Why NOW picked itGood if you want autumn leaves without the crush: only about 1,000 people an hour get in, so a timed booking is a must. Online monorail booking covers Platform 1 departures only.
The Hwadam Forest autumn foliage festival opens on Friday, Oct. 23, in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, and runs to Nov. 15. Entry is timed at about 1,000 visitors an hour, so you cannot walk in without a booking.
A ceiling of 11,000 people a day
The garden is admitting about 1,000 visitors an hour and no more than 11,000 a day. Booking opened on Sept. 16 at 1 p.m. through the official website.
Both entry and monorail rides run on online advance booking, so check which time slots are still open before you plan a weekend visit.
Only Platform 1 monorail seats are bookable online
You can buy monorail tickets up to the number of entry tickets you hold. Only departures from Platform 1 can be booked online; Platform 2 and 3 departures are sold at unmanned ticket machines on the platforms, for remaining seats only.
Reported fares are 5,000 won (adult) and 4,000 won (child) for one section, 7,000 and 6,000 won for two, and 9,000 and 7,000 won for all three.
Five kilometres on foot, or twenty minutes by rail
Walking the whole loop is about 5 km and takes around 1 hour 30 minutes. Get off at Platform 2 and walk about 3 km in roughly an hour, or at Platform 3 and walk about 2 km in roughly 50 minutes. The monorail ride on its own takes about 20 minutes.
Pick your stop by how long you want to be on the path.
More than 400 maple cultivars
Hwadam Forest is an ecological arboretum of about 50,000 pyeong with 16 theme gardens. It holds more than 400 maple cultivars, among them Naejang, Dangdan and Norway maples.
The colour starts at the highest ground and works down, so the leaves can look different from one platform to the next on the same day.
