Ulsanbawi (10-hour calls only)
1 / 2Ulsanbawi (10-hour calls only)Photo: Sohyeon Bak / CC BY-SA 3.0
Tap a photo to see it large. 2 photographs, every one credited.
A granite rock of six peaks at 873 m, the park’s signature shape. The legend says it set out from Ulsan to join Mount Kumgang, arrived late and stayed. The park service gives 3.8 km and 2 hours each way: gentle to Heundeulbawi, then a kilometre of stairs. About 5.5 hours door to door before rests, so a 10-hour call only, and instead of everything else.
- 5 hr 30 min door to door means a 2–3 hour stop ashore cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
- No single published ride covers this one. Budget for a taxi both ways, or fold it into a guided day.
Why Ulsanbawi (10-hour calls only) is famous
Ulsanbawi is a granite rock of six peaks, 873 m above the sea and 4 km round. It is the shape on every Seoraksan postcard. The legend has the mountain god building Mount Kumgang and calling for rocks. A great rock set out from Ulsan, arrived too late, and settled here; the lake below is its tears. The Korea National Park Service route is 3.8 km and 2 hours each way from Sogongwon: 2.8 km of gentle path to Heundeulbawi, then a kilometre of steep stairs. That is more than 800 steps, or 888 by local tradition. The colour is best from mid-October to early November, which is when the autumn calls arrive.
Ulsanbawi (10-hour calls only) and your ship
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Where the 5 hr 30 min goes
Counted from the moment you step off the gangway. The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside.
26 minutes each way is the measured figure for taxi ~26 min each way, then 3.8 km and 2 h each way on foot from sogongwon, not the optimistic one. If your ship is late, cut the 4 hr 38 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
What to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
See · ~2.5–3hSeorak Cable Car and Gwongeumseong
A 1,128 m cable car, five minutes each way, to a station at 699 m.
See the detail →
See · ~1–1.5hAbai Village and the Gaetbae ferry
The quarter built in 1950 by about 6,000 refugees from North Korea’s Hamgyeong Province, on the sandbar beside the terminal.
See the detail →
See · ~1.5–2hSinheungsa and the Unification Buddha
The Jogye Order head temple just inside Seoraksan’s Sogongwon gate, rebuilt on this site in 1648.
See the detail →