Hallasan guide: summit booking, Seongpanak or Gwaneumsa, Yeongsil walk

Summit or plateau: choose your Hallasan first

Only two trails reach the summit, Seongpanak on the east side and Gwaneumsa on the north. Both are long. The reservation system gives Seongpanak as 9.6 km and about 4 hours 30 minutes one way, or 9 hours there and back. Gwaneumsa is 8.7 km and about 5 hours one way, 10 hours there and back. The summit trails end at Dongneung, the east peak above the Baengnokdam crater. The park warns that the air thins near the top. It says heart problems and other health emergencies happen often on the summit routes.

The other trails stop below the summit, at the 1,700-metre Witse-oreum shelter and the Nambyeok junction under the crater's south wall. The park recommends Yeongsil and Eorimok to anyone without recent hiking experience or with an existing health condition. These are the routes this guide recommends to most first-time visitors who are not set on standing on the summit. They are shorter, need no reservation and still put you on the open highland with the crater wall above you. The short Eoseungsaengak climb next to the Eorimok visitor centre is the option for a single free hour.

• Summit, fit hikers, booking needed: Seongpanak (9.6 km, about 4 h 30 min one way) or Gwaneumsa (8.7 km, about 5 h one way).
• Half day, no booking: Yeongsil rest area to Witse-oreum (3.7 km) and on to the Nambyeok junction (5.8 km, about 2 h 30 min one way).
• Half day, no booking: Eorimok to Witse-oreum (4.7 km, about 2 h) and the Nambyeok junction (6.8 km, about 3 h one way).
• One hour: Eoseungsaengak, 1.3 km and about 30 minutes one way to a 1,169 m summit.

How the summit reservation works

Since 2025 the reservation has covered only the top sections: Jindallaebat shelter to the summit on Seongpanak, and Samgakbong shelter to the summit on Gwaneumsa. The park's English notice says the Eorimok, Yeongsil, Donnaeko, Seokguram and Eoseungsaengak trails need no booking. You can also walk Seongpanak as far as Jindallaebat, or Gwaneumsa as far as Samgakbong, without one.

When we checked on 2026-10-03, the official reservation system ([visithalla.jeju.go.kr](https://visithalla.jeju.go.kr/)) said that bookings open at 09:00 on the first business day of the previous month and run to the end of the following month. Weekends and public holidays move the opening day back, so check that month's calendar. You may hold one booking a week, for up to four people. There is no waiting list. The park sends each hiker a QR code, and at the checkpoint you must show that code with a passport or other ID. The system can queue users on opening day and hides the availability page that day. It also closes for maintenance from 20:00 to 22:00 on opening day and the evening before.

Cancel before your entry window ends if your plans change. The system treats a no-show without cancellation as a penalty: you cannot book for three months after the first and for a year after the second. If bad weather causes a partial closure on the day, the park says you must cancel and book again for the trail that is open. The fee page listed parking charges at the trailheads but no trail admission charge when we checked. Since 1 September 2026 you can get a summit certificate through the reservation website on the day of your climb, using your booking number and a photo.

Seongpanak or Gwaneumsa

Seongpanak starts at 750 m by the 5.16 road. The trail passes the Sokbat shelter and the side path to Saraoreum, then reaches the staffed Jindallaebat shelter at 7.3 km, about 3 hours one way. From there the park's hardest-graded section climbs 2.3 km to the summit. The park describes the route as mostly gentle and almost entirely in forest, and the park says it passes the most extensive Korean fir forest on Hallasan. Its difficulty comes from the length: 19.2 km there and back. At 5.8 km a 600-metre side trail climbs to Saraoreum, a cone with a crater lake. VisitKorea recommends it for its view towards Baengnokdam and Yeongsil.

Gwaneumsa starts at the Gwaneumsa campground on the north side. It climbs past the Gurin cave and through Tamna Valley to the staffed Samgakbong shelter, 6 km and about 3 hours 20 minutes from the start. It then drops into the Yongjingak valley and climbs about 1 hour 40 minutes to the summit. The park calls it the trail where the valleys are deepest and the mountain is at its most dramatic, with a large difference in height. It notes that many Seongpanak hikers come down this way. VisitKorea's suggested summit course goes up Seongpanak and down through Tamna Valley to Gwaneumsa. It mentions suspension bridges on the descent, which becomes gentle below Tamna Valley. Note that the Samgakbong-to-summit section was closed for rockfall-protection and boardwalk work from 1 August to 30 September 2026. The park announced on 18 September that it would reopen on 24 September.

Entry times decide the day. When we checked on 2026-10-03, both summit trails opened at 05:00. On the winter schedule (October to March), the trailhead and the Jindallaebat and Samgakbong checkpoints closed to summit hikers at 11:30, and you had to leave the summit by 13:30. On the summer schedule (April to September) those times were 12:30 and 14:30. Neither trail has a shop, though a privately run rest stop at the Gwaneumsa entrance sells water, snacks, rain gear and crampons. Carry all your water and food from the start.

Yeongsil and Eorimok: the plateau without a booking

Yeongsil is the quickest way onto the highland. From the Yeongsil rest area at 1,280 m it is 3.7 km to the Witse-oreum shelter at 1,700 m. The park says the route is mostly easy, apart from the steep ridge along the Yeongsil crater between about 1,300 and 1,550 m. That ridge passes the Yeongsil Giam rock pinnacles and Byeongpungbawi, the 'folding-screen' cliff. Above it you cross Seonjakjiwat, a high plain of alpine plants. The park says Yeongsil is also where you can see Hallasan's roe deer at the closest range. The rest area sells simple food, water and crampons. Do not leave the path at the top of Byeongpungbawi: the park warns of rockfall and falls there.

Getting to the start is the awkward part. The road from the Yeongsil ticket office at 1,000 m up to the rest area is 2.5 km. Only vehicles with 12 seats or fewer may use it, and VisitKorea says there is no parking for private cars. Bus 240 from Jeju Bus Terminal takes about 50 minutes to the ticket office, then you face a walk of about 40 minutes uphill. VisitKorea's advice is to take a taxi to the trailhead.

Eorimok starts at 970 m beside the park's main visitor centre. The steep climb to Sajebi-dongsan (1,423 m) is the hard part. After that the path is fairly level past Manse-dongsan to Witse-oreum: 4.7 km and about 2 hours. You can continue along the Nambyeok circuit, which stays almost level beneath the vertical south wall of the summit, to the Nambyeok junction, 6.8 km from the start. Eorimok has no shop. The spring at Sajebi can dry up, so take water. Bus 240 stops at the Eorimok entrance about 35 minutes from Jeju Bus Terminal, then it is a 15-minute walk.

VisitKorea's suggested course goes up Yeongsil and down to Eorimok, then takes a taxi from Eorimok. This gives you the rock scenery on the way up and the forest on the way down. You can add the walk from Witse-oreum to the Nambyeok viewpoint and back, which VisitKorea says adds about 4.2 km. Respect the cut-offs here too. When we checked, the Yeongsil and Eorimok trailheads closed at 12:00 on the winter schedule and 15:00 in summer. The Witse-oreum checkpoint towards the Nambyeok junction closed at 13:00 and 14:00, and you had to leave Witse-oreum by 15:00 and 17:00.

Short walks: Eoseungsaengak, Seokguram and Donnaeko

Eoseungsaengak is a 1.3 km climb, about 30 minutes one way, starting beside the Eorimok visitor centre. It reaches a 1,169 m summit. The park says that on clear days you can see Chujado, Biyangdo and Seongsan Ilchulbong from the top, along with a pillbox the Japanese military built in 1945. It stays open long after the summit trails close: when we checked, the trailhead closed at 17:00 in both seasons. That makes it a good option for an afternoon or for the spare day if the upper trails are closed.

Seokguram is a forest walk of 1.5 km, about 50 minutes one way, from the parking area of the Jeju National Cemetery off the 1100 road to a small hermitage in the Aheunahopgol valleys. The park lists it as about 20 minutes by car from Jeju City. Donnaeko, above Seogwipo, is the long southern approach: 7 km and about 3 hours 50 minutes one way from 500 m to the Nambyeok junction. It has no spring water at all, and its entry cut-off is the earliest in the park: 10:00 in winter and 11:00 in summer when we checked.

Rules, weather and safety on the mountain

Hallasan is managed as a day-hike mountain. Entry hours are set so that everyone is down before sunset, and camping and cooking are allowed only at the Gwaneumsa campground. The park bans single-use lunch boxes, anything flammable, alcohol and smoking, with fines under the Natural Parks Act. It specifically allows gimbap and hamburgers. Take all your rubbish down with you.

The weather changes quickly on the upper plateau. The park names fog, lightning, hypothermia and 'ring wandering' (walking in circles in poor visibility) as hazards around Witse-oreum and Seonjakjiwat. Carry emergency food such as sweets, chocolate and salt, and a spare layer. In winter add crampons, warm clothes, gloves and a hot drink. In an emergency, call 119 and give the number on the nearest trail position marker. The summit trails are long enough that the park recommends hiking in a group, and it warns that injuries and exhaustion on the descent are common.

Getting to the trailheads

Seongpanak is the easiest trailhead to reach without a car. When we checked, the reservation system listed bus 281 from Jeju Bus Terminal along the 5.16 road, first bus 06:00, every 10–14 minutes, about 45 minutes to Seongpanak. From the Seogwipo side, the same route takes about 50 minutes from Seogwipo Bus Terminal. Bus 181 runs from Jeju International Airport in about 35 minutes. The trailhead car park has 156 spaces and the park says it often fills before the trail opens in busy seasons. There is a free park-and-ride car park on the 5.16 road near Jeju International University.

Gwaneumsa has no direct bus from the airport or the terminals. The reservation system says to take bus 281 to Sancheondan and change to bus 475. When we checked it ran from 06:20 to 19:45, but only every 45–90 minutes. If you go up Seongpanak and down Gwaneumsa, a taxi from Gwaneumsa is the simple way back. Yeongsil and Eorimok are on the 1100 road, served by bus 240 from Jeju Bus Terminal. Check current times on the Jeju bus information system (bus.jeju.go.kr) the night before.