
From the moment I began my research about what to do in South Korea, I knew I wanted to do this hike. What could be more spectacular than climbing this red ladder and fearing for my life on a cable bridge? After some figuring out how to get there, because most blogs only discussed how to get there from Seoul and we have been living in Busan, we were on a way.
We took a taxi-train-taxi-bus-walk, (about 3 hrs 30 min each way) to get there and we believe it was completely worth it. When we first arrived, we immediately bought our cable car tickets at the behest of most bloggers, stating long waits. Fortunately for us, there was no wait and we immediately boarded the cable car and headed up.
The cable car price for a roundtrip ticket was 9,500 KW (about $9).
This was the view from the top of cable car, before we even started the hike. There was this group of older Korean ladies under the gazebo drinking Makgeolli (Korean rice wine) before they headed up the mountain path. I regretfully didn’t get a photo of these cheerful ladies.
The beginning of the hike began with stairs. Actually the entire thing was stairs up. So we started our trek.
At the top of a few flights, we first came upon the suspension bridge. Which, was actually more terrifying than I had thought it was going to be. It definitely swayed a little bit.
I briskly walked across the other side, only stopping for moment so Zach could get a photo of me!
Then we came around the rock, and it started raining. We decided we didn’t mind the rain, and kept walking. But the metal stairs began to be a little sketchy going down, but not bad going back up. We continued hiking up the steep cliffside, until we came to the ladder.
Underneath the ladder is when the fear started kicking in for me. Did I mention I’m super scared of heights?
The ladder was much more frightening than the bridge had been. Halfway up, I started telling myself, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” It seemed to work, because I made it to the top for this view:
And then we crossed another short bridge, before we began our descent down.
The rain had stopped, so the steps weren’t as slippery anymore.
The terrain of this hike was very rocky and slippery. Hiking boots or shoes are recommended.
The sideview of the ladder on our way down. Also the sideview of the bridge below.
It took us one hour exactly to hike the 700 meter roundtrip.
Here’s how we got there:
We took a taxi to the Busan train station from our hotel (30min).
KTX or SRT train to DAEJEON Station. (You can take the same train from Seoul to Daejeon) We bought our tickets at the station and boarded 20 minutes later. Tickets cost 35,600 KW each way.
At Daejeon, we hopped in a taxi to Seobu Intercity Bus Terminal. (If you need cash at Daejeon, the inside ATM’s do not take Foreign CC, but there is an ATM outside at the seven eleven that worked just fine)
The taxi ride was 20 minutes and cost 7,000 KW.
We waited about 15-20 minutes at the bus terminal before boarding the #34 bus. (The bus comes every 45 minutes) The bus ride takes about an hour and you get off at the very last stop. You’ll see signs for a zipline and a big entrance to Daedun Mountain. We paid for the bus when we exited (2700 KW).
We then walked 15 minutes down the hill to the cable car entrance, where we paid 9,500 KW roundtrip for the cable car.
On the return trip, it took longer to walk back up the hill to the bus stop, (about 25 minutes) and arrived in time to catch the 4:00 Bus. The #34 comes every 50 minutes.
This Daytrip was such a blast and I suggest anyone with the time to do it while visiting!
Liked my post? Please share it or post a comment below!
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.