Naejangsan National Park's new gate on the old ticket-booth site — free entry, free shuttle 30 Oct–15 Nov

The booth that once collected admission at the entrance to Naejangsan has gone, and in its place stands a wooden gate carrying the sign 'Naejangsan National Park'. The Korea National Park Service's Naejangsan office says that after the nationwide abolition of heritage admission fees in national parks in 2023, the ticket facility and its outbuildings had no further use; it demolished them, built a gate to serve as the park's entrance, and held the opening ceremony on 20 October. The service describes the gate as the threshold to the mountain's history, culture and nature and as a symbol welcoming visitors. Ten days later the free foliage-season shuttle starts, so this gate is the first change anyone visiting Naejangsan this autumn will meet.

Where the gate stands, and what has changed

The site is the Jeongeup-side entrance, where the booth that collected Naejangsa Temple's heritage fee used to be. The press release states only that the ticket facility and outbuildings were 'all demolished' and the gate 'newly built'; its size, cost, construction period and designer are not in any published material. What the ceremony photographs show is a gate of thick timber posts and beams with a name board on top. For a visitor the change comes down to one thing: there is no longer a window to stop at. You walk through the gate straight onto the trail towards Naejangsa Temple, Byeongnyeonam Hermitage and Uhwajeong Pavilion.

Why the ticket booth disappeared — the order in which the fees ended

The booth lost its purpose in two stages. First, the national-park entrance fee was abolished on 1 January 2007, as the park service's own history records. The heritage admission fee charged by temples inside the parks survived that. Then the heritage-protection statutes were amended so that when a private owner of nationally designated heritage waives its admission fee, central or local government can cover the shortfall; the Cultural Heritage Administration (now the Korea Heritage Service) signed an agreement with the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism on 1 May 2023, and from 4 May 2023 sixty-five temples nationwide stopped charging. The park service's release says the Naejangsan ticket facility had stood unused since that 'complete abolition of heritage fees in national parks in 2023'. The gate arrives after three and a half years of an empty booth.

Who came to the opening

About forty people attended on 20 October: park service staff alongside Naejangsa Temple, Byeongnyeonam Hermitage, Jeongeup City, Jeongeup Police, Jeongeup Fire Station and the Jeongeup public-health centre. That is the temple that used to collect the fee together with the city, police and fire services that manage the autumn crowds. The park service reported that those present felt the gate had raised the standing of the mountain, and the office's head of visitor facilities, Lee Jeong-bong, said he hoped it would become the starting point of rest and wonder for everyone who visits.

Through the gate to the maples — the free shuttle and vehicle control this autumn

In a notice dated 28 October the Naejangsan park office announced the free autumn shuttle: from Friday 30 October to Sunday 15 November it runs the 2.1 km between Naejangho Parking Lot (formerly Lot 4) and Wollyeonggyo Bridge, weekdays 09:00–17:00 and weekends 08:00–17:00. Earlier, on 8 October, order no. 2026-39 set out vehicle control under Article 28 of the Natural Parks Act — it covers motorcycles and bicycles too, and breaking it carries a fine of up to KRW 500,000. The outer stretch the shuttle serves closes to private cars from the moment Lot 2 is full until 17:00; inside the park, the road from Yeonjagyo Bridge to the Visitor Center is closed 07:00–18:00 on 24–25 October, 30 October–15 November and 21–22 November. Only authorised vehicles, including those carrying people with severe or mobility disabilities, may enter.

Preparations beyond the shuttle move in step. At a final briefing on 15 October, Jeongeup City put the expected autumn crowd at about 350,000 and set a 28-day management period from 26 October to 22 November — traffic and parking marshals, a crackdown on illegal stalls and touting, and stronger emergency transport — with 31 October to 15 November as the intensive phase. A temporary information centre will handle tourist enquiries and lend wheelchairs and pushchairs. On the park side, an advance notice of 11 October announced CCTV cameras for a live foliage video service, so live footage may be available during the peak.

When is Naejangsan's foliage at its peak?

It depends on whose yardstick you use. The Korea Forest Service's foliage-peak forecast map, issued on 22 September, puts Naejangsan at 4 November for maple species and 26 October for oaks. Jeongeup City and the park office expect colour from around 29 October with a peak around 7–8 November. If you want the red maples at their fullest, the overlap is from the middle of the first week of November to the second weekend — and that weekend coincides exactly with the shuttle-stretch closures and the city's intensive period (31 October–15 November). To avoid the crowds, come on a weekday and arrive around 7 am, when the inner road control begins.

What to check before you go

• How far a car can go: from 30 October to 15 November the stretch from Naejangho Parking Lot to Wollyeonggyo Bridge closes as soon as Lot 2 is full. Plan on parking at Naejangho Parking Lot (formerly Lot 4) and riding the free shuttle the 2.1 km to Wollyeonggyo Bridge.
• What costs money: the gate and the shuttle are free. Car parks and the cable car are paid, and the rates are posted on site and on the park website (Korean).
• Timing: the weekend shuttle starts at 08:00 and the inner road control at 07:00. On the peak weekend (around 7–8 November) the earlier you arrive, the shorter the wait.
• Weather and changes: the order states that dates may change with conditions, so look at the park notices on the morning you travel.

Getting there, and what to expect if you do not read Korean

Naejangsan is reached from Jeongeup, a stop on the Honam KTX line from Seoul (Yongsan); from Jeongeup Station the park entrance is a local bus or taxi ride, and the Naejangsan bus terminal sits just outside the park. Once there, nothing needs a reservation: the gate, the trail and the autumn shuttle are all walk-up, so the usual obstacle of a Korean phone number or a resident ID does not arise. Cable-car tickets are sold at the lower station. What is in Korean is everything written: the shuttle timetable, the road-control signs, the park office's notice board and any day-of changes. Trailhead signs and route markers in the park carry English place names, there is no audio guide, and the temporary information centre run by the city is staffed for Korean-speaking visitors first. The practical answer is to carry the shuttle hours and control dates from this page, follow the crowd from Naejangho Parking Lot to the shuttle stop, and treat any barrier across the road as the closure described above rather than a detour to look for.