Ara Waterway cycle path (south) 아라자전거길

I cycled to the west side of mainland Korea (above Incheon) to the start of the 4 rivers / cross-country cycle path. This is a canal/waterway that runs west from The Han River to the sea. There are two good cycle paths along the north and south banks. Naver Map route.

Click to the Four Rivers Cross-country Bicycle Path main page.

Since the mouth of the Han is shared with North Korea, I guess this is waterway the safest way for water traffic to get from the sea to Seoul. Along this canal is the Ara Waterway cycle path (아라자전거길). There are many blogs detailing people’s trips from Seoul to Busan; just do a search! It’s something I’ve started doing in stages, and I’ll blog about it once I do more legs of the trip. Today, I technically completed part 1, and I’ve previously cycled from Seoul down to Yeoju; my next leg will start from Andong and go south.

This bike path starts near Jeonho Bridge (전호대교) and runs for about 37 km to the West Sea and the Kyeongin Hang Incheon Terminal (경인항인천터미널). It’s not hilly of course and is quite a pleasant ride.

Once your turn off the Hang Gang cycle path, find the Ara Hangang Lock Certification Center stamp booth (아라한강갑문인증센터). From here, you can choose to take the south or north path; you can take an elevator under the lock to access the north side of the canal, or pass through an industrial area to get to the south side. For this first trip, I took the south path there and back.

Along the way is a section cut through a rocky hill. Atop the north side of the bank is the Ara Maru Circular Glass Floor Observatory (경인아라뱃길 아라폭포) where there is also a waterfall and a convenience store and restaurant (take the north bank path to access this).

At the end, you cycle to a park at the a harbour type place. Where the waterway actually begins seem to be restricted so I couldn’t see the sea gates or anything. You can see the bridge that links Seoul to the island with Incheon International Airport on it and the surrounding mudflats.

There is the first red stamp booth for the 4 Rivers Cycle Path developed years ago by Lee Myoung Park and which forms part of the Seoul-Busan ride. This is marked with a big, round plaque. There is a gate, plus signs saying either ‘Finish’ or ‘Start’ depending on which direction you’re going!