Exploring Hwanseongul Cave (환선굴) in Samcheok

The Drive to Hwanseongul Cave

Idyllic countryside roads of Gangwon Province

Mountains of Gangwon Province

After spending about three days in Gangneung (read all about it here and here), we drove further south to explore Samcheok City. Samcheok is also located along South Korea’s picturesque East Coast and is a part of Gangwon Province. Like most Korean cities, Samcheok has its fair share of mountains, beaches, and caves. We had already covered many beaches in Gangneung and decided to head to the mountain on our first day in Samcheok.

Mountains of Gangwon Province

Hwanseongul Cave had been on the top of my list from the time I read about it. The drive from our pension house to Deokangsan Mountain was scenic and quite easy to navigate using Naver Maps. We started early and had the roads practically to ourselves.

Entrance to Deokangsan Mountain (덕항산)

Hwanseongul Cave is tucked deep inside Deokangsan Mountain. A detour connects the main highway to an inner arterial road. The village roads were deserted in the morning and I was a little worried until I saw signboards. There’s also a route to Taebaek — a popular mountain town known for its annual winter festival. We had hiked Taebaeksan in 2017 and the signboard brought about warm memories of that particularly cold winter hike. It isn’t very difficult to follow the boards and find the parking lot.

A Korean restaurant (식당)

Route to the parking lot.

We spotted a restaurant on the way to the ticket booth. I’m not sure if there are other restaurants after this point. The parking lot was pretty empty in the morning. However, on our way back, we saw a couple of local Korean tour buses. It isn’t easy reaching places like these in Korea, especially if, you don’t have a car or understand Korean. You could take a bus (61, 61-1, 70, 80, 80-1) from Samcheok City, but you’d have to figure out the stop using Naver Maps, and wait for a long time between successive buses. Again, in these parts, most people will not speak English, and it will be quite a task to reach your destination. In our earlier days, before we figured out how to rent a car in South Korea, we would opt for local transport and find it frustrating whenever we were lost.

The ticket counter at the main entrance.

There are two caves in the Daei-ri Cave Area (대이리 동굴지대) of
Deokangsan Mountain (덕항산). You can buy tickets for both or either cave from the ticket booth at the main entrance. We knew we wouldn’t have the time to explore both caves and visit the other sights of Samcheok on the same day. We chose to explore Hwanseongul Cave (the larger of the two) and conserve our energy for the rest of the day.

Map of Daei-ri Cave Area (대이리 동굴지대) in Deokangsan Mountain (덕항산)

A well paved road takes you through a lush green forest with gurgling rivers and quaint bridges. In summer, the heat can sap your energy quickly and even a gentle walk in the woods can seem like an uphill task. We didn’t spot many refreshment stalls and it’s preferable to carry a bottle of water with you and stay hydrated. Restrooms are available at regular intervals.

Entrance to Daegeumgul Cave (대금굴).

The first cave, Daegeumgul Cave (대금굴), lies barely 500 m away from the main entrance. A wooden bridge connects the trail to the forest and disappears before you can try spotting what lies beyond.

Water Mill of Daeri-ri

A quaint village

Hwanseongul Cave is roughly 1.5 or 2 km from the main entrance. We hadn’t done our research about the trail and I was worried that we’d have to hike up the mountain. Normally, we pack sandwiches and understand the route (from other expat blogs) before the hike. Even if the trail might look simple initially, it’s not easy to predict how it will change as you go higher. Because of the language barrier people might be hesitant to help and it can get quite frustrating. At this point, I was beginning to wonder if this was a bad idea because we felt a little lost. Thankfully, we spotted the entrance to the monorail and the walk (about 1 km from the entrance) didn’t seem that hard. We spotted some Koreans take the hiking path up to the cave. On another day, in an alternate timeline, in another season, without being masked (during a raging pandemic)– we’d have blindly followed them.

Monorail Ride

Monorail ticket counter

Monorail compartment

The monorail ride takes about 7 minutes to Hwanseongul Cave (one-way) and costs about 7,000 won (round-trip) for adults. We had reached early and didn’t have to wait in line and got front view spots quite easily. There’s more room for standing and it’s perfect for enjoying a bird’s-eye view of the mountains around you.

Waiting for the joyride to start

We’ve taken cable car rides in the mountains before, but this was the first time we were trying out a monorail. I was a bit jittery and the angular ascent wasn’t something I was looking forward to. However, I knew it was definitely better than hiking up the mountain in summer. I tried focusing on the dense vegetation and dull-grey towering rocks in front of me. The mountains were truly stunning, and once again, Korea surprised me after thinking I had seen it all.

The monorail cuts through Deokangsan Mountain (덕항산) and with every infinitesimal turn of its snaking rail line — you’re treated to a clearer view of its undulating terrain. It isn’t easy to capture the beauty of the mountain given the fact that we were in a metal box with tinted glass. The experience was truly one of a kind.

Perspective shot

The marvels of Korean engineering.

Monorail boarding point at the cave.

Hwanseongul Cave (환선굴)

We had finally made it to the entrance of the cave. Our tickets were checked at this point, but I don’t remember if they checked our temperatures too (it was August, 2020). The guard informed us that photography wasn’t allowed inside the cave. I found this strange because Hwanseongul is claimed to be Asia’s largest limestone cave. Surely, they’d want more foreign tourists to visit here? Then again, I saw many Koreans taking selfies and clicking pictures without a care. We decided to capture the raw beauty of this hidden world whilst being mindful of our surroundings and the rare life forms it might hold. Mea culpa.

Hwanseongul Cave Entrance

Metal and rock co-exist in Hwanseongul Cave.

There’s a local legend that tells a tale of a mysterious maiden (or fairy) who was banished from the village below and chased to the mountain. Thunder struck the mountain and rocks fell, forming Hwanseongul Cave. The maiden disappeared and the villagers believed she was a fairy and offered prayers for the well-being of the village.

Hwanseongul Cave is like a time capsule that’s trapped in the dark underground recesses of the earth. The cave is believed to have been formed roughly 530 million years ago (that’s older than the entire lifetime of the dinosaurs). Hwanseongul is estimated to be about 8 km in length (or more) and 3 km of the cave is clearly mapped out. The government site says that it takes about an hour to explore the cave (approx. 1.6 km – 2km). However, it could take longer — if you stop at every stalagmite or stalactite — trying to find an uncanny resemblance to an animate or divine visual that’s etched in your mind. The dim lighting, unearthly setting, and mild cold (about 10 to 15 ⁰ C) does little to placate the over imaginative human mind that likes conjuring shapes and forms from lifeless rock. There are about 47 different kinds of life forms that are native to the cave. We didn’t see any — especially the most common habitant: bats.

Water dripping from the top.

A bridge over clear water.

A gushing waterfall.

Cold metal stairs cut through rock.

I’m never good with closed spaces. You could easily add claustrophobia to my long list of phobias. However, Hwanseongul Cave never felt claustrophobic. The ceiling of the cave is rather high above and the walk doesn’t involve crawling through narrow spaces. You rarely get the feeling of being trapped inside rock. The scale of the cave is truly hard to capture on camera (especially when you’re not supposed to). It might seem like a simple walk on a guided path, but it does put a reasonable strain on the legs because it’s not easy to understand the true scale of the undulating stairs. Kids might find it a little hard and people with knee problems could give it a skip.

An unearthly setting.

Towards light…

It’s wiser to wear a water repellant jacket and quick dry pants inside the cave. It can get a bit chilly (even in summer) and there’s water dripping or gushing from every orifice — both above and below. You have to mind your step and be careful — even if the walking path is largely dry.

A gushing stream.

Some sections can get quite scary. The names don’t do it justice and since I didn’t have any way of memorising them, I’ll call it the ‘Bridge of Hell’. I did get scared here and I was pretty tired by this point. The clear view of the plunging crevice below didn’t do much for my fear of heights.

Rimstone formation

Jarring lights

A pool of clear water.

Towards the exit.

A maze of rock and steel.

We were lucky to have finished our whole walking exploration of the cave before the crowd picked up. I’m not sure if our experience would have been the same had it been crowded. Walking would be uncomfortable because the pathway can get narrow in certain sections.

Goodbye mountain

Perhaps, a cultural heritage site?

On our way down, the monorail was packed. We were surprised because the cave was quite empty while we were inside. We saw groups of tourists trudge the path to the monorail. We did see a few expats this time. We were famished but decided to drive to the next tourist point (next post), in Samcheok, and have a bite to eat there.