A Day Trip to Nami Island and Garden of the Morning Calm

I have always wanted to visit Garden of the Morning Calm, but I hadn’t brought my self to do it because of the distance. These two nature places located in Gapyeong, the eastern part of Seoul a are must see for all nature lovers. Gapyeong is full of touristic places that it’s impossible to explore all in one day.

The first time, I went to Gapyeong, was last year towards the end of the fall season. My friends and I were heading to Nami Island. We wanted to catch the last bit of the fall beauty. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to the island due to the long lines. I waited for over one hour before I threw in the towel. I guess we were not the only ones trying to catch the last bits of fall beauty.

This time around, I visited Nami towards the end of the summer, and the place was still beautiful. Summer is not the peak season, so we didn’t have to go through the hassle of lining up. You can get to the island either by ferry (10-minute ride) or zipline. We took the ferry since the weather was not favorable to zipline. The Scenic views at Nami were exceptional, from the tall trees to the tiny lotus flowers. We had planned to rent bikes and ride around the island but were unable to do so due to the weather. Even so, we were able to see the entire Island on foot in a little over one hour.

Nami Island

You can not go to Gapyeong and not taste the famous Chuncheon Dakalbi. We ate the delicious Dakalbi before heading to Garden of the Morning Calm.

For Only 6000 won, you can buy a day’s pass to the tourist bus around Gapyeong at the Gapyeong Station. You need to make sure you keep the ticket with you.

From Nami Island to Garden of the Morning Calm is about 40 minutes to one hours ride by bus. We arrived there at 3:40 pm, and as we later found out, we didn’t have enough time to stroll through the entire Garden. Besides, we managed to visit the bigger part of the garden. If you are into nature, add this Garden to your must see places in Korea. There are a variety of themes within the garden, my favorite being the Pond Garden and the Korean Garden. I very much wanted to see the road to heaven but couldn’t because of time. I recommend one to give themselves at least one and half hours to visit all the sections.