Autumn, the best season for walking, is back with some pleasant and breezy weather.

If you’re planning for a weekend out to enjoy the refreshing atmosphere and scenes of autumn, take a look at these five arboretums in Gyeonggi Province waiting to welcome you with plenty of shade and cool air.

Pocheon Pyunggang Botanical Garden

Well known as the backdrop of several K-drama hits including Can You Hear My Heart, Arang and the Magistrate, and Big, Pyunggang Botanical Garden is an arboretum located at 203, Umulmok-gil, Yeongbuk-myeon, Pocheon City.

Pocheon Pyunggang Botanical Garden features 12 gardens with distinct themes including the largest rock garden in Asia, some 6,000m² large, a waterlily garden with more than 50 types of waterlilies, and an evergreen grass lawn. You’ll get a chance to enjoy a wide range of different sceneries at Pyunggang.

In particular, if you climb to the marsh eco-park observation deck on a good autumn day, you’ll be able to find chestnuts, pine cones, and acorn shells the squirrels have cracked open. Not only that, Pyunggang has numerous maple trees as well as the endangered Danyang aster, Siberian chrysanthemum, northern dendranthema, and goldenrod.

Here’s one more tip for people planning to visit Pocheon Pyunggang Botanical Garden! Some of Pocheon’s key tourist attractions including Myeongseongsan Mountain and Sanjeong Lake are located nearby Pyunggang. The silver grass field covering the Myeongseongsan Mountain area offers a perfect way to really feel the autumn vibe, so don’t forget to check it out.

• Address: 203, Umulmok-gil, Yeongbuk-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi Province
• Opening hours: Summer (April – October) 09:00 – sunset / Winter (November – March) 09:00 – sunset
• Cost: Summer (April – October) Adults KRW 6,000, Adolescents KRW 4,000 / Winter (November – March) All ages KRW 3,000
• Inquiries: website: http://www.peacelandkorea.com/ / phone: 031-531-7751

Yangpyeong Wildflower Arboretum

If you’d like to take in the autumn scenery by a river, I recommend the Wildflower Arboretum. Located in Yangpyeong County, where the Namhangang River twists and turns through the area, The Wildflower Arboretum is the only riverside arboretum in Korea. It’s even more special thanks to interesting outdoor gardens, wildflower colonies, and an herb garden.

If you walk past the beautiful outdoor garden, which looks like it came straight out of an Andersen children’s story, you’ll arrive at some wildflower colonies and the natural eco-museum. The colonies feature more than 200 species of indigenous wildflowers that are hard to come by, while the natural eco-museum is home to insect specimens including the tiger swallowtail butterfly and longhorned beetle as well as several fresh water fish such as the minnow and swiri.

There’s a nice pier for boats on the Namhangang River, and the garden is also home to a nice nature-inspired course that helps children become closer to nature. The Yangpyeong Wildflower Arboretum invites you to enjoy clear skies and the glimmering waters of Namhangang River in the bright autumn sunshine.

• Address: 16, Sumogwon-gil, Yangpyeong-eup, Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi Province
• Opening hours: Summer (April – November) 09:30 – 18:00 / Winter (November – March) 09:30 – 17:00
• Cost: University/College students and older KRW 8,000, Middle/High School students KRW 6,000, Children KRW 5,000, Senior citizens/the disabled/soldiers KRW 6,000, Yangpyeong-gun residents KRW 4,000
• Inquiries: website: http://www.nemunimo.co.kr/home/main.html / phone: 031-772-1800

Namyangju Sandulsori Botanical Garden

Namyangju Sandulsori Botanical Garden is an arboretum stretching 130,000m² across the beautiful Buramsan Mountain. Sandulsori is home to more than 1,200 species of plants including wildflowers and herbs. It is easily accessible from the city and offers a wide variety of on-site learning programs, making Sandulsori an ideal place for families with children!

As the leading destination for field trips, Namyangju Sandulsori Botanical Garden is worth taking note of thanks to its combination of fun and learning. Visitors can touch and enjoy fantasy art and unique toys at the museum for peculiar items, explore the greenhouse garden that features a mixture of oriental paintings and floriculture, and have a blast at the English garden where flowers are grouped and displayed in alphabetical order. In particular, the birth garden where birthstones are showcased by month is a specialty only available at Sandulsori.

Moreover, you can have a one-of-a-kind experience if you enjoy Buramsan Mountain and its beautiful autumn foilage along with Sandulsori Botanical Garden.

• Address: 48-31, Buramsan-ro 59beon-gil, Namyangju-si, Gyeonggi Province
• Opening hours: 09:30 – 18:00 (admission until 1 hour before closing)
• Cost: Adults KRW 8,000, Children KRW 8,000, Senior citizens/the disabled KRW 6,000
• Inquiries: website: http://www.sandulsori.co.kr/ / phone: 031-574-3252

Siheung Yongdo Tree Garden

Sitting by the foothills of Yangjisan Mountain, Yongdo Tree Garden is a 33,000m² compound that is home to some 1,200 species of forest trees, shrubs, and herbs. Apart from its trees, you can enjoy more than 100 different types of wildflowers in the wildflower garden, as well as an herb village full of aromatic scents and an all-season sledding slope. Thanks to these facilities, you can enjoy Yongdo Tree Garden for some hands-on activities and a break in the bosom of nature.

Of particular note, Yongdo has a small zoo where visitors can feed birds like pheasants, indigenous chickens, ducks, peacocks, and owls as well as farm animals like sheep, goats, and rabbits. It also has facilities such as traditional swings, thatched-roof houses, and an exhibition hall to help visitors experience traditional folk life, which is one reason why Yongdo Tree Garden is popular among children. That’s not all. Yongdo is close to the west coas,t which means you can enjoy a wide variety of fresh seafood and attractions like sunset at Oido Island.

Yongdo has other attractions such as rail-sleds and its recreation ground for children in addition to various plants such as bamboo which are hard to come by in the city. So how about having a day at Yongdo Tree Garden this autumn?

• Address: San 32-20, Maehwa-dong, Siheung-si, Gyeonggi Province
• Opening hours: Summer (April – October) 09:30 – 19:00 / Winter (November – March) 10:30 – 17:00
• Cost: Adults KRW 3,000, Children (Age 4 – 12) KRW 2,000
• Inquiries: website: http://www.yongdo.co.kr/ / phone : 031-313-9090

Icheon Deocpyeong Dinosaur Arboretum

If you ask me to recommend the most unique arboretum in Gyeonggi Province, I’d suggest Deocpyeong Dinosaur Arboretum. As its name suggests, you can see dinosaurs at this special arboretum. Frankly, you might think that arboretums and dinosaurs have nothing to do with each other. It might be a good idea, however, to go visit a unique arboretum rather than going to similar places every time.

Icheon Deocpyeong Dinosaur Arboretum has more than 3,000 species of trees such as chestnut trees and nut pine trees that go well with autumn, more than 1,000 species of succulent plants such as cacti in its green house, and more than 100 types of tropical plants such as coffee trees, banana trees, and papaya trees. So it’s an ideal place to see some interesting plants on a cool autumn day.

The most interesting point here, though, is the dinosaur and insect exhibition hall that features dinosaur and insect models that move and sound like they’re alive. Befitting its moniker, Deocpyeong has over 20 types of dinosaurs including the tyranosaurus rex, pachycephalosaurus, and triceratops in addition to insect models such as a giant grasshopper and praying mantis. Rumor has it that this is the most popular feature among children.

In addition to its dinosaur and insect hall, Deocpyeong has a sculpture park with more than 300 silicified wood specimens created over the past 500 years, the beombawi cave where legend says a tiger actually lived, and a cluster of fir trees that abound with phytoncide.

• Address: 282, Jakchon-ro, Majang-myeon, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi Province
• Opening hours: Weekdays 10:00 – 18:00 / Weekends 10:00 – 19:00
• Cost: Adults KRW 10,000, Middle/High School students KRW 7,000, Children KRW 6,000
• Inquiries: website: http://www.dinovill.com/ / phone: 031-633-5029

Source: Gyeonggi Province Blog

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