And today I will tell you about the fortress Hwanson (Hwaseong), which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
How to get there: metro station Suwon , exits 1, 5, and 6. The subway ride from central Seoul takes almost an hour and a half. A one-way ticket costs approximately 1600-1700 KRW, or about $1.50. You'll arrive at Suwon Station (a suburb of Seoul). There's a decent food court right there, where you can grab lunch.
After exiting the subway, you can try to find a bus stop that will take you directly to the Royal Palace. However, it's better to immediately take a taxi, which is located right outside the subway exit. For 4,800 KRW, we were taken to the palace in 20 minutes (10 of which were spent stuck in traffic). The distance from the train station is about five kilometers (see Google Maps).
Opening hours: The fortress itself can be visited at any time, but the palace itself is not at all interesting. Make sure to arrive by 11:00 AM or 2:00 PM, as a folklore performance begins at the palace at that time.
Website: you can read Wikipedia
How much time does it take: We left the hotel at 9:00, were at Suwon Station at 10:30, were at the palace at 10:50, had a performance from 11:00 to 11:30, then looked at the palace until 12:00, and then walked along the walls for another two hours.
The price of the issue: Entrance to the palace is only 1,500 KRW. The problem is, there's nothing to do there.
Personal impressions and recommendations:
It's important not to confuse the fortress with the palace. A taxi (or bus) will take you directly to the palace. In front of the palace, as I mentioned above, the folklore performance With a military twist. It's free. It lasts about half an hour, and after the show, you can take photos with the participants absolutely free. I highly recommend it.
Archery is demonstrated during the process.
Taekwondo techniques
Sword and pike skills
Fights with an opponent
While the participants most likely demonstrate their skills and fight with fake weapons, at the end of the performance they crush bundles of straw with real ones.
There's absolutely nothing to do in the palace. Especially if you've already seen the palaces in central Seoul. It's incredibly dull. The only thing worth doing here is picking up a fortress map (or print out my map below).
The fortress itself encircles the entire city of Suwon. So, immediately after the show, be sure to climb the mountain behind the palace.
There is an observation post there...
and a turret.
From here, there are magnificent views of the entire city of Suwon. There's the palace down below on the left.
You'll immediately understand how and where the fortress is located. Here's the fortress wall running through the city.
A closer look. The fortress fits into the typical urban environment.
From here, you can start your walk down the fortress walls. I recommend going to the right (if your back is to the palace).
In fact, there's a fee to walk along the walls. Theoretically, there should be guards at each bastion checking tickets. The problem is, there weren't any. We stumbled upon the ticket sales completely by chance, after seeing this bell.
A sign next to it said that hitting this bell three times with a log costs only 1000 KRW (less than a dollar), and there was a ticket booth nearby.
I couldn't pass up such a chance. The ticket office, alas, was empty. But fortunately, a staff member soon appeared. She not only sold us a ticket to "have a blast," but also explained that walking along the walls was a paid activity and sold us an additional ticket for 1,000 KRW each.
I boomed from the heart
The weather was wonderful—sunny, dry, and warm. We thoroughly enjoyed our walk along the walls, although we only made it a third of the way in two hours.
These are the bastions along the way.
Then we cut our way to the main street and walked along it, past the palace, to the Paldalmun tower.
From there, we hailed a taxi and went to the train station (and the subway station, respectively) for 3,500 KRW. Our entire walking route is marked with red arrows on the map.
Tower Paldalmun is given on both cards so that you can combine these cards in your mind.
Source: travel.ru