maps as they were extremely helpful. I used Google and Daum maps to check the route while also looking at the maps. The maps are all on different page numbers so you can make notes and then check the page very quickly, instead of worrying about service out there in the middle of nowhere.
Note: If you can t get your hands on the maps, then you can view them online at the address below: http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/gk/gk_en_2_7_4.jsp Click on the link shown in the screen shot below.
Signage The route is very well marked with both posted signs and markings on the ground. You can easily follow the painted information on the bike path itself (pictured below), which also show your distance to and from major cities on the way to Busan or Seoul. 4 Rivers Logo Pictured: 4 Rivers path markings while cycling south from Andong (yellow writing noting the 162km we ve come from Andong) towards Nakdonggang (a further 223km distance noted in the white writing). Reading Hangul will definitely help. There are also blue posted signs along the path, which is sometimes a main car road (pictured below). The road signs must have the 4 Rivers logo on them, otherwise it takes you on another path. We got lost once around Sangju because we followed signs that said 4 Rivers but did not have the logo. I ve detailed this adventure in the Day 3 write up further down below.
Certification Information - 4 Rivers stamp books You can pick up a Korean 4 rivers bike path passport and stamp it as you go along the course. Evelyn picked up the stamp books at the Incheon west sea lock certification center. They are 4,000 won each. If you go all the way from Incheon to Busan and hand the book in at a manned certification center you will get a medal. You will have to search online which centers are manned as most of the stamp booths are just a red telephone booth with a stamp and ink pad (pictured below). You can also attempt the grand slam, which is going to every certification center in Korea. We found the certification centers a great way to know we were on the right track and a good place for short breaks. All the certification centers are indicated in the bike maps.
Stamp Booth Daily Summaries Day 1: Seoul to Yeoju 101km We took off from our place and headed straight to the Han River path (about 3km). The path in Seoul is easy to follow as you head southeast along the Han River. However, if you are trying to get all the stamps for the certification process, be aware that the Ara Hangang Lock is on the south side of the Han river, as is the Yeouido stamp booth. However again, the Ttuksome booth is on the north side, and then the Gwangnaru Bicycle Park stamp booth is again on the south side, forcing you to cross the Han several times for all the stamp along this bike route. After you get further away from Seoul, and the stamp booths get further and further apart, they are easier to locate. Later in the day, we found a very nice CU convenience store to have lunch just outside Yangpyeong. Lunch location: CU convenience store 37.505059, 127.456695 Once we arrived in Yeoju it was very easy to find accommodation. The bike path itself will take you up from the river and into the town for a couple of minutes, then back down into the river path. In these couple of minutes there are plenty of love motels to stay at. We stayed at 7 Motel that is literally just across the road from the bike path. It was 40,000 won for the room
and they allowed us to leave the bikes in the basement. We had dinner at a Galbi restaurant that was just opposite the motel. Accommodation: 7 Motel 37.292070, 127.650522 Day 2: Yeoju to Suanbo 107km We left the love motel and headed straight onto the bike path. The route here was nice with a bit heading away from cycle paths and cycling on the road. We did find, however, that convenience stores were very scarce for a long while on this part of the route, so stock up on water and snacks when you can in Yeoju. There is a CU located very close to the love motels in Yeoju. We stopped for lunch in Chungju and found there were a lot of choices in the town. Lunch location: Chungu GS25 convenience store 37.013293, 127.916420 If you are going to Busan, make sure not to follow the 4 river signs for the Chungju dam and just keep on the main route. We made it to Suanbo this day and it is a nice little town. We decided to keep going though and found a motel which was called Motel Story about 10km outside Suanbo in an area with a few houses and another motel. The owner was very nice and drove us to a Galbi restaurant which was around 5km away. It was 30,000 won for the room and we stored the bikes in the room. Accommodation: Motel Story 36.787760, 128.017051 Day 3: Suanbo to Nakdandong 114km This is where we started the real climbing on the trip. The road to Ihwaryeong is around 5km of incline. The view at the top is well worth the climb, though. We stopped at a small town close to the route for lunch and found a GS25 supermarket around 2km in off the bike path. There were smaller stores closer to the bike path but they didn t have a great selection of food. Lunch location: GS25 supermarket 36.594484, 128.200699 We did some more climbing at then we got lost. Right after you pass the sign for the Grave of the Loyal Cow you are supposed to take a left turn. We missed the turn and kept going in the direction of Sangju. There was a 4 river logo on these signs for some reason. They may have said something else on them but our Korean skills are not too good so we would have missed that. To
make sure you are on the right way, you should pass the Sangju bike museum on your right hand side. The bike path goes left into a driveway for some community center or something, and there is a tourist information booth that you will pass if you want to confirm the way. This path then meanders around the grounds a bit, before heading downwards on a bike path (not another driveway as we got lost on for a second time). This bike path is then along a river or forest again and is obviously the right way. If you are biking through the town with houses and roads, you are following the wrong signs. After a long detour following the wrong signs, we were back on route. We decided to stay the night at Nakdando instead of our target of the outskirts of Gumi because we could see some motels just off the bike path and it seemed like an easy place to stop. The certification center is located on a bridge and around 1km away there is a few love motels and some restaurants. We stayed at the motel which was 30,000 won. We found a chicken and beer restaurant about 5 minutes away. Accommodation: Motel at Nakdong- ri 36.360752, 128.300604 Where we got lost I really think they may be missing a left turn sign at this point as a friend of mine who did the cycle also got lost at this point. It is confusing because they also have signs for a bike route that leads directly into Sangju close to here. This is on Page 16 of the Nakdong bike map. Basically take the next left after you see the sign for Grave of the Loyal Cow. I also have a picture of where you turn left.
GPS location to turn left is: 36.455398, 128.241779 Day 4: Nakdandong to Hapcheon 85km We had a nice ride from Nakdandong to Gumi. Gumi is a city with a lot of industry so you will recognize it from all the factories that you can see. We stopped just outside Daegu for our lunch. We had to actually carry our bikes up and down steps to cross a bridge to get to the Mini Stop convenience store so maybe there is a better place to stop but the GPS location is below anyways. Lunch location: Mini Stop convenience store 35.980178, 128.394887 After this we went to the certification center and kept on going. We found that coming close to Hapcheon that there was some construction work on the route and it changed our route slightly. I am not entirely sure what route we took here but it involved a lot of ups and downs. On Page 35 of the Nakdong maps it shows an alternative route that I think we may have taken by mistake. We were riding late into the night and it started to get dark around 7pm and we started to look for accommodation. We were cycling along a road when a man in a pickup truck pulled alongside and asked us where we were going. It turned out that he ran a motel close by and he let us put the bikes in the back of the truck and drove us the 15 minute drive to the motel. His business card details are below. We would definitely recommend staying there. There was also a nice restaurant close by where we got the best kimchi jiggae.
Accommodation: Riverside Motel 35.528977, 128.356727 Day 5: Hapcheon to Busan 130km We started early on the final push for Busan. Our first decision was which route we would take as the maps outline two options. We got very good information from a document that Rajiv Aggarwal uploaded to the Cycling Seoul to Busan page on Facebook. Here is the info: The tour booklet alludes to this but doesn t show the exact roads. After the Cheongdeokgyo (Bridge) proceed to the Jeokpogyo (Bridge) and cross it (page 36 of tour book). Then turn right on the other side of the bridge. The road will be marked as 67 and/or 20/24. Stay on this, including a left turn, until you get to a point where 79 branches off to the right. Take that until you get a sign for 1008. Instead of turning to follow 79 you ll proceed straight onto 1008. Take 1008 and you ll see a sign for 1021 on your left. Take 1021 which meanders a bit and eventually drops you into a town (Namji-eup). This basically gets you to the Namjigyo (Bridge) (page 40 of the tour book). This route was very easy to follow. Namji is a nice little town and would probably be a very good place to stay the night before a push to Busan. The rest of the route was straightforward into Busan. There was a few big climbs and the style of the signs did change slightly so we still had to keep alert. The last 10km into Busan was along a cherry blossomed bike lane that was real nice to ride along. We arrived at the Nakdonggang estuary bank certification center around 3:30pm. This is the last part of the cycle. From there we got a van taxi to the Haeundae area. Haeundae is around 18km from the certification center and with traffic it took about 40 minutes. It cost 50,000 won. I m sure there would be easier ways to get there or find accommodation closer by. There was also a subway station just across the bridge (back the way you bike down from the bike path), but we didn t do our research first to know our options, and Evelyn was tired and not willing to risk looking around for subway stations. Just FYI, the bike path ends in the middle of the river, and there were no motels in close sight so make a game plan for the end of your trip.
Lunch location: No lunch breaks to save time but Namji looks like it would have places to eat. Accommodation: Love motel in the Haeundae area. There are loads of options there. It was 60,000 won for the night. Getting back to Seoul There are two main options to return to Seoul. They are the KTX train and the bus. There may also be slower train options. For the KTX I think you need to take your bike apart so it will fit in storage. We took the bus back as we didn t want to hassle around with our bikes, and it took around 4.5 hours to Seoul. We just put our bikes in the storage below and got them out when we landed in Seoul. If you have any questions just email me at Fergus313@gmail.com