For most tourists with just a couple of days to spend in the town, the key places to visit would be the Suncheon Bay National Garden, the Wetland Reserve, and the Nagan Eupseong Folk Village. There are about a dozen other points of interest in this town, but few others really caught our eye. Nonetheless, during our planning phase, we populated our itinerary with two other places: Jukdobong Park, and the Suncheon Drama Film Set.
On the map, Jukdobong Park seems pretty close to Suncheon Station. That map is deceiving however, on account that the park sits on a hill. So, while the walking distance itself isn’t that long – I judge it to be just over a kilometer – parts of the walk involve a combination of steep slopes and steps. It was certainly a good workout after that heavy burger and Korean chicken lunch at Mom’s Touch!
It took us about 30 minutes to walk up to the highest point, and we had plenty of stops along the way to catch our breath. The observation platform sits on top of a cafe that other visitors have called “quaint” on Google Maps. We couldn’t really tell, because the cafe was closed today. There is also a water fountain near the two-level pavilion. We were initially a little leery of drinking from it, but were reassured after we saw locals drinking from it that the water was (probably) safe for human consumption.
The observation platform offers a 360-degree panoramic view of Suncheon city. The elevation isn’t at the level of Busan Tower and much less Busan X The Sky, but it still offers a good look at the sprawl of this small city.
Pro-tip: use Naver Map to find your way up to the park. The app did a great job tracking where we were and we didn’t get lost. Also, there is another observation point you can stop at while making your way up to the park, but the view from this spot isn’t as good as the one on the observation platform on the hill inside the park.
We spent about 90 minutes walking up, admiring the view, then making our descent back to Suncheon Station to get a variety of hot and cold drinks at Compose Coffee before making our way back to Baguni Hostel and checking in.
That’s a wrap for our Day 06 activities. We’d be visiting the Suncheon Bay National Garden and the Wetland Reserve tomorrow, so more to come very soon!