The First Cold Morning Changes Everything
You smell it before you see it. Sometime around the second week of October, the air in Seoul shifts — sharper, thinner, carrying a faint sweetness that wasn’t there yesterday. The ginkgo trees along Deoksugung Stone Wall Road start dropping yellow fans onto the pavement, and suddenly everyone on the subway is checking foliage forecast maps on their phones.
South Korea’s autumn foliage season runs roughly from mid-October to mid-November, though ‘roughly’ is doing a lot of work in that sentence. The Korea Meteorological Administration publishes annual forecasts, but the timing shifts by a week or two depending on summer temperatures and early-autumn rainfall. The general rule — leaves turn from north to south — is reliable enough for planning, but specific peak dates for any given mountain are honestly a gamble.
Seoraksan: Worth the Crowds, Barely
Seoraksan National Park in Gangwon Province is usually the first major spot to peak, somewhere around mid-to-late October. The Ulsanbawi Rock trail gets the most attention — eight granite peaks towering over a canopy that shifts from green to red over about ten days. The views from the top are genuinely spectacular.
But here’s what the foliage guides leave out: Seoraksan on a peak-season weekend is a traffic disaster. The road from Sokcho backs up for kilometers, parking fills by 8 AM, and the popular trails feel more like queuing for a theme park ride than hiking. If you can swing a weekday visit, do it. If you’re stuck with a weekend, take the earliest bus from Sokcho terminal (around 6:30 AM) and head for the less-trafficked Osaek route on the southern side instead of the main entrance.
The cable car to Gwongeumseong is another pain point — wait times can exceed two hours during peak foliage. I’ve seen conflicting reports about whether you can pre-book online now. Worth checking before you go.
Nami Island on a Tuesday
Nami Island’s metasequoia lane is one of those places that looks exactly like its photographs, which is both its appeal and its problem. The tree-lined paths create a genuine tunnel effect in autumn — tall, straight trunks with a canopy of gold and rust — and the morning light does something nice when it filters through.
The catch is that everyone knows this. Weekend visits mean competing with tour buses, wedding photo shoots, and an endless stream of selfie sticks. A Tuesday or Wednesday morning in late October is a completely different experience. The ferry from Gapyeong runs every 30 minutes; there’s also a zip line if you want a more dramatic arrival, though it costs extra and the thrill lasts about 90 seconds.
The ginkgo lane on the eastern side is less photographed but arguably prettier. Ginkgo leaves turn a cleaner, more uniform yellow than maples, and when they start falling, the ground looks like it’s been paved in gold coins. Fair warning though: ginkgo fruit smells terrible. You’ll know it when you step on one.
Getting there from Seoul is straightforward — take the ITX-Cheongchun train from Yongsan or Cheongnyangni station to Gapyeong (about an hour), then a short taxi or shuttle to the ferry dock. If you’d rather not figure out the logistics, KLOOK and KKday both run day trips from Seoul that bundle the ferry, lunch, and sometimes a stop at Petite France or the Garden of Morning Calm. Not the cheapest option, but it removes the transport headache.
The Temples Nobody Rushes Through
This is the part of Korean autumn that doesn’t make the Instagram reels but probably should. Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju sits in a forest that goes from green to burnt orange in late October, and because most visitors are there for the temple itself — a UNESCO World Heritage site, the stone pagodas, the lotuses — the foliage is almost a side effect. You round a corner on the approach path and suddenly the maples are backlit by afternoon sun and the temple roof is poking through a wall of red leaves, and it’s one of those moments where you stop walking without deciding to.
Beopjusa near Songnisan is less visited and more atmospheric. The 33-meter Maitreya Buddha statue framed by autumn maples is a photograph that basically takes itself. The surrounding national park has trails that range from easy strolls to proper half-day hikes.
Gyeongju in general is worth more than a day trip during foliage season. The royal tomb mounds (Daereungwon) surrounded by autumn trees have a quiet, strange beauty — these grass-covered hills that are actually ancient burial chambers, with maple and ginkgo trees scattered between them.
내장산: The One They Call the King
Naejangsan National Park peaks later than everywhere else — usually early November — which makes it useful if you miss the window further north. The approach road to Naejangsa Temple is lined with maple trees that form a tunnel of red so saturated it looks like a film set. On a clear day with the sunlight coming through, the color is almost too much.
The park is in Jeollabuk-do, reachable by KTX to Jeongeup station (about 2 hours from Seoul) and then a local bus. The hike to the Yongam Lake viewpoint is moderate and gives you an elevated perspective over the entire color-soaked valley. The reflection of the surrounding mountains in the lake, when the water is still, is the kind of thing you’d think was Photoshopped if you saw it online.
One thing to know: Naejangsan gets seriously crowded on November weekends. The park entrance road sometimes closes to private vehicles entirely, and shuttle buses run on a schedule that may or may not align with your plans.
The Logistics Nobody Talks About
Korea’s foliage season coincides with some of the best weather of the year, which sounds great until you realize everyone else — Korean and foreign — has the same idea. A few things to know:
Accommodation disappears fast. Mountain-area guesthouses and Gyeongju hotels book out weeks in advance for peak weekends. If your dates aren’t flexible, book early. Way earlier than you think is necessary.
Layers, not a heavy coat. October mornings at elevation can be genuinely cold — 5°C or lower at Seoraksan’s higher trails — but by midday you’re hiking in 18°C sunshine and sweating through your base layer. Dress for both.
The KTX is your friend. Seoul to Jeongeup (for Naejangsan) is about two hours. Seoul to Gyeongju is under three. Seoul to Sokcho (for Seoraksan) doesn’t have a direct KTX — you’ll need the express bus from Dong Seoul terminal, about 2.5 hours. Book KTX tickets in advance during peak season; they sell out.
Phone signal in the parks is generally fine at the entrance areas but gets spotty on remote trails. Download offline maps if you’re planning longer hikes.
Getting the Timing Right
The honest answer is: you probably won’t nail peak foliage at every destination in a single trip. The color moves south at roughly 25 kilometers per day, so by the time Naejangsan is peaking, Seoraksan’s leaves are mostly on the ground. A common strategy is to pick two spots — one northern, one southern — and hope for the best.
Korea’s foliage forecast (단풍 예보) usually comes out in late September. The Korea Meteorological Administration’s website has it, though it’s mostly in Korean. Searching ‘2026 단풍 시기’ closer to the date should turn up English-language summaries on travel blogs.
For flights and accommodation, Trip.com usually has decent package deals on Seoul hotels plus flights. Booking a month ahead is probably fine for Seoul itself — it’s the rural areas where availability gets tight.
After the Leaves Fall
The subway back to Seoul was packed — standing room only from Cheongnyangni. Everyone was carrying those rustling convenience-store bags full of snacks, and half the train had red maple leaves pressed between the pages of whatever they were reading. My shoes were still muddy from the trail, and I was too tired to care that I’d missed the last express bus and had to take the local. Somewhere around Hoegi station I realized I’d accidentally pocketed a ginkgo leaf that was slowly making the inside of my jacket smell like rancid butter.
