Inwangsan Sunset Hike from Gyeongbokgung: Routes, Timing, Rules

Inwangsan is the closest real mountain to Gyeongbokgung: 338 m of granite, with the city wall running up its spine, and roughly an hour’s climb from Sajik Park, ten minutes’ walk from Gyeongbokgung Station. Return the hanbok first, change into trainers, and start up about 90 minutes before sunset. The trail is free and open all night, but there are no toilets on it and the stone steps are steep.

Why return the hanbok before you hike?

Because Inwangsan is a proper climb, not a stroll. The wall path is long flights of uneven stone steps over bare granite, and the official Seoul City Wall page rates the Inwang section five out of five for difficulty. Going up in a floor-length skirt is awkward. Coming down in one, in fading light, is how people fall.

There is also the money. A torn hem or a muddy skirt is a damage charge on a rented hanbok, and granite is hard on fabric. The order that works is: palace in hanbok while the free entry applies, return it, change into your own clothes and trainers, then go up the mountain.

If you rented on the Seochon side of Gyeongbokgung Station, the walk to the trail is short. Gigibebe Hanbok and The Artist Hanbok are both just off Jahamun-ro by the station; Gigibebe closes at 19:00 and The Artist at 18:00 according to our listings, which matters once you start working back from sunset. What Seochon itself is like, as opposed to Insa-dong or Samcheong-dong, is in Insadong, Samcheong-dong, Seochon.

Which route up Inwangsan should you take?

There are four usual ways up, plus the whole wall section if you have the afternoon. Nobody publishes official trailhead-to-summit times for each one, so the times below are the ranges given by Seoul’s own city-wall pages and Seoul Metropolitan Government write-ups. Treat them as an ordinary adult pace with a few photo stops.

Start point	Getting there from Gyeongbokgung Station	Time to summit	Difficulty	Best for
Sajik Park (via Hwanghakjeong and Beombawi)	Exit 1, about 10 min on foot	about 1 hr to 1 hr 30	Stone steps along the wall, steady climb	First-timers and sunset. The easiest way to find, and the way to come back down in the dark.
Suseong-dong Valley (via Choso Chaekbang)	Exit 3, village bus Jongno 09 to the last stop, about 10 min	about 1 hr	Gentle to the café, then steps	A coffee stop on the way; the prettiest start
Yun Dong-ju Literary Museum / Changuimun	Exit 3, bus 1020 or 7022 to the Jahamun Pass / Yun Dong-ju stop	about 30 min down from the summit; slower going up	Steep wall steps	Coming down, not going up. Ends near Buam-dong.
Muak-dong (Inwangsa temple, Seonbawi rock)	Not from this station: Dongnimmun Station Exit 2	about 1 hr	Steep in places	Seonbawi and the shrine side of the mountain
Full Inwang wall section, Donuimun site to Changuimun	Seodaemun Station Exit 4, about 5 min	4.0 km, about 2 hr 30 end to end	Rated 5/5 by the City Wall office	An afternoon of the wall itself, not a sunset dash

For a sunset, I would go up from Sajik Park and come back the same way. It is the route with the fewest decisions, it follows the wall all the way so you cannot really get lost, and the stretch around Beombawi (Tiger Rock) is where the view opens west. Going down a path you climbed an hour earlier is much easier in the dark than one you have never seen.

If you are not after the summit at all, the Inwangsan Jarak-gil, the foothill trail, runs roughly 2.5 to 3 km (sources differ) from Sajikdan past Suseong-dong Valley to the Yun Dong-ju Literary Museum and takes around an hour and a half. It is mostly level and has views without the climb.

When should you start for sunset?

Work back from sunset, not forward from lunch. Give yourself an hour and a half before sunset at the trailhead: an hour to climb, half an hour to find a rock and get your breath back. After sunset there is roughly half an hour of usable light, and then you are walking down by torch.

Date	Sunset	Usable light until	Leave Sajik Park by
15 January	17:37	18:06	16:05
15 March	18:39	19:05	17:05
15 May	19:34	20:04	18:00
21 June	19:57	20:28	18:25
15 August	19:25	19:53	17:55
15 October	17:55	18:22	16:25
15 November	17:21	17:49	15:50
21 December	17:17	17:46	15:45

Times are calculated for central Seoul, the same way as our date tool; “usable light” is the end of civil twilight. For your exact dates, check the hanbok date planner, which shows sunset for any day of the year.

The table also tells you the awkward part. From October to February, sunset comes before most rental shops close, so a sunset hike means handing the hanbok back by mid-afternoon. In mid-October that looks like: return the hanbok by 15:45, out of Exit 1 by 16:10, walking up from Sajik Park by 16:25, on the ridge by about 17:25, sun down at 17:55. In June it is the opposite problem: you can return the hanbok at 18:00 and still be early.

Is Inwangsan open at night, and are there closures?

The trail is open around the clock. The official Seoul City Wall page lists the Inwang section as open 24 hours, and VisitKorea lists the mountain as open all year with no closing day. It is not a national park: Jongno-gu and Seodaemun-gu look after their sides of the mountain, and the wall itself is run by the Seoul city government.

You will still find older guides saying the mountain is closed on Mondays and after dark. That was true for years after the mountain reopened in 1993; it is not the rule now. What does close on Mondays are the things beside the trail: the Yun Dong-ju Literary Museum (10:00 to 18:00, also shut on 1 January, Seollal and Chuseok), the Inwangsan Forest Shelter, and the City Wall phone line.

Two things do change the picture. Winter: the City Wall office warns about the rock sections in winter and suggests crampons when there is snow, and a frozen granite step at dusk is not something to test. And dry spring weather: in April 2023 a wildfire burned an area of about 19 football pitches on the north side of the mountain near Buam-dong. Seodaemun-gu finished the first phase of repairs in January 2026, with new stone steps and handrails. Smoking is banned on the mountain, and during dry-weather warnings it is worth checking whether any trail has been closed before you go.

Choso Chaekbang, Suseong-dong Valley and the Forest Shelter

Suseong-dong Valley is the start most people miss. It is the last stop on the Jongno 09 village bus, a small rocky gorge with the single-slab Girin-gyo bridge that the painter Jeong Seon put in a picture nearly three centuries ago.

Choso Chaekbang (초소책방), now run as The Forest Choso Chaekbang, sits above the valley on Inwangsan-ro. It was a police guard post built in 1968 to watch over the presidential residence and is now a café and bookshop with a terrace over the city. Seoul’s own write-ups list it as open daily from 08:00 to 22:00; another guide gives 21:00 and shorter hours in December and January. Check the current hours on a map app before you count on a coffee at the top.

The Inwangsan Forest Shelter is a former army post near the wall, reached by a few hundred steps, open 10:00 to 17:00 and closed on Mondays. It closes before most sunsets, so treat it as a daytime stop.

What to wear, toilets and water

• Shoes: trainers or light hiking shoes with grip. The City Wall office specifically recommends cushioned, flexible shoes.
• Layers: it is colder and windier on the ridge than in Seochon. Bring gloves and a hat from November.
• Toilets: none on the trail. The City Wall office says there is nowhere for about two hours once you start, so go at Gyeongbokgung Station.
• Water and a snack: there are no shops on the Inwang section.
• Light: a phone torch at minimum. Parts of the wall path are lit at night, but not every step.

Can you take photos on Inwangsan?

Yes. The view is the reason people go, and nothing on the official pages restricts photographing it. The limits are the usual Korean ones near anything military. The curved bastion on the wall, Inwang gokseong, is still a military facility and closed to the public; do not photograph military posts or personnel, and follow any sign that says otherwise.

Leave the drone at the hotel. The mountain sits inside the no-fly zone around Cheong Wa Dae, just to the east.

What about Bugaksan?

From Changuimun the city wall carries on east over Bugaksan, behind Cheong Wa Dae. After the presidential office moved back there, the Presidential Security Service said in March 2026 that Bugaksan would stay open 24 hours, with the south-west section toward Cheongun-dong closed while a new trail is built. It is a separate, longer walk. For one evening after a hanbok day, Inwangsan is the one.

As of October 2026; trail access, café hours and bus routes change, so check the Seoul City Wall Inwang section page before you go.

If you would rather fill the rest of the day without a climb, after you return the hanbok has the flatter options. And if you want to be on the trail at sunrise instead, staying in Seochon puts Suseong-dong Valley at the end of your street.

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I ran a hanbok rental shop opposite Gyeongbokgung from 2015 to 2025, and every autumn someone asked whether they could keep the hanbok on for the sunset at the top of the mountain they could see from our door. I always said no, and it was not about the fee. It was the descent: stone steps, a long skirt and no light. The customers who came back in the morning to tell me about the view were the ones who had changed into trainers first.

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