Hi, welcome to Sugar N Pie Korea travel blog. In this blog, we gonna share our most wonderful 13-days journey in South Korea, travelling from the south to north. Today was our sixth day in Seoul. Let’s join us in exploring one of the best weekend getaway spots in northern region of Korea. Hope this Seoul itinerary could help you to finetune your trip. So let’s go! (☆▽☆)
Seoul Itinerary
Day 6 : Gapyeong
Gangchon Rail Park - Nami Island - Petite France - Morning Calm Arboretum
Stop 1 : Gangchon Rail Park
We took the earliest subway to Gapyeong. We interchanged three subway line on the way, from Hoehyeon station(Line 4) to Dongdaemun station, from Dongdaemun station (Line 1) to Hoegi Station, from Hoegi Station (Gyeongchun Line) to Gimyujeong Station. It was a long 2 hours trip. If you have more budget, may choose to take ITX train service to Gapyeong, which is faster with shorter traveling time.
We arrived our first destination, Gangchon Rail Bike after 4 minutes walk from Gimyujeong station. It is one of the popular activity nearby Nami Island, allowing visitor to pedal along the old Gangchon Rail Park track and enjoy the beauty along route. But unfortunately, the morning session was fully booked and free seats only available at noon session.
(ノへ￣、)
So we would suggest our friends to online pre-book the ticket first, to get your preferred time slot especially during peak season eg. weekends or holidays. But do remember to check on the weather forecast and avoid rainy season.
Stop 2 : Nami Island
So we decided to move to our next destination, Nami Island. We grabbed a taxi to Gapyeong Station and hopped onto the Gapyeong City Tour bus. The shuttle bus would bring the visitor to major tourist destination in Gapyeong in circular route with bus fare 6000won only. Visitor could unlimited get on and off the bus over the day. The bus stopped us at Gapyeong Wharf, the departure dock to Nami Island.
There are two ways to reach Nami Island, either by ferry or zip wire. We preferred to take the more leisure way. We paid 16,000won per pax for the round trip ferry ticket. No long wait, we can get onto the ferry after bought our picnic material from the nearest convenience store, and arrived the island within 7 minutes.
Nami Island(Namiseom) is always on top of our bucket list since watching the Korean drama, “Winter Sonata”. And finally we were here and verified it! (☆▽☆)
It was autumn! Currently spectacular fall foliage was covering all over the Island. Featuring beautiful tree lanes, woodlands, riverside walks, and many more, almost every site of this small island offers picture-perfect scenery.
Among these amazing sights in Nami Island, Ginkgo Tree Lane, Metasequoia Lane and Dodamsambong Garden caught our eyes the most. The splendor of vivid autumn leaves create a dazzling and warm atmosphere. (★ ω ★) Leisurely strolling on the beautiful tree-lined path and having our gimbap under the vibrant golden-yellow canopy overhead, the experience was wonderful.
Stop 3: Petite France
After lunch, we took ferry back to Gapyeong Wharf and went to Petite France by shuttle bus.
Petite France is a popular French village where Korean drama “Beethoven”, “Secret Garden”, “My Love From the Star” and “Running Man” were taking scene at. The entrance fee cost us 10,000won each person.
What attracting us was its architecture. The village was built in the design of mixing European-style and whimsical, fairy-tale-like castle. The houses were colorfully painted.
Other than that, the sculptures of classic character, 'Little Prince', which distributed in the village, have merged seamlessly with those beautiful site and made the village more fancy. There also have a museum of 'The Little Prince', some traditional French cultural exhibits and crafts workshop, which allow visitor to experience more about French culture.
Stop 4: Morning Calm Arboretum
Hopping onto the shuttle bus, we continued our exploration trip. Our next stop would be Morning Calm Arboretum. The botanical garden was one of the filming location of 'Love In The Moonlight' which casted by YD's oppa, Park Bo Gum. ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ
The arboretum was all about flowers and plants. It had abundant collection of plant species, including rare and endangered plants. You may skip this place if you are not a natural lover.
Nothing too fancy, but I still in loved with the beautiful foliage in the arboretum. We enjoyed scenic walks along the winding paths, taking in the beautiful fall scenery and soaking up the peaceful atmosphere. It was a great runaway place to enjoy some tranquility amid the buzz of the city. The entrance fee was 9000won per pax.
The last trip of shuttle bus is 7.00pm at Morning Calm Arboretum. So, make sure to pre-set your alarm if you are taking the public transport. Or else, you may also grab a taxi if miss out the bus.
We were totally exhausted after taking an hour subway back to Myeongdong. We preferred to enjoy our night in our hotel, eating our Korean snacks while watching drama.
This was all our activities on Day-11 in Korea.
See you next day, bye. (*￣3￣)╭