Ansan Mountain In Seoul Is A Cherry Blossom Best Kept Secret

If you’re looking for a beautiful cherry blossom spot in Seoul you might not have heard about, here it is: Ansan Mountain. When the cherry blossoms begin to bloom in Seoul, the city awakens from the winter and it is gorgeous.

There are some really popular cherry blossom hot spots to find like Yeouido Island, Seokchon Lake or Namsan Mountain where Namsan Tower/N Seoul Tower sits, but there are also just cherry blossoms cherry blossoms cherry blossoms everywhere you look. It’s actually really common for people to walk out their front doors only to realize that their street was lined with cherry blossom trees all year but they didn’t realize it because they only bloom for a couple of weeks and the rest of the year are green.

(This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking. These funds go to maintain the site. Thank you for your support.)

---

How To Get There

Address: Bongwon-dong Seodaemun-gu, Seoul (서울특별시 서대문구 봉원동)

By Subway & Bus: From Hongik Subway Station, go out of exit 4 and turn right and go around and go up to the corner. Cross the street in a northerly direction to find a bus stop and you can take bus 110A or 153. Travel to the 6th stop, Seodaemun Center which is just 9 minutes and then get off. Continue walking in the direction that the bus was headed. When you come to a bridge over a stream, find the path down and follow it north to the waterfall and cherry blossoms.

---

What To See

I’ve hiked Ansan Mountain in Seoul numerous times as it’s just down the street from my house but apparently I missed it every spring because I did NOT know that the base is COVERED with cherry blossoms on the side nearest to Hongje Stream. Ansan met me with beautiful cherry blossom blooms in their blushing white hues getting ready to drop but hanging on for just a few more days.

If you want to check out some of the most popular or least known cherry blossom spots around Korea, here is another post that will help you on your cherry blossom hunting journey. And if you’re in the search for flowers from spring through fall here in Seoul, check out this post on the best flower spots around Seoul for more amazing locations.

Near Hongje Stream (Hongjecheon 홍제천) a waterfall is the first sight to view and that is just the beginning of the great sights to behold on Ansan Mountain. While most people recognize the name Ansan from nearby suburb of Seoul, there is a mountain of the same name in Seoul near the popular art district known as Hongdae and the great area for food, Yeonnam-dong. You could also walk around to the other side of this mountain to see Bongwonsa Temple, which is another gorgeous place in the spring when the lotus lanterns are hung in preparation for the Lotus Lantern Festival and Buddha’s birthday.

If you continued around the boardwalk path that circles the mountain or went up and over, you’d end up at the Seodaemun Prison History Museum and park that’s there. It’s really a great mountain and spot to spend the day seeing all of the highlights.. but especially the cherry blossoms in the spring.

On the hillside just behind the waterfall sits all of these beautiful cherry blossom trees and the crowds were not nearly as large as you’d expect for a grove this beautiful. A few years ago, the climb on this side was redone by the local government so instead of just a hiking path up, it became a gorgeous garden. Now, this little valley area has plots of land that are cared for year round and not only can cherry blossoms be found, but also herbs, tulips and other flowering shrubs and plants. 

There are places to picnic and gazebos to lounge in as well. School children picking up the petals as they dropped, couples on romantic dates and older Korean women dressed to the nines in their hiking gear sat enjoying picnics beneath the trees. There were also tulips and other flowers just peering out on the curated hillside. It was the perfect place to take in spring. Had a taken a picnic, this would have been an amazing place to sit down and enjoy the views along with the food.

Continuing up the mountain, Ansan has even more to offer in terms of views. The cherry blossom trees make way to more paths that take hikers through metasequoia trees and pines. You can hike all the way up to the peak for a spectacular view of the city but there’s also a path midway up the mountain that loops the entire way around and offers some of the best.

Straight up and down wouldn’t take much more than an hour or hour and a half if you book it, but the loop would take a couple of meandering hours. Trails lead off of the loop to overlooks with built in picnic tables or platforms with hammocks strung up for anyone to enjoy. There is a lot hidden in the summer when the leaves are lush and I recommend taking a wander to enjoy the mountain thoroughly.

---

Did you like this post? Pin iT!