Things To Do In Pocheon: A Day Trip Northeast Of Seoul

Last Updated on October 13, 2026

Pocheon (포천) is a city in northern Gyeonggi Province, about an hour northeast of Seoul by car. It’s best known for Pocheon Art Valley, a former granite quarry turned arts park, and the Hantan River UNESCO Global Geopark, with its Sky Bridge, Y-shaped suspension bridge and Bidulginang Falls. It works as an easy day trip from Seoul or a relaxed weekend away. I’ve headed to the area a number of times as I’ve visited the nearby and beautiful flowery fields of Nari Park which is just south of the Pocheon area.

Here are some places in Pocheon that are must sees and for those K-drama addicted among us, quite a few recognizable dramas have been filmed in these places, so enjoy! Want a day trip option from Seoul? This is a great area to explore with numerous nature spots and artistic finds too. I’ve got you covered if you’re looking for places to go north of Seoul.

Here are some of the best things to do in Pocheon. Feel free to skip around:

• How To Get To Pocheon From Seoul
• Where To Stay In Pocheon
• What To Do In Pocheon
  • Pocheon Art Valley (포천아트밸리)
  • Peace Land Korea (PyungGang Land) (평강랜드)
  • Hantan River UNESCO Global Geopark (한탄강 유네스코 세계지질공원)
  • Hantangang Sky Bridge (한탄강하늘다리)
  • Hantangang Y-Shaped Suspension Bridge (한탄강 Y자형 출렁다리)
  • Sansawon Museum & Bae Sang Myeon Brewery (전통술박물관 산사원 & 배상면주가)
  • Herb Island (허브아일랜드)

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How To Get To Pocheon From Seoul

Pocheon is easiest by car or on a day tour. Public transportation gets you to Pocheon itself without much trouble, but the sights are spread out, so getting from place to place is the tricky part.

By Car

Since the Sejong–Pocheon Expressway opened, most of Pocheon is about an hour from Seoul by car, traffic depending. Sinbuk IC sits right near Pocheon Art Valley, and every major sight in this guide has its own parking lot (free at Art Valley, the Hantan River bridges, Pyeonggang Land and Sansawon).

By Bus

Intercity bus 3000 runs from Dong Seoul Bus Terminal (동서울종합터미널, Gangbyeon Station, Line 2) to Pocheon and Sinbuk. You can also take bus 1386 from Dobongsan Station (Lines 1 and 7) to Pocheon City Hall.

From Pocheon Bus Terminal (포천터미널), the new tourist bus 99 started running on April 13, 2026. It goes from the terminal past Pocheon Art Valley and on to the Hantan River Eco-Landscape Complex and Gwanin-myeon, four round trips a day. That finally makes Art Valley and the Hantan River area doable without a car. With only four runs a day, plan your day around the bus timetable.

Pyeonggang Land and Sansawon are still not easy to reach by bus, so if those are on your list, a car or a tour is the way to go.

By Day Tour

If you don’t drive in Korea, a day tour from Seoul is the least stressful option. Most combine a few of Sanjeong Lake, Pocheon Art Valley, Bidulginang Falls, the Hantan River bridges, Herb Island and seasonal fruit picking (strawberries in winter and spring, apples in autumn).

• Pocheon tour on Klook: Join the Pocheon Highlights Tour to see the pink sands of Her Island, visit the Y-Bridge, and Art Valley. Book on Klook here.

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Where To Stay In Pocheon

Make a weekend of it and stay in Pocheon. It’s close enough to Seoul that you can definitely go for a day trip, but it’s also just enough out that it’d be a fun and easy to get to spot for a weekend away with family, your best friends, or just a solo trip outside of Seoul. Here are the places to check out.

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What To Do In Pocheon

Pocheon Art Valley (포천아트밸리)

Pocheon Art Valley is a quarry that has been transformed into a culture and arts space. The quarry features a lake surrounded by oddly shaped rocks. This quarry was the first environment restoration project in the Pocheon area.

Granite was quarried here for about 30 years starting in the 1960s (Pocheon granite is known for being hard and good-looking, and was used on some of Korea’s major national buildings). When the quarry was abandoned in the 1990s, the city spent five years turning it into the arts park, which opened in October 2009.

K-drama stop: The grandiose quarry backdrop was featured in dramas such as The Legend of the Blue Sea (푸른 바다의 전설), Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (달의 연인 – 보보경심 려) and, more recently, Alchemy of Souls (환혼). While the dramas depicted people in the lake, boating or swimming, technically people are not allowed to enter the water here, just so you know.

Is The Monorail Worth It?

When you first arrive, grab tickets for entrance and I recommend getting the one way ride up on the monorail. The walk up is a bit steep so if you have kids the monorail is the way to go or if you want to just enjoy a more leisurely trip up, again, this is the go to. It really only takes a couple minutes though so it’s not a walk that will have you sweating it out or anything.

If there’s a long line for the monorail, then just huff and puff it up… it’ll do the body good. The walk back down isn’t that bad though so no need to get the round trip ticket in any case. The monorail drops you right at the rock quarry turned Cheonjuho Lake (천주호).

The lake was formed when spring water and rain water filled the pit while quarrying for granite. You could stop by now, but if you’re like me and like to efficiently see things and not backtrack, I recommend walking up to top of the hill to visit the FREE space museum first.

The Pocheon Art Valley Astronomical Science Museum isn’t huge but is a great stop if you have kids with you. If you don’t, you’ll probably just enjoy a quick walk through here to the top to where the Planetarium and Astronomical Observatory are.

From here, walk down and you’ll come to the lake and after taking in the beauty, pass the monorail stop and you’ll come to steps that lead up to the left. Take them and you’ll be afforded with a great view of the valleys in the surrounding area. There is seating at the top for a little rest and then there is a walkway down the backside that leads to a cafe and the sculpture park on the grounds.

We found the sculpture park a bit odd and features some of those pieces of art here that showcase just a bit too much of human anatomy, but there is green space to take a rest here too. Get coffees and snacks from the cafe and enjoy a rest or take some snacks of your own to enjoy while there. In all honesty, I wouldn’t suggest that anyone go out to Pocheon Art Valley if that’s all you want to see.

How long do you need at Pocheon Art Valley?

There isn’t a TON to see and wouldn’t take more than two hours to walk around. It’s a great stop off with other things in the area though. It’s also NOT the easiest to get to via public transportation and without a car. I’d recommend joining a tour group to head out to Pocheon because the things that are out there just aren’t easy to get to via bus from place to place. (The new bus 99 does now stop at Art Valley, which helps if this and the Hantan River are your main goals.)

• Address: 234 Artvalley-ro, Sinbuk-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do (경기도 포천시 신북면 아트밸리로 234)
• How to get there: Take intercity bus 3000 from Dong Seoul Bus Terminal to Pocheon Bus Terminal, then tourist bus 99 (four round trips a day) or a short taxi ride to Art Valley. By car, it’s just off Sinbuk IC on the Sejong–Pocheon Expressway, with free parking.
• Hours: Monday – Friday & Sunday: 9:00am ~ 6:00pm; Saturday: 9:00am ~ 10:00pm
• Admission: Adults: W6,000; Children: W4,000
• Website: Pocheon Art Valley Website

Peace Land Korea (PyungGang Land) (평강랜드)

2026 update: The park is now called My Animal Story in Pyeonggang Land (마이애니멀스토리 in 평강랜드). Alongside the botanical garden, it now has animal interaction areas (mini cows, goats, sheep, mini pigs, parrots, puppies and cats) and a kids’ adventure playground. Just adds more to the arboretum experience.

This botanical garden sits at the entrance to Sanjeong Lake and is just gorgeous. It would NOT be super easy to get to if you don’t have your own car or don’t rent one though. Do keep that in mind. There are paths that connect the various parts and based on the names, in the spring and summer, I imagine there are just gorgeous flowers that bloom here.

As it was autumn when we visited, we were able to see the foliage, pink muhly and other autumn blooms but the most fun for us was finding the various Thomas Dambo installations that are hidden in the forests of the park. If you are an art enthusiast, you’ll enjoy these. If you have children with you, this is a fun hide-and-seek way to see the park. If you just want to live one of those childhood fantasies of finding elves that are hidden at the bottoms of mountains between the trees, then you’ll really love this.

Thomas Dambo is a Danish artist that created “The Mountain Trolls” that are hiding in the various gardens around the park. There are five trolls that have been made from scrap wood in an effort to only use trash and recycled materials in his works. The sculptures add this very whimsical presence to the natural surroundings. Each troll has a name: Big Young, Happy Kim, Mamma Wok, Mr Lee and Old Wise Woo.

The artist’s work can be seen around the world and to find five of his installations in one spot is really fun and of course posing with them is fun too. The park has a little game as well. If you get your brochure stamped at each giant location, you’ll get a little gift on your way out.

If you like heading to parks to find whimsical art installations, also look into visiting the Yeonmisan Art Park and the Anyang Art Park.

The park has twelve themed areas with various flower gardens, rock gardens, moss and wetlands and fields of even more. It’s a pretty substantial area and was my favorite stop of the day. The park has been designated as a habitat for preservation and houses various native and non-native plants. This park seems like it’d be beautiful from late spring into the autumn for sure.

• Address: 171-18 Umulmok-gil Yeongbok-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do (경기도 포천시 영북면 우물목길 171-18)
• Hours: Every day 9:00am ~ 6:00pm
• Admission: Adults: W15,000, Children: W12,000

Hantan River UNESCO Global Geopark (한탄강 유네스코 세계지질공원)

The Hantan River (한탄강) runs through a basalt canyon formed by lava flows hundreds of thousands of years ago, and in 2020 the area was designated a UNESCO Global Geopark. In Pocheon, the main cluster of sights sits together in Yeongbuk-myeon: the Hantangang Sky Bridge, Bidulginang Falls, the Y-shaped suspension bridge, the Hantan River Eco-Landscape Complex and, after dark, the Terra Fantasia media art park. The bridges, falls and trails are all free, and so is parking.

Hantangang Sky Bridge (한탄강하늘다리)

When I first visited in the autumn of 2018, the 200 meter long Hantangang Sky Bridge had just opened that May. To us it seemed a bit of an awkwardly placed bridge to be honest because it doesn’t connect much…? Let me explain. There wasn’t much in the area aside from the Bidulginang Waterfalls (비둘기낭폭포) and what seemed to be a newly built campground.

I wondered if the campgrounds were built just after the sky bridge. The area around the sky bridge was still experiencing some construction and so it seemed like maybe this sky bridge was supposed to be the precursor to more in the area. Update: Turns out that hunch was right. Keep reading for everything that’s been built around it since. Also, the center of the Sky Bridge hangs about 50 meters above the canyon, so it’s not one for anyone nervous about heights.

The bridge is very easy to access. You can park right next to it, cross it and cross back without breaking a sweat. Which is probably what Lee Young-Joon (Park Seo-Joon) and Kim Mi-so who have a heart-to-heart talk on this bridge as the sun sets in What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim (김비서가 왜 그럴까) did when they acted here. We thought there had to be more.. or it was leading to something, otherwise, why the bridge? So, we continued up along a hiking path to see what it came to.

The path wasn’t long and went up and then steeply down and came to yet another bridge. The second bridge is called Pigeon Bridge and is topped with the birds that we couldn’t find anywhere in the area. From here, we assumed the path would circle around to Pigeon Waterfall… but we were wrong and had to hike back UP the very STEEP path.

Literally some of the steps were the length of my foot up to my knee. Too tall for some small kids that is for sure. It wasn’t long and doesn’t take more than 10 minutes to get back up, but if the first bridge is enough for you, don’t even worry about finding the second.

Bidulginang Falls (비둘기낭폭포)

The waterfalls which were where the first kiss between Ji Hae-soo (Gong Hyo-jin) and Jang Jae-yeol (Zo In-sung) takes place in It’s Okay, That’s Love (괜찮아, 사랑이야) were nearby and so we visited it too. You can’t actually get all the way down to the falls like you can at the Jaein waterfall also north of Seoul.

The falls tumble into a basalt cave-like gorge (the name comes from the pigeons that used to nest in the cliffs), and they’re a designated natural monument. Netflix fans may recognize them from Kingdom, too. Admission and parking are free.

• Address: 191 Bidulginang-gil, Yeongbuk-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do (경기도 포천시 영북면 비둘기낭길 191)

Hantan River Jusangjeolli-gil Trails (한탄강 주상절리길): If you want more than a quick bridge crossing, the Pocheon section of the Jusangjeolli-gil follows the canyon for 53km across seven courses. It’s free, and a new walkway at water level (the Garam-gil) began trial operation in 2026. Check for weather closures before you go.

Hantangang Y-Shaped Suspension Bridge (한탄강 Y자형 출렁다리)

This is the big one. Opened in September 2024, the Y-shaped suspension bridge is 410 meters long, which makes it the longest tower-less suspension bridge in Korea. Three walkways meet at a single point over the middle of the canyon, linking Bidulginang Falls, the Hantan River Eco-Landscape Complex and the Garamnuri Observatory into one walking loop. It won an innovation award from the International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering the year it opened. So that bridge in the middle of nowhere? It’s now one stop on a whole network of bridges, trails and gardens.

• Address: 55 Bidulginang-gil, Yeongbuk-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do (경기도 포천시 영북면 비둘기낭길 55)
• Hours: 9:00am ~ 6:00pm (last entry 5:00pm); closed in bad weather
• Admission: Free (an entrance fee applies during the Hantan River Garden Festa)

Hantan River Eco-Landscape Complex & Garden Festa (한탄강 생태경관단지): On the far side of the Y-shaped bridge, the Eco-Landscape Complex is a huge garden area on top of the canyon. It hosts the Hantan River Garden Festa, from the beginning of May until the beginning of June and an autumn edition from September to November.

Sansawon Museum & Bae Sang Myeon Brewery (전통술박물관 산사원 & 배상면주가)

The Sansawon Museum and Bae Sang Myeon Brewery is a really interesting spot to learn about traditional brewing techniques in Korea. The grounds are beautiful and the highlight is most definitely being able to try a plethora of different Korean liquors and makgeolli and all of it for a very budget-friendly entrance fee.

Inside the museum, which is the closest to the parking lot and so usually the first stop for visitors, there is a floor which looks like any other standard museum. Learn what you can from the over 1,000 documents, relics, and historic brewing devices and then head downstairs for what is definitely the highlight of the space. The brewery makes some very good liquors and makgeollis and it is here that you can try try try and then purchase what you like at super reasonable prices. It’s really a unique experience and the alcohol is really good.

After visiting the museum, you can head out to what is definitely more of the photo-friendly spot. The brewery which was established in 1996 features tons of gigantic onggi pots that contain the small batch liquors. They create a maze to wind through and as you do you’ll find various old machines used for brewing.

The maze drops visitors off in a garden that is surrounded with Hanok buildings and pavilions which are the perfect places to take a rest and just enjoy the view with beautiful mountains in the background and Hanok roofs in the foreground. It’s a great experience to have and a must visit in Pocheon.

• Address: 25 Hwadong-ro 432beon-gil, Hwahyeon-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do (경기도 포천시 화현면 화동로432번길 25 배상면주가)
• Hours: 8:30am ~ 5:30pm
• Admission: W4,000
• Website: www.soolsool.co.kr

Herb Island (허브아일랜드)

One of the easier places to get from Seoul, we headed here to enjoy the lavender gardens. This is a big herb-themed park with gardens, a herb museum, shops and a night light festival, and a stop that is now on many Pocheon day tours.

• Address: 51 Cheongsin-ro 947 beon-gil, Sinbuk-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do (경기 포천시 신북면 청신로947번길 51)
• Hours: Note that hours change seasonally, so check their website for this season’s hours. Generally 10:00am ~ 8:00pm.
• Admission: Weekdays: W10,000; Weekends: W12,000
• Website: https://herbisland.co.kr/

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FAQ

Is Pocheon worth visiting?

Yes, if you want nature within about an hour of Seoul. Art Valley and the Hantan River canyon are the highlights, and the area has grown a lot since the Hantan River became a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2020.

How do I get to Pocheon from Seoul?

By car, it’s about an hour via the Sejong–Pocheon Expressway. By bus, take intercity bus 3000 from Dong Seoul Bus Terminal or bus 1386 from Dobongsan Station. From Pocheon Bus Terminal, tourist bus 99 (four round trips a day since April 2026) runs to Art Valley and the Hantan River area.

Can you visit Pocheon without a car?

Partly. Art Valley and the Hantan River sights are reachable by bus 99, but Pyeonggang Land and Sansawon are much easier by car or on a day tour.

Can you swim in the lake at Pocheon Art Valley?

No. Despite what you see in the dramas, entering Cheonjuho Lake isn’t allowed.

Is the Hantan River Y-shaped suspension bridge free?

Yes, and so are the Sky Bridge, Bidulginang Falls and parking. The Y-shaped bridge charges admission during the Garden Festa and closes in bad weather.

What’s the difference between the Hantangang Sky Bridge and the Y-shaped bridge?

The Sky Bridge opened in 2018 and is a 200m suspension bridge about 50m above the canyon. The Y-shaped bridge opened in September 2024, is 410m long and has three walkways that meet in the middle, connecting Bidulginang Falls with the Eco-Landscape Complex and the Garamnuri Observatory.

What K-dramas were filmed in Pocheon?

The Legend of the Blue Sea, Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo and Alchemy of Souls at Pocheon Art Valley; What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim on the Hantangang Sky Bridge; and It’s Okay, That’s Love and Kingdom at Bidulginang Falls.

Are the Thomas Dambo trolls still at Pyeonggang Land?

Yes, the installation is called The Mountain Trolls and features five trolls: Big Young, Happy Kim, Mamma Wok, Mr Lee and Old Wise Woo.

What food is Pocheon known for?

Idong galbi (marinated beef short ribs) and Idong makgeolli.

Can I visit Sansawon if I’m driving?

You can, but the tastings are the highlight, so bring a designated driver or join a tour. Minors get in free but can’t taste.

What’s the best time to visit Pocheon?

Autumn for foliage and silver grass, spring for the Garden Festa, and winter for Herb Island’s lights and Sanjeong Lake.

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