Somehow I thought this would be longer and harder than it was. Many other people shared their stories and adventures with us which made the trip possible. I used their blogs and stories to help not only visualize our trip but plan as we went, so in return I wanted to share what we learned in case it helps or inspires anyone else.
Planning: The facebook group Seoul to Busan and Beyond (SBB) is amazing. A wealth of information, real time support from those who have been there and and a sense of community. On this facebook group one can find links to strava data, maps and more.
Bike Rental: I can not say enough good things about Bike Nara in Seoul. This large bike store rented us bikes for the trip, had them picked up for us in Busan so we could continue on our adventure, shipped our remaining gear to our hotel. The bikes were perfectly complete with panniers and a small bag for my youngest. He had nicer, faster bikes, spoke great english and was incredibly kind. They sold us passport books and gave us details & tips on the map. I had told him we didn’t have a plan of how long it would take and they were flexible with the time schedule and even checked in to make sure we were having fun when we were on the trail. We could have not done this trip this year without Bike Nara!
Route finding: As many people will mention, the Naver app is far superior in Korea. We would put in the next certification center and off we would go. The girls did all the route finding and as long as they were paying attention we were good.
Food and water: It was hot much of the time we were biking and food and water could be spread out, so we just got used to carrying extra. I would usually have a 2 L water in my bag plus some snacks. Many of our calories come from convenience stores and there is more in the “Korean eating blog” but it was not a problem.
Lodging: The towns become a little more spread out as you get toward the last third of the trip, so we had to plan each day. One day we thought we had to go 45 miles between towns, and found that there really was lodging between the two. For light bikes and the cultural experience we were grateful we didn’t plan ahead and there were plenty of places. With small kids or for more flexibility in stopping I could see the advantage of a tent.
The breakdown: Here is a breakdown of how we did our days as the list of other people’s “days” helped us figure out where we might get lodging next.
Day 1: Ara locks to Gangam-Gu. 38.9 miles
After a morning of picking up our bikes and navigating the subway to the start, the first day was an amazing urban bike ride into the heart of Seoul. Many people skip this section and just start at their hotel in Seoul but we loved his day and were glad we did the whole thing, but maybe it was the impressive tail-wind for the first twenty miles and the joy of being on a bike. It was also fun to spend our first night in the famous district of Gangnam and have an amazing dinner and great bed.
Day 2: Gangnam - Yeoju: 54.8 miles
A longer day for the girls, they were anxious to push it a little further. This was the most developed section of the whole trail, coffee shops, restaurants, biking and bikers everywhere. This area had amazing bike tunnels. My Strava had 61 segments on this day and it must be where all of Seoul goes to bike. Not knowing what to expect we passed through this area quickly, but could have easily spent more time. We found ourselves in the first love motel that night and spicy octopus for dinner.
Day 3: Youju - Ang Seong Hot Springs: 26.4 miles
A shorter day after two longs days of breaking in the saddle we learned this day all the cafes don’t continue and we need to start caring a little more food and water with us. We ended in a beautiful small hot springs town that we loved so much we even thought about staying for a second day.
Day 4: Angseoung Hot Springs - Sunabo Hot Springs: 35.1 miles
Many people stay in the town of Sunabo as it is before 2 larger climbs of the trail. Clearly a tourist town, packed with pheasant restaurants and a nice hot springs, everything was a bit pricey but we had a nice night, staying at a hotel with a bunny farm and clearly very used to bike tourist.
Day 5: Sunabo - Mungyeong. 33.61 miles
This day was up and over the two larger hills. They were beautiful and nice climbs, but the day got hot quickly and we were grateful the climbs were in the morning. By mid afternoon it was so hot we hung out in a coffee shop for a few hours, letting it cool down before we went looking for a hotel room. Mungyeong was the most run down town we stayed where we bypassed a few hotels because of the uncomfortable groups of men hanging outside of hotel and if we were to do again, we would have skipped this town, or looked around for other places further from the train station.
Day 6: Mungyeong - Gumi. 52.5 miles
This section starts to get a bit more spread out. There was one section right after the bike museum where we all started and went different directions, Traverse and the kids following signs that looked like the trail, but turns out to be a connector trail. They did about an extra 10 miles to the distance above, when they had to bike back to find me and we all continued on together. Getting into Gumi was a bit more of a challenging ride then I expected, one time taking an elevator to a bridge over a busy street. More amazing flowers along this section.
Day 7: Gumi - Daegu (Nakdonggang) 30 miles
Today was slow given the heat and length of the day before and Isabelle started to get sick and got stung by a bee on the forehead resulting in increasing swelling throughout the day. Daegu is a huge city, and the area of Nakdonggang was the closest we could find to the trail. The area was fine, lots of outlet stores and office buildings, but not our favorite stop.
Day 8: Rest day
We woke up to pouring rain, blowing winds, Isabelle’s left eye was swollen closed, and her right was almost closed resulting in no depth perception and a hard time seeing. Given that we had no huge time pressure, it seemed like a rest day was in order and we all enjoyed the break.
Day 9: Daegu - Namji 56.2 miles
After a day of rest and cooler temperatures, today, despite being longer and more elevation climbing (many short hill that required pushing our loaded bikes) felt like a breeze and probably our favorite day. Temples, short ascents and descents, poppies everywhere, and smaller villages. We all enjoyed the town of Namji which was small enough to navigate through, but large enough for hotel and food options. Everyone felt like they could keep going and we were all a bit sad the trip was coming to an end.
Day 10: Namji - Yangsan 39.7 miles
Closing in on the end, 40 miles seems like nothing to the girls now. Easy beautiful day through poppies. Not a lot of towns, but we have our system down by now and enjoyed picnics and took our time. Yangsan is just outside of Busan, but a fun community with a ton of bike shops, the best Sushi I have ever had at Mr. Sushi and a clean, modern hotel not far off the trail.
Day 11: Yangsan - Busan. 22.8 miles
By 9:30 in the morning we had made it to the finish. The whole ride was accompanied by walkers, bikers and joggers enjoying this stretch of trail. The end was more built up than the start, and at 10 am the girls were able to get their passports certified and certificates, a fun official feeling to completing the ride. We enjoyed the parks foot baths and hung around before braving into the city to our hotel that night, which took a bit of dirty city biking to get to. In hindsight we might have braved the subways with bikes and headed straight for Haeundae beach given the hotel options near the end, but all is well that ends well.
At the end of the day we all agreed this was one of our favorite bike trips ever given the supportive set up. The girls were seriously contemplating skipping the beach and continuing to bike and are hoping to return some day to complete the rest of the trails in South Korea. Thank you to all of you who inspired us to do this trip and happy to help others who may be interested. It was amazing.
This sweet dog biking with the girls near the end, clearly this was not his first escort.
Riding to the end across another cool 3D painting.
The girls filling out their official paperwork at the end
enjoying our foot baths t the end with the pressure air dryers to go with them. Full service biking support!
Wishes written on paper boats at the end, these small pieces of art adding to every part of our experience