Korea’s Four Rivers cycle paths, aka the Cross-country Route, is an extensive network of bicycle paths around the country. Most famously, these paths link Seoul to Busan, the route that gets all the glory! However, there are plenty of other paths around Korea, some offshoots from the Seoul/Busan route, others completely separate, like the east coast route. There is also a passport and stamp system where you can collect stamps at red phonebooth-type stations.
Nerd fact: the ‘four rivers’ in the title are actually the Hangang, Nakdonggang, Geumgang, and Yeongsangang (~gang meaning river).
Check out the Bike.go.kr links for more information. You can also get information about ordering the passport. Cross reference for best results:
- This is in English but it has less up-to-date information; it doesn’t have individual route maps and the main map is a bit outdated for example.
- This is the Korean version with more details. Switch the site to English with your browser translation function, or brush up on your Korean!
My trips
A few friends have done the Seoul/Busan route (takes between 4 to 8 days, depending on your style!). One friend did pretty much everything on the map during his school vacations.
As for me, not having done a week-long cycling adventure, I’ve been doing routes one-to-three days at a time (with stamps to prove it!). I’ve only blogged abour a few of them, but so far I’ve done:
- Ara Waterway (multiple times)
- Hangang (multiple times; part of Seoul living!)
- East Coast (Unification tower to Donghae)
- Bukhangang (multiple times, only up to Gangchon)
- Namhangang (Paldang to Yeoju | Yeoju to Chungju)
- Saejae (Chungju to Jeomchon)
Posts of my trip:
- Cycling Yeoju to Chungju
I got a bus to Yeoju to cycle more of the Namhangang Bicycle Path. I made it to the town of Chungju and stayed the night. The following day, I cycled east… Read more: Cycling Yeoju to Chungju - Cycling east coast of Korea: Daejin to Donghae
Gareth and I cycled 160 km from Daejin near the North Korean border, south to Donghae. We did a leisurely ~50 km a day. The route is along the 동해안 자전거길 (Donghae-an… Read more: Cycling east coast of Korea: Daejin to Donghae - Ara Waterway cycle path 아라자전거길
I cycled to the north of Incheon today, to the start of the 4 rivers / cross-country cycle path. There’s a canal-type waterway that runs west from The Han River to the… Read more: Ara Waterway cycle path 아라자전거길
This page will be updated when I complete more rides. The main content will be blog posts of the times I’ve cycled the routes.