Seoul's royal tombs are not all in the city centre, and the ones on this stretch lie in the green country just to the north-west, in a belt of forest, farmland and expanding suburbs that stretches towards the border. The cluster on our list is one of several groups of Joseon dynasty burial mounds, and the nearest sizeable town is Uijeongbu, nearly half a million people, with Goyang just beyond it.
Joseon kings and queens were buried in carefully chosen places, according to the principles of geomancy, with a hill behind and water in front, and each tomb is a small landscape of its own. A round mound ringed by stone fences sits on a grass slope, with stone figures of civil officials, soldiers and animals set out along the approach, a T-shaped shrine for ceremonies and a red-painted spirit gate. The groves around them were protected for centuries, which is why many of the tombs lie in unexpectedly good woodland, with old pines and oaks. The 40 tombs were listed by UNESCO in 2009.
Riding here, the best of the landscape lies close to Bukhansan, the granite mountain park on Seoul's northern edge, where jagged peaks rise above the suburbs and hiking trails are busy on weekends. The roads are paved, busy and well marked, with some good winding sections on the edge of the hills, though traffic can be heavy, and speed cameras are common. On weekdays, mornings are calm, and in autumn the colour on the mountains is spectacular. Winters are cold and dry, and snow can make hill roads slippery.
Uijeongbu, about nine kilometres away, has plenty of fuel, restaurants and convenience stores, and it is famous for budae jjigae, a spicy stew made from sausages, noodles and kimchi that was born after the Korean War from American army rations. Entrance fees are small and the tomb parks usually close one day a week, so look it up before you go, and keep to the paths, because the grass mounds are sacred.