Ansan Mountain (안산) is located in the north west part of Seoul. It is covered in easy trails that go all over the mountain. Some trail are very pleasant and easy, while a few that go to the peak can be sightly challenging but not technically difficult.

I’ve been to the peak a few times, but this time I wanted to try the Ansan Jarakgil Trail (자락길). Jarakgil is a common label applied to established, well maintained trails, similar in my mind to Dullegil trails (둘래길). You can see a lot of Jarakgils and Dullegils in many parts of the country. They take you through scenic parts of the countryside and towns. They’re worth searching for if you like walking. A very famous trail is the Jeju Olle Trail. I’ve done a few sections of that but haven’t blogged about it yet (check out the excellent Jeju Olle Trail blog at Going The Whole Hogg).

I started the Ansan Jarakgil near Seodaemun District Office (서대문구청) on the north west of Ansan. I recommend using the Naver Maps app and searching for 안산자락길. You’ll see the trail marked out in red which you can follow.

I walked anti-clockwise and soon got into the metasequoia forest on the hills midway up. In this season they’re bare, but in the winter sun and clear sky, the forest still makes a beautiful, peaceful sight.

One cool thing about this and other Jarak and Dulle trails is that they are often made up of wooden walkways. They are flat and gently sloped and designed to be as accessible as possible. I think you could use a wheel chair to do this trail, although you’d have to find a suitable access point. The wooden trails here and in other parts of Seoul and the country are impressive.

At various points along the trail are views of the peak, Inwangsan across to the east, and other parts of Seoul depending on the air quality. Today, you could see far into Seoul and all the way to the Bukhansan Mountain range behind Inwangsan. On this day, I stopped after doing about half the trail at Seodaemun Prison History Hall (서대문형무소역사관) and Independence Park area.

I went with Romana a few weeks later; she liked it too, even though she’s not a big fan of walking!