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Suwon Day Trip: The Only Itinerary You Need (2025)

A trip to Suwon is often overshadowed by the neon-lit streets, thrift stores and endless cafe hopping opportunities available in Seoul. Therefore, making it easy to forget that there are plenty of hidden gems to discover in other parts of Korea.

A day trip to Suwon can be completed in a full day or half of a day depending on what you would like to see. Do you just want to visit the famous Suwon Starfield Library and UNESCO Heritage site of Hwaseong Fortress? Then you won’t need as much time! However, there’s still a lot more to discover in this city than you may think.

In this Suwon day trip itinerary, I’ll share:

  • How to get to Suwon from Seoul 🚌🚊
  • Best time of the year to visit 🌸☀️🍁❄️
  • How to visit Starfield Suwon Library and wander across Hwaseong Fortress 📚🏰
  • Visiting the numerous Paldalsan Mountain trails, the botanic gardens of Ilwol Arboretum, and restaurant hop around Haenggungdong 🏞️⛲️🍱

Suwon Day Trip Overview:

Table Of Contents
  1. Suwon Day Trip: The Only Itinerary You Need (2025)

Best Time To Visit Suwon:

Just like the rest of South Korea, Suwon also transforms its image depending on what season it’s in. During raining cherry blossom and autumn foliage season, Seoul often becomes packed with locals and tourist all searching for the best locations to enjoy the change of season.

This provides a great opportunity to get out of the busy city and visit the quieter but just as equally beautiful sides of Suwon.

Animated graphic of spring in Korea

Spring

Temp: 10-22 Degrees
Suwon’s Hwaseong Fortress and Padalsan Mountain are some of the best places to experience the cherry blossom flowers.

Animated graphic of summer in Korea

Summer

Temp: 17-35 Degrees
Enjoy a picnic at Banghwasuryujeong Pavillion, Padalsan Mountain, or head inside for some fun activities at Sports Monster.

Animated graphic of autumn in Korea

Autumn

Temp 10-20 Degrees
Experience the vibrant autumn foliage at Hwaseong Fortress, Ilwol Arbortetum, and Gwanggyo Park.

Animated graphic of winter in Korea

Winter

Temp: -8-5 Degrees
Bedsides it being absolutely freezing in Korea! They have quite a lot of snowfall. Perfect for a stroll across Hwaseong Fortress or a trip to Starfield Library.

Seoul to Suwon: Transport Options

If you haven’t arrived in South Korea just yet, you should purchase a T-Money Card from the airport or at any convenience store. You’ll use this card to tap on and off of public transport. Topping up this card is easy! Just go into any convenience store and ask the cashier to top up the card, or use the top up machines at a metro station. 

To navigate around South Korea, download NAVAR Map, it’s the best navigation tool in the country and essential for a smooth trip to and from Suwon. All you have to do put in your final location on the map and it will plan a simple to follow travel route for you.

Don’t rely on Google or Apple Maps. They don’t 100% work correctly in Korea and it may hinder your trip to Suwon.

Transport Options:

Option 1: Train

Travelling by train is simple and there may be a few different routes depending on where you are departing from. Ideally, you want to get onto Line 1 (Blue line) which departs from Noryangjin Station (Daebang Station bound) and the journey will take less than an hour to reach Suwon.

Navar map interface - How to start your day trip to Suwon
Type in the location in Suwon you want to visit first – You will see travel options
Navar map interface
Once you select your choice of travel, simply follow the route on your screen

Option 2: Bus

There’s a variety of buses that travel to Suwon and it’s often the big RED stagecoaches that you will travel on. Some may take you to the entrance of Hwaseong Fortress or close to Starfield Suwon Library.

Starfield Library Suwon:

If you’re arriving at Hwaseo Station, take exit 1 or 2 and take a short walk to Starfield shopping centre. Take the multiple elevators up to level 4 and you’ll see the library in the middle of the shopping centre.

Compared to Starfield library in Seoul, I actually thought this was much better. It’s still just as busy, but the design is sleek, modern, aesthetically beautiful and spans from the 4th to the 7th floor. I spent more than enough time taking photos from each level.

Starfield Suwon Library - You can see the planets dangling down from the ceiling with the bright orange glow of the bookshelves in the background
Starfield Suwon Library, people are sitting down on the stairways reading books

Hwaseong Fortress:

This UNESCO Heritage site was built in 1796 by King Jeongjo, I remembrance for his wrongfully executed father (Prince Sado). Prince Sado was forced into a rice cage by his father King Yeongju due to him believing that Sado’s mental health was deteriorating beyond the point of no return.

I came here during the cherry blossom season and it was beautiful! Sections of the wall were covered in the bright white and pink petals raining down on the smallest gust of wind with the ancient fortress walls in the background. 

It makes for quite the contrast and I highly recommend visiting here during spring if you have the opportunity.

If you head over towards Changnyongmun Gate, you’ll see plenty of people flying kites, playing games and enjoying picnics on the grass. It’s also close to one of my favourite cafes!

Dalidang Bakery Cafe:

On my last couple of trips to Suwon I always make sure to visit Dalidang. It’s a tucked away bakery cafe towards the end of Hwaseong Fortress’s walls, that produces amazing egg tart flavours and pretty good coffee that you can enjoy with a rooftop view. 

Dalidang Bakery Cafe - 3 egg tarts and two ice coffees.

Haenggungdong Street:

Urban, trendy and a great place to do some cafe hopping or grab a drink on one of the many foot top bars. 

What I thought makes this place unique, was the various street art murals and souvenir shops that are surrounded by ancient temples and some mountainous landscapes.

Haenggungdong Street - People are entering a sovereign store
Haenggungdong Street - A cafe with yellow banners outside
Haenggungdong Street - Two house styled cafes

Banghwasuryujeong Pavilion: A Tranquil Escape

Located next to Hwahongmun Gate, this park makes for a perfect rest stop when walking alongside Hwaseong Fortress. It was quite a peaceful but busy atmosphere especially if you’re come here during the warmer months as I did, as you’ll see hundreds of locals having picnics and relaxing around the park.

People are enjoying a picnic at Banghwasuryujeong Pavilion
Banghwasuryujeong Pavilion - Birds Eye view of the park from above

Ilwol Arboretum: Suwon’s Secret Garden

When arriving in Suwon on Line 1, you can get off at Sungkyunwan University or Hwaseo start walking to Ilwol Arbortetum. You can take the bus to reach here from Sungkyunwan University Station (No. 27, 27-1) or 2-dong Community Center (No. 3).

The admission fee for Ilwol Arboretum is 5,000KRW ($2.60). Personally, I feel if you’re going there solo, it’s still a fun time and a nice walk around the complex, but I wouldn’t place this on my Suwon bucket-list. However, this would be a perfect date spot, plenty to see and a great way to pass the time.

Ilwol Arboretum - Gardens with a red walkway going through the middle

Paldalsan Mountain:

I came here during the peak of the cherry blossom season and I can tell you now, it did not disappoint. If you plan to visit during this time of season, you’ll be walking down a long (distance..) street covered with cherry blossoms trees on either side. If you work your way to the top of the mountain, they’ll be less cherry blossom trees however you’ll be able to see a temple on the peak of the mountain overlooking a near panoramic view of Suwon. 

You’ll see a giant golden statue of King Jeongjo in the park, which was made as a tribute to his legacy of construing Hwaseong Fortress and his contributions to helping the lesser developed areas in South Korea.

Paldalsan Mountain - You can see the temple in the background, a white flag just in front and foliage on either side.
Paldalsan Mountain - A temple at the end of the mountain overlooking Suwon, a must visit on a Suwon day trip
Paldalsan Mountain - People are taking photos next to a cherry blossom tree, a great time for a day trip to Suwon

Sports Monster: Indoor Playground

If you want an activity to do on a rainy day, Sports Monster would be a great way to spend it. An indoor playground where… Sports Monster costs… visit their website to see the best deals. Although I haven’t gone myself, it’s been recommended to me by a few people.

Smog Suwon

Final Thoughts:

Suwon is a perfect day trip from Seoul and it definitely surprises most travellers on how fun such a quiet little city can be. 

I hope this guide answered all of your questions about a trip to Suwon, and if you have any more questions feel free to leave them down below. 

Be sure to check out some more of my travel itineraries for more travel tips from around the world. Happy travels!

Visit more of my travel itineraries:

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