Seoul is South Korea’s largest city and Chuncheon is the capital of South Korea’s northeastern most province, Gangwon. These two cities are approximately 75 km apart and well connected. Travelers can take trains, busses, and other modes of transportation between the two cities. If you are like us and like to take your time, enjoy the scenery, and try something new then try ditching the car and bike ride from Seoul to Chuncheon.
Jill’s cousins have lived in Seoul for many years. They are extremely active, I mean they run and bike ride on their free time and enjoy doing it! I mean we do to, but they take it to a whole new level. Either way, in 2018 we visited them in South Korea and they had planned this adventurous weekend for all of us to ride bikes from Seoul to Chuncheon.
Prior to this, Jill and myself have never really gone on a multi day bike ride. We do love new experiences and it meant spending quality time with her cousins, so we quickly agreed to do it and it’s still one of the most memorable bike rides we’ve done, it’s up there with cycling the Shimanami Kaido we did while living on mainland Japan.
Seoul is a chaotic and crowded city, there is so much going on it can be draining. So a bike ride along the country side of South Korea seemed like a peaceful escape from the hustle and bustle of Seoul.
Bike Rentals
Traveling to Seoul and don’t have your own bike? No problem, there are several bike shops around the city that offer bike rentals. Jill’s cousins recommended Giant Bicycles so we went with them. Rental prices were very reasonable. The rental included the bike, helmet, and panniers.
The Route
The estimated route from Seoul to Chuncheon is about 75 km. The trail is a cyclists paradise. Most of the trail was on designated bike and pedestrian paths. There were only a few sections, mainly in small rural towns that we cycled along the road.
The path to Chuncheon consisted of bike and pedestrian paths that took sidewalks, boardwalks, and specialized tunnels.
The path was flat for the most part. There were a few uphill areas but they were few and far in between. The route primarily followed rivers and passed several small towns, agricultural areas, and became mountainous especially when getting closer to Chuncheon.
Cycling from Seoul to Chuncheon - Stops and Food
We were surprised to find that in South Korea places opened late, this included shops and restaurants. So we didn’t get started on our journey until after 10:00 am once Giant Bicycles opened.
Giant Bicycles was kind of in he middle of the city, it took us a few hours of cycling just to get out of Seoul. The trail we started on was great, it was in the heart of the city. But because of this, it is a popular trail, so we were dodging other cyclists, joggers, and pedestrians until we reached the outskirts of Seoul.
After cycling for a couple hours, we took a short break to check out some of the cosmos flower fields that were in bloom at the time. By the way, we were on vacation during the month of October, so the weather was perfect for bike riding, plus cosmos flowers are in season this time of year.
We were getting farther and farther away from Seoul. The landscape changed drastically and we no longer had to dodge other cyclists and pedestrians. We rode through several agricultural areas before the landscape quickly turned mountainous.
We passed by several towns along the way. Jill’s cousins are all about coffee and pastries, as are we so we took a mid day coffee break in one of the smaller towns. The nice thing about the bike ride from Seoul to Chuncheon is that you are never to far away from civilization. Surprisingly, South Korea had so many great cafe’s and bakeries. Our favorites were Paris Baguette and Ediya Coffee.
After a much needed break we cycled a few more hours passing more villages, cycling alongside rivers, and going through more bike tunnels. It was nearing lunch time and Jill’s cousins have kind of a tradition where they stop at this pizza place along the route that is kind of in the middle of nowhere. I can’t recall the name of the pizza place but it is hard to miss since it’s literally along the trail. The pizza place had an amazing outside seating area and fresh brick oven pizzas. As if great pizza and a relaxing atmosphere isn’t enough, they had an adorable puppy that would roam around and beg for food.
The mysterious pizza place was kind of the last stop during our ride from Seoul to Chuncheon. We still had a ways to go. The scenery was stunning from this point on to Chuncheon. We rode past beautifully still lakes, tall mountain peaks, and scenic river valleys. There were quite a few water bodies near Chuncheon and the trails became boardwalks hugging the bottom of the mountains.
Our day quickly turned into evening and the sun started to set. Thankfully for us, we were but an hour from Chuncheon and made it to the city right before it became to dark to cycle.
We Made it to Chuncheon
Our bike ride from Seoul to Chuncheon was only one day but it felt longer. We saw beautiful places, ate great food, and had so much fun together.
Chuncheon is a decent sized city with a population around 300,000. We found a Love Motel in the city for $40 a night. Don’t let the name fool you, Love Motels are cheap and offer a great night stay!
After biking all day, a shower and change of clothes was a must! We met up with Jill’s cousins for Indian. Indian Food in East Asia is amazing. I always get curry and naan. It’s a hearty and filling meal. After a rewarding and well deserved meal, we went back to the hotel and it was lights out!
Chuncheon is situated alongside a large lake. There is a brilliant bike path around the lake that we rode the next morning. The path was about 21 km. It was flat the entire way and the mountain views were mesmerizing. We spent a couple hours navigating around the lake.
We never planned on biking back to Seoul from Chuncheon. Instead we went to the train station and purchased a one-way train ticket back to Seoul. The train had designated carts for bikes. We sat back and enjoyed the hour ride back to Seoul. Once arriving in Seoul we rode back to Giant Bicycles and dropped off the bikes. To this day, Jill and I still talk about how awesome our bike trip was from Seoul to Chuncheon and we hop to do it again in the future!
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