When does the Sujeongbong trail open?

Monday 21 September 2026, and it is a permanent addition rather than a seasonal opening — there is no announced closing date, so it will be there whenever you visit.

How long does it take from Beopjusa?

About thirty minutes each way over 0.8 km, so allow a little over an hour for the round trip including time at the top. It does not need hiking boots or an early start.

What can you see from the summit?

Cheonwangbong, the highest peak in Songnisan at 1,058 m, and a full view down over Beopjusa temple, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. There is also a turtle-shaped rock on the summit with a legend attached to it.

Do I need to book or pay?

Neither. Korea's national parks charge no entrance fee, and this trail is not on the park's booked-entry list. What does apply is the designated entry-time system, which sets the latest hour you may start up — check the board at the trailhead.

Can I go during the Chuseok holiday?

Yes, the park does not close. But the holiday falls three days after the trail opens and the Beopjusa area is one of the busier temple destinations in the country at that time of year, so expect company.

Event·Korea National Park ServiceOn nowFree

A new 30-minute trail at Songnisan opens on 21 September, with a view over Beopjusa

Kang Shin-wookPublished 22 September 2026Updated 21 September 20264 sources checkedEditorial policy 이 글을 한국어로 읽기

Songnisan trail routes

The essentials

Dates: Opens 21 September 2026, permanent with no closing date (On now)
Where: Songnisan National Park, Beopjusa to Sujeongbong, Boeun-gun, Chungbuk
Admission: Free
Booking: None required. The park has not listed this trail under its booked-entry system, but check the entry-time board at the trailhead
Who it is for: All ages — 0.8 km, about thirty minutes each way
Language: Trailhead signage in the Beopjusa area is bilingual, but the designated entry-time tables and any closure notices are published in Korean only. The park office answers in Korean; the walk itself needs no language at all.
Length: 0.8 km, roughly 30 minutes one way
Summit: Sujeongbong, 576 m
View: Cheonwangbong at 1,058 m, and Beopjusa temple below
Park office: Songnisan National Park office, 043-542-5269

Written up from Korea National Park Service's own announcement of 11 September 2026. Details change — check the official page before you travel.

Songnisan National Park opens a new 0.8 km path from Beopjusa temple to Sujeongbong peak on 21 September 2026. It takes about thirty minutes one way, needs no booking and costs nothing, and the summit looks across to Cheonwangbong, the highest peak in the park, and down over Beopjusa, a UNESCO World Heritage temple. It is a permanent trail with no closing date.

In short

The Beopjusa to Sujeongbong trail opens on Monday 21 September 2026 and is permanent, not a seasonal or temporary route.
It is 0.8 km and about thirty minutes one way, so the round trip is a little over an hour without any mountaineering kit.
Sujeongbong is 576 m, and from the top you see Cheonwangbong at 1,058 m and the whole of Beopjusa temple below you.
There is no fee and no booking. Note that the days after opening are the Chuseok holiday, when the Beopjusa area is at its busiest.

A drone view over the rock peak of Sujeongbong with the Beopjusa temple complex below it. — Sujeongbong's rock peak on the left, Beopjusa on the lower right (drone photograph, 3 September 2026). Photo: Korea National Park Service, Songnisan National ParkOffice · Original

Songnisan is one of Korea's older national parks and most people go there for Beopjusa, the temple at its western entrance, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage list as one of the Sansa mountain monasteries. The walking from that side has tended to be either a stroll around the temple or a serious ascent. From 21 September there is something in between: a short new path to a rocky viewpoint that repays about an hour of effort.

How long it takes, and where it starts

The trail runs 0.8 km from the Beopjusa area up to Sujeongbong, and the park puts it at roughly thirty minutes one way. That makes the round trip comfortably under an hour and a half at an unhurried pace, on a route short enough not to need boots, poles or an early start — unusual for a national park path in Korea that ends on a summit.

The summit of Sujeongbong, bare granite, with the Songnisan ridge running on behind it. — The summit of Sujeongbong is bare granite, with the main Songnisan ridge behind (drone photograph, 3 September 2026). Photo: Korea National Park Service, Songnisan National ParkOffice

Jeongipumsong, the natural-monument pine standing at the entrance to Songnisan. — The natural monument Jeongipumsong at the park entrance. You pass it on the drive in. Photo: Korea National Park Service

What you see from the top

Sujeongbong is 576 m, which is modest by Songnisan standards, and that is rather the point: it is low enough to look across at the ridge rather than stand on it. Cheonwangbong, the park's highest peak at 1,058 m, fills the view in one direction, and Beopjusa lies below in the other, which is a perspective you cannot get from inside the temple grounds.

A panorama of Songnisan's main ridge running from Cheonwangbong through Sinseondae, Cheongbeopdae, Munsubong and Munjangdae. — The main Songnisan ridge as seen from Sujeongbong: Cheonwangbong, Sinseondae, Cheongbeopdae, Munsubong and Munjangdae, left to right (6 September 2026). Photo: Korea National Park Service

The rock peak of Munjangdae and the ridge leading to it, seen from Munsubong. — Munjangdae at the end of the ridge. From Sujeongbong you can see this peak but not reach it. Photo: Korea National Park Service

On the summit there is a rock formation shaped like a turtle, which carries a legend connecting it to Emperor Taizong of Tang. The park service confirms that the rock exists and that a legend attaches to it; the various embellishments about when the turtle's head was cut and how the peak got its name are oral tradition rather than documented history, and are worth enjoying as such.

The Beopjusa precinct: the great gilt-bronze Maitreya and the five-storey wooden Palsangjeon pagoda, the Songnisan ridge behind. — The Beopjusa precinct. The gilt-bronze Maitreya on the left, Palsangjeon on the right (October 2014). Photo: Lee In-hee (이인희) / Gongyu Madang

Palsangjeon at Beopjusa, its five roofs narrowing storey by storey. — The National Treasure Palsangjeon at Beopjusa in Boeun, the only five-storey wooden pagoda left in Korea. Photo: Korea Heritage Service, Heritage Portal

The Cheonwangbong ridge in autumn colour under a blue sky, seen from the direction of Beopjusa. — Cheonwangbong from the Beopjusa side. From Sujeongbong you get a wider view of this ridge. Photo: Korea National Park Service

Opening week runs into the Chuseok holiday

Dates to be aware of

Monday 21 September: The trail opens. Worth ringing the park office to confirm on-site arrangements on day one
Thursday 24 to Sunday 27 September: Chuseok holiday — expect the Beopjusa car park and the trailhead to be busy
Friday 25 September: Chuseok day itself, the heaviest travel day of the Korean year
Immediately after opening: The designated entry times for the new section may not yet appear on the park's published tables

The viewing deck on the rock peak of Munjangdae under a blue sky, the woods still green. — Munjangdae in mid-September, still deep green before the colour turns (photographed 15 September 2026). Photo: Korea National Park Service

The Sejo-gil path along a reservoir, autumn woods and silver grass reflected in the water. — Sejo-gil below Beopjusa once autumn sets in (photographed 1 November 2021). Photo: Korea National Park Service

Before you set out

Booking: this trail has not been listed under the park's booked-entry system. Songnisan's Myobong and Domyeongsan routes are booked, so do not confuse them.
Entry times: the Beopjusa sector admits walkers from 4:00am in summer and 5:00am in winter. Confirm the times for the new section once it opens.
The summit is bare rock and not large. Give other people room rather than crowding the top.
Enquiries: Songnisan National Park office on 043-542-5269.

A national park staff member checking a safety information sign on a Songnisan trail. — Safety signs being checked ahead of the autumn walking season. Photo: Korea National Park Service

A banner of trail safety rules about keeping your distance, hung along a national park path. — Sit at least 2m apart at the summit, and keep to single file on the right along the trail — the basic rules for the busy autumn weeks. Photo: Korea National Park Service

Frequently asked questions

Q. When does the Sujeongbong trail open?: Monday 21 September 2026, and it is a permanent addition rather than a seasonal opening — there is no announced closing date, so it will be there whenever you visit.
Q. How long does it take from Beopjusa?: About thirty minutes each way over 0.8 km, so allow a little over an hour for the round trip including time at the top. It does not need hiking boots or an early start.
Q. What can you see from the summit?: Cheonwangbong, the highest peak in Songnisan at 1,058 m, and a full view down over Beopjusa temple, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. There is also a turtle-shaped rock on the summit with a legend attached to it.
Q. Do I need to book or pay?: Neither. Korea's national parks charge no entrance fee, and this trail is not on the park's booked-entry list. What does apply is the designated entry-time system, which sets the latest hour you may start up — check the board at the trailhead.
Q. Can I go during the Chuseok holiday?: Yes, the park does not close. But the holiday falls three days after the trail opens and the Beopjusa area is one of the busier temple destinations in the country at that time of year, so expect company.

Sources

Official notice (Korean)

Written in our own words from the sources above, never copied from them, and every date and price checked against at least two pages. The originals are in Korean. Spotted a mistake? Ask for a correction.