The activity I wanted to attend with my friends this weekend was to explore a forest. I could have gone to Seoul Forest, but instead I heard about another beautiful place : The Garden of Morning Calm (아침고요수목원). This Recreational Forests (or arboretums) is not in Seoul. We then had to travel through subways and buses to reach it.
The address is: 432, Sumogwon-ro, Sang-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do (경기도 가평군 상면 수목원로 432 (상면)).
In our case, we start our trip at 10 AM from Wangsimni Station (왕십리역) to Cheongpyeong Station (청평역) on the Gyeonchun Line (경춘선), and Exit 1. We then found a Tourist Information Store who helped us to reach the Bus area. The lady gave us the same information that we could have found on the website : “ From Cheongpyeong Station go left until you reach the 3-way intersection and turn right. Continue straight toward the Cheongpyeong Catholic Church (청평성당). Pass by Cheongpyeong Elementary School (청평초등학교), turn left, and you will see the Cheonpyeong Bus Terminal (청평버스터미널). From Cheongpyeong Terminal, take Bus 31-7 to the Garden of Morning Calm.” That was the first option. The second alternative option was to take the Gapyeong City Tour Bus for 6000 Won. This special bus would then do this itinerary : “Gapyeong Terminal ↔ Jaraseom Island (Ehwawon Garden/Camp Ground) ↔ Gapyeong Station ↔ Namiseom Island (zip line) ↔ Geumdae-ri Hall ↔ Bokjang-ri Samgeori (Three-Way Intersection) ↔ Petite France (Cheongpyeong Ferry / Ryumijae Gallery House) ↔ Homyeong-ri ↔ Cheongpyeong Terminal ↔ Cheongpyeong Station ↔ Imchogyo Bridge ↔ The Garden of Morning Calm (Chiong Art Center)”
The admission fees are not the same from Weekends to Weekdays. Indeed, the weekends and public Holidays cost 9000 Won for one adult, while on weekdays it is only 8000 Won. You save 1000 Won! The Garden of Morning Calm is open year-round from 08:30 to Sunset. It is a great spot from every kind of person from singles, with friends, couple, families, photographers, etc. Each season, they do a Festival or Exhibition. I found on the brochure these activities if you don’t know when visiting the site:
Spring: Wild Flower Exhibition on March 3rd, and Spring Festival from April 4th to May 5th.
Summer: Iris Festival on June 6th, Hydrangeas Festival and Exhibition on June 7th, and Roses of Sharon Festival and Exhibition on August 8th.
Fall: Wild Chrysanthemums Exhibition on September 9th and Chrysanthemums Exhibition and Maple Festival from October 10th to November 11th .
Winter: Lighting Festival from December 12th to March 3rd.
While searching on the topic I found that this garden was very famous. Indeed, a lot of famous project where filming there” For example, movies like “Letter (편지, 1997)’, ‘Detective K (조선명탐정, 2010)’, ‘Obsessed (중독, 2014)’ ” , Korean dramas like “ ‘Smile Again, Dong Hae (웃어라 동해야, 2010)’, ‘You’re Beautiful (미남이시네요, 2009)’, ‘A Love To Kill (이죽일놈의사랑, 2005)’ ” and finally reality shows like “ ‘Infinite Challenge (무한도전)’ ” where shooting in 아침고요수목원 (The Garden of Morning Calm).
My experience in The Garden of Morning Calm was very good except for one thing: we went there when all the trees lost their leafs and their beautiful colors (except for the pine trees). Also, be ready to stay a lot of time in the subways and buses because the trip to this place lasts approximately 2 hours. Otherwise, the site is very clean and beautiful. You can take a lot of good pictures while enjoying walking between the trees. So before planning a trip there, be careful to reminder the four seasons I wrote to not be a little bit disappointed like we were. Enjoy !
Sources:
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/ATR/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264212 (All Pictures)
http://morningcalm.co.kr/_ENG/html/main.php (information)
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/citytour/area.kto?func_name=detail&cid=201500000010&title=Gapyeong%20City%20Tour (for Gapyeong City Tour Bus)
Article by Malek from Canada
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