Geoje's Haegeumgang Ujebong trail is capped — 1 Oct to 30 Nov

The Hallyeohaesang National Park East Office is capping numbers on the coastal trail around Haegeumgang again this year. For 61 days, from 1 October to 30 November, only 370 people a day may walk the 1.5 km from Haegeumgang past the Ujebong viewpoint to Seokgae Beach. The booking system on this stretch began in 2022 and has returned every autumn in the same form; this year's announcement sets the dates. The path gives the closest view from land of Haegeumgang, a designated Scenic Site off Galgot-ri at the southern tip of Geoje Island, so if you are heading to Geoje this autumn, sort out the booking before anything else.

Is the Haegeumgang Ujebong booking system new this year?

No. The park's announcement, as reported by Geoje Internet Broadcasting and the Geoje Times, says the booking system on this stretch has run since 2022. Some coverage presented it as introduced this year, but what changed is only this year's dates, not the system. The reservation site's Ujebong trail page also lists the season as 1 October to 30 November, and outside that period the trail can be walked without booking.

Which path is it? Haegeumgang to Ujebong to Seokgae Beach, 1.5 km

The booked section is a single stretch from the Ujebong trail entrance on the Haegeumgang side, over the Ujebong viewpoint and down to Seokgae Beach. Unlike Seoraksan's Heullimgol, it is not one-way: you can start from either entrance, or walk out to the viewpoint and come back the way you came. The reservation site gives the walking time as one hour each way.

It is short on paper, but it climbs and drops along the sea cliffs. Allow a little over two hours for the round trip, including time at the viewpoint.

How do you book the Haegeumgang trail?

1. On the National Park Reservation System (reservation.knps.or.kr), go to the trail-reservation menu and choose Hallyeohaesang, 'Haegeumgang–Ujebong–Seokgae Beach'. You need to be logged in as a member of the park service's website.
2. Choose a date and enter the number of walkers. The daily cap is 370.
3. Online booking closes at 2pm the day before. You cannot book online on the morning itself.
4. If the day's cap has not been reached, you can register at the entrance and walk in. On a busy autumn weekend, do not count on a walk-up place.
5. For groups or conditions on the trail, call the Geoje ranger station (055-635-5421) or the Hallyeohaesang National Park East Office (055-640-2400); for the booking itself, the reservation line (1670-9201, weekdays 9am to 6pm). All three answer in Korean.

Neither the reservation site nor the press release mentions a charge. Korea's national parks abolished their entrance fee in 2007; whether the booking screen asks for any payment is something you will see when you book.

What about parking and weather?

Drivers use the two car parks on the Haegeumgang side. Haegeumgang Car Park 1 has 147 spaces (14 for large vehicles, 123 for cars, 8 accessible, 2 reserved for women), and Haegeumgang Car Park 2 (Seokgae) has 70 car spaces. That is just over 200 spaces in all, so on an autumn weekend, with 370 walkers plus passengers for the Haegeumgang boat tours, the car parks may fill before the trail does. Arrive early in the morning.

The reservation site says the trail closes whenever a weather warning for heavy rain, a typhoon or similar is in force. Autumn is typhoon season, so even with a booking, check the reservation site's notices or phone the Geoje ranger station before you set off.

What is Haegeumgang? A Scenic Site designated in 1971

According to an article by Professor Kim Hak-beom of Hankyong National University in the Korea Heritage Service's monthly magazine, Geoje Haegeumgang was designated on 23 March 1971 as Korea's second Scenic Site (Myeongseung No. 2). Haegeumgang is a group of rock islands in the sea off Galgot-ri at the southern tip of Geoje Island; the main island's original name is Galdo (葛島), meaning 'arrowroot island'. The Ujebong viewpoint looks straight at it from the shore.

• Caves cut by the sea: sea caves such as the Sipja (cross-shaped) cave, Seokmun (the stone gate) and Satonggul run right through the rock.
• Named rocks: Irwolbong, Mireuk Rock, Saja (lion) Rock, Byeongpung (folding-screen) Rock and the Bride-and-Groom Rocks stand around the islands.
• Cliff plants: evergreen broadleaf trees such as camellia and Castanopsis cling to the rock walls, and wild orchids including wind orchid and Dendrobium grow there naturally.

That is why it is called the 'Geumgangsan of the sea', after the famous mountain in the north. A landscape of pinnacles and orchids clinging to cliffs is easily worn down by footfall, which is where the booking system comes in.

Why is only this stretch capped?

The park service describes the purpose as protecting the ecosystem and encouraging responsible use. Its park resource surveys found the stretch to be of high ecological value, home to southern plants such as the Japanese wild fig and the Japanese bay tree (Machilus thunbergii), and to the Japanese white-eye, a climate-change indicator species. A narrow cliff path crowded all at once becomes a safety problem and wears away the vegetation along it, so the park chose to divide the day's visitors in advance.

While you are at Haegeumgang: more of Hallyeohaesang

The Ujebong stretch takes about two hours, which leaves room in the day. Hallyeohaesang National Park is a marine park covering the sea and islands from Geoje through Tongyeong and Namhae to Yeosu. The photos below are not from the Haegeumgang trail but from other parts of Hallyeohaesang. Within Geoje, the sea off Hongpo and Oedo island are close by; from Tongyeong, ferries run to Somaemuldo.

Getting there, booking from abroad, and what is in English

Haegeumgang is at the far southern tip of Geoje Island, in Galgot-ri, Nambu-myeon. Without a car, the usual approach is an intercity bus to Geoje's main bus terminal at Gohyeon, either directly from Seoul (a long ride of several hours) or from Busan, which is linked to Geoje by the Geoga Bridge; KTX to Busan followed by a bus is often the quicker combination. From Gohyeon, local buses and taxis run to Haegeumgang, which is a drive of roughly an hour across the island. Timetables change by season, so check them before you go.

The booking is the hard part. The park service's English reservation site covers shelters and campsites only; this trail can only be booked on the Korean-language site, which needs a member account with Korean real-name verification (a Korean mobile number or an I-PIN). A short-stay visitor with no Korean phone number will usually not be able to finish that alone. Here, though, unlike some capped trails, walk-up registration is part of the system: whenever the 370 online places are not all taken, you can register at the entrance on the day. On a weekday, arriving mid-morning gives you a fair chance. On an autumn weekend, ask a Korean-speaking friend or your accommodation to book for you before 2pm the day before.

On the trail itself you need no Korean: it is a short, well-trodden path between two entrances, and the view from Ujebong needs no captions. The trail page, the weather-closure notices and all the enquiry lines are in Korean only, so read the rules on this page before you go.