From the official Visit Korea website, “Namsan Mountain is generally referred to as a museum without walls with about 100 temple locations, 80 stone Buddha, and 60 stone pagodas. Because the cultural assets are scattered around, it would easily take a month to see them all. Therefore, it is best to plan a hike that can cover most of what you want to see”.
The photo of the map displayed at Mount Namsan, showing the various trails (marked in Red) and distance (marked in light blue).
During my visit to Gyeongju in 2012, we took the hiking route through the Samneungol Valley. This trail is good for first time visitors. This trail has the largest collection of Buddhist relics amongst the 40 valleys of Mt. Namsan.
It was 1.3 km uphill to the top of the ridge of Namsan. It was mostly gentle incline at the beginning (Samneung Valley) but it gets steeper nearer to the Sanseongnam temple. The steep ascent continued after the temple. Once on the ridge, it was an 0.8km almost-level walk to the Geumobong peak at 468m above-sea-level.
Most of the interesting sights (stone buddhist relics) are located on the 1.3km stretch. The trail we took was pretty well marked and signposts indicating the prominent stone figures, each with some interpretive signs.
We took about 2.5 hours to get to the top, with rest and photo stops along the way. Then about 2 hours to get down back to the starting point.
Tip: Pack a picnic lunch to enjoy at the peak, carry enough water and wear good hiking shoes.
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