Why this ride
From Seoul it runs 360 km to Seoul; allow about 5 h 42 of riding. It goes by way of Jangneung Cluster, Hwaseong Fortress, Seosan Getbol and back through Hwaseong Fortress. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Seoul day out · Seosan Getbol
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 360 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 42
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Seoul
Seoul is a capital that sits in a bowl of granite mountains, and that is why it feels so layered. Bukhansan rises behind the old palaces to the north, Namsan stands in the middle with its tower, and the Han River slides through the south. The city has been the Korean capital since 1394, when the Joseon dynasty chose it, and the royal palace of Gyeongbokgung was built soon after. A fortress wall still climbs some of the ridges, and walking even a short section gives a fine view over the roofs. Insadong, with its tea houses and craft shops, and the hanok streets of Bukchon preserve the old style of wooden courtyard houses among the modern towers.
Read the complete Seoul write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seoul is where the day begins. Next is Jangneung Cluster.
2. Jangneung Cluster
North-west of Seoul, close to where the Imjin river flows into the Han and the demilitarised zone cuts the Korean peninsula in two, lies a royal tomb: Jangneung, the resting place of King Injo, who ruled Joseon in the seventeenth century, and his queen. Injo's reign was marked by invasions from the Manchu, and he was forced to humiliate himself before the Qing emperor in 1637, a defeat that still resonates in Korean memory. His tomb, like the other Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, inscribed on the UNESCO list in 2009, is a grassy mound on a hillside, guarded by stone figures of officials, warriors and animals, with a T-shaped shrine below.
Read the complete Jangneung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jangneung Cluster comes up 47 km in. Next is Hwaseong Fortress.
3. Hwaseong Fortress
Hwaseong is a love letter from a son to his father, written in stone. In 1762, Crown Prince Sado was locked in a rice chest by his own father, King Yeongjo, and left to die, one of the darkest episodes in Korean royal history. His son, who became King Jeongjo, never forgot, and he moved his father's tomb to a site near Suwon and built a grand fortress there, completed in 1796, intended perhaps as a new capital. The engineer and scholar Jeong Yak-yong used cranes and pulleys to speed up construction, and the walls, gates, towers and bastions combine Korean, Chinese and Western ideas of fortification. UNESCO listed it in 1997.
Read the complete Hwaseong Fortress write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
94 km in you reach Hwaseong Fortress.
4. Hwaseong Fortress
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hwaseong Fortress write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hwaseong Fortress, about halfway. Next is Seosan Getbol.
5. Seosan Getbol
Korea's west coast has some of the largest tides on earth. Twice a day the Yellow Sea pulls back for kilometres, exposing vast shining mud flats, the getbol, laced with channels and alive with crabs, mudskippers, worms and shellfish. UNESCO has listed a series of these Korean tidal flats for their extraordinary biodiversity and for the millions of migratory shorebirds that stop here to feed on their way between Siberia and Australia.
Read the complete Seosan Getbol write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Seosan Getbol sits at 188 km, about halfway. Next is back through Hwaseong Fortress.
6. back through Hwaseong Fortress
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hwaseong Fortress write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Hwaseong Fortress comes up 235 km in.
7. back through Hwaseong Fortress
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hwaseong Fortress write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
282 km in you reach back through Hwaseong Fortress. Next is back through Jangneung Cluster.
8. back through Jangneung Cluster
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jangneung Cluster write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Jangneung Cluster, late in the day. Next is Seoul.
9. Seoul
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Seoul write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 360 km.
Leg by leg
Seoul to Jangneung Cluster
Seoul → Jangneung Cluster is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jangneung Cluster to Hwaseong Fortress
Jangneung Cluster → Hwaseong Fortress is 83 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Hwaseong Fortress to Seosan Getbol
Hwaseong Fortress → Seosan Getbol is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Seosan Getbol to back through Hwaseong Fortress
Seosan Getbol → back through Hwaseong Fortress is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hwaseong Fortress to back through Jangneung Cluster
back through Hwaseong Fortress → back through Jangneung Cluster is 83 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Jangneung Cluster to Seoul
back through Jangneung Cluster → Seoul is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Yangpyeong Mountain Roads · part 2 · 202 km
- Seoraksan Weekend · part 2 · 87 km
- Yangpyeong Mountain Roads · short arc · 310 km
- Area 2 and Kanghwa Dolmen Sites · 344 km