Day Trip: Suwon Hwaseong Fortress

Look at tiny Millie! Hard to believe we’ve been in South Korea for 3 years now and she was just over a year old when we showed up.

I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say - I love how Korea has integrated newness with the centuries past. Maybe it’s just because the USA is, comparatively, such a new country. It seems that Americans tear things down to build over rather than build around.

One of my favorite day trips is to head to Suwon Hwaseong Fortress. It’s about an hour south of Seoul and an hour away from Osan Air Base. Thanks to a rehabilitation project in the 1970’s most of the fortress walls are still intact for you to walk and there are so many cafes and restaurants packed on top of each other that we’re always finding a new favorite place. Fun facts: Hwaseong Fortress was built from 1794-1796 during the Joseon dynasty, was severely damaged during the Korean War, and was restored in the 1970’s based on 200 year old perfectly preserved blueprints. Many of the large roads we travel nowadays were built while the walls were down and the gate design was then re-built around these.

THINGS TO DO

One fun family adventure is to take the hot air balloon “ride” at Flying Suwon. The hot air balloon is attached to the ground with a chain so it doesn’t actually float away and the part between the basket and the balloon is a net so you can’t fall out. We took the girls the first month we were in Korea when they were 15 months and 6 and we all enjoyed it. (Look how tiny Millie was when we moved to Korea!) Adults are 20,000 and kids range from 14,000-18,000 depending on their age, 2 years and younger is free. Weekday hours are 12:00-21:00 and weekend hours are 11:00-21:30. Flights can be cancelled based on the weather and amount of waiting passengers. It’s conveniently located near Changryongmun Gate. They have their own parking lot, but if you go cross through the fortress wall, there is a larger parking lot.

Hiking Hwaseong Fortress, October 2023

There are also may activities to do around the walls. You can take the trolley ride, you can shoot a bow and arrows, or you can picnic on the lawn and fly kites. On good weather days you’ll see a lot of picnic blankets and families flying kites.

This past fall I finally managed to hike the entire fortress wall. My friend and I are always on limited time due to kids schedules but we managed to hike the entire wall, have lunch and grab a coffee before heading home. From the time we arrived until the time we left, it was a total of 3.5 hours.

If you’re with a large crowd, children or slower moving individuals, plan on the wall taking longer. There is one section of the wall that is straight up hill with tons of stairs. I highly recommend making 화서문 (Hwaseomun) your starting point because you’re not going to want to do this in the middle or the end of your hike. Believe me. You’ll want to head west from 화서문 (Hwaseomun) - the direction where the stairs and the woods are.

Now that I’ve managed to hike the wall once, my next goal is to hike it during each season. I’d really love to see it covered in snow!

FOOD

I should mention that establishments in this area tend to open much later than normal - a lot of cafes don’t even open until 11 which was surprising. The norm in Korea tends to be 10-10:30.

On my last visit to Hwaseong, we found Goldie’s. They sell coffee, cronuts, donuts and yummy sandwiches and they open at 10:30. They have limited outdoor seating but a ton of seating inside and upstairs.

If you’re looking for an early quiet spot to grab brunch, I highly recommend Hollywood Cafe. They open at 10:00. It’s tiny, quaint and on a quiet side street near two different gates (Janganmun and Hwahong) and the river path with gorgeous weeping willows. Make sure to check Naver for their schedule, they’re closed a lot of the week but it’s worth the visit.

This little French bistro, Le Pain de Paris, is right next to a paid parking lot and a two minute walk to Janganmun gate. I took my in-laws here and we all enjoyed it. Lots of French pies, pastries, croissant sandwiches and soup.

View of Janganmun Gate from GrayRock

If you’re in the mood for Italian food, I recommend GrayRock although it’s a bit pricier and I wish you luck getting *THAT* instagrammable spot of Janganmun Gate. They don’t open until noon, so you can grab coffee at Cafe Paletscent before heading downstairs. Cafe Paletscent has a great rooftop view of Janganmun gate. They open at 11:30.

There are too many cafes and restaurants to list here and if you look on Naver, you’ll see just how many there are! I bet you could never actually visit every one that’s there.

You can get to Suwon via public transportation and it’s roughly an hour from Seoul. There are also free and paid parking lots. Like most destinations in Korea, the earlier you arrive, the better luck you’ll have finding a parking spot.

I’m always looking for new cafes to check out so leave your favorite Hwaseong stops in the comments!