Hwadam Forest in May: Monorail and Reservation Tips

I visited Hwadam Forest, one of the popular spring outing spots lately. Autumn reservations are tougher because of the foliage, but in spring a weekday visit felt more manageable. I booked a weekday slot, and spring at Hwadam Forest was beautiful too. I especially recommend it if you are visiting with parents, because the paths were not too tiring and the slopes did not feel too steep.

Hwadam Forest is right next to Gonjiam Resort. Since it is in Gyeonggi-do, it is easy to visit from Seoul; from Anyang in Gyeonggi-do it took me about 1 hour. Parking was comfortable because staff guided cars well. There were many spaces when I arrived in the morning, but at popular times parking may take longer, so it is better to arrive with time to spare.

I reserved through the Yanolja app. You can book by date and time slot, so arrive according to your reservation. The monorail time is also fixed. From the ticket office to monorail section 1, it is about a 5 minute walk, so I recommend leaving a 10 to 20 minute gap between your entry time and monorail time. I booked 11:00 entry and an 11:20 monorail.

After entering, there are tables and chairs where you can rest while waiting for the monorail.

We checked the visitor map, talked about which route to take on the way down since we planned to use the monorail for the uphill stretch, and used the restroom. That made the wait pass quickly.

Because we had a little extra time, we briefly stopped by the Freshwater Fish Ecology Center near the entrance. There were many fish and turtles, and the explanations were detailed enough to make it fun to look around.

It seemed to take about 5 to 10 minutes to look around. If you leave even more time before the monorail, the Insect Ecology Center just above it would also be worth seeing. It looked like a space children would enjoy.

After the ecology center, we went to ride the monorail. One useful tip: sit on the left side rather than the right. The monorail climbs in that direction, and the scenery out the left window was really pretty. A staff member rode with us and briefly explained the places visible outside from the left side.

The monorail had air conditioning, which felt great because it was warmer outside than expected. There are seats inside, but they are reserved for older adults and pregnant passengers, so please yield them if you can.

Everyone was busy standing and looking at the scenery, so I seated my mom and took a photo. It felt like floating up through the forest. The daffodils on the right were in full bloom and looked beautiful, even though the photo only caught a little of them. May is a great time to visit Hwadam Forest.

The monorail ride took about 7 minutes. We got off at station 2 and walked from there. If you want to keep riding, it seems you can stay seated until station 3. I recommend using the monorail only for sections 1 to 2 because that is the uphill part, then enjoying the forest on foot while coming down.

There was also a rest area after getting off, including a large pavilion and vending machines. Hwadam Forest has plenty of places to rest throughout the route, so older visitors should not find the walk too uncomfortable.

On the way down there was a coin-toss area for health, love, and money. I only had a 500 won coin, so I tossed it toward health, and it went right in. Maybe this will be a healthy year.

The paths generally felt like this: forest on both sides, with lots of flowers. The background is pretty almost anywhere, so photos come out nicely.

There were many short trees in full bloom, which made them great for photos. Even on a weekday there were quite a few people taking pictures in front of the flowers, so weekends may be more crowded.

I visited when the daffodils were at a beautiful point, and there were more daffodils around the forest than many other flowers.

Around the middle of the descent, there was a photo spot with a full-length mirror and cute sunglasses props. The flowers were arranged in several places, so photos looked good from many angles.

There were maples too. Many paths were wooden decks and a little slippery, but sneakers were enough. This was my first visit since Hwadam Forest changed to a reservation system, and it felt cleaner and better maintained. I also saw a squirrel and many birds.

Near the bottom there was an area like a flower bed with many kinds of flowers, but there were too many people for me to photograph it well. Autumn is nice, but spring at Hwadam Forest was excellent too. It is a strong choice for flower viewing.

I used only one monorail section, and my route took about 1 hour. I also came down through a few faster paths and did not stop to rest much. If you look around slowly or do not use the monorail, plan for about 1.5 to 2 hours. Hwadam Forest in May is really pretty, so consider visiting.