As a cycling destination, South Korea really doesn’t get the credit it deserves. The more popular side of the divided Korean peninsula (for obvious reasons) has hundreds and hundreds of miles of protected cycling lanes, part of a massive network built up over the last few decades.

These bike lanes track swathes of breathtakingly beautiful riverside areas, snake through the countryside, cut through agricultural land and connect through remote villages too. There are signposts as well as road markings and public toilets at intervals, and while not completely well maintained over the years, the point is the network is THERE. It is a mind bogglingly extensive and impressive infrastructure that would be the most perfect cycling highway in the world, if not for the fact that it could use a bit of sprucing up.

Here’s where it gets interesting though. Many cyclists eagerly collect the stamps on the 4 Rivers Passbook - the cycling passport that the country is so famous for, but I get the impression that they are missing the point entirely. When there is such a thing, one tends to forget the joy of cycling itself and it becomes a target to cross off your cycling must-dos, a bucket list item so to speak. We didn’t manage to get our passports because the counter staff were on a break at our starting point and we made a call not to wait. I’m glad this happened, because it inadvertently put the pressure off us to go from one checkpoint to another, and instead we truly enjoyed the journey for what it was.

The 4 Rivers Path

So called because it follows Korea’s four major rivers and more, the 4 Rivers Path covers an amazing area, spanning more than 1,700km along the Hangang, Nakdonggang, Geumgang and Yeongsangang rivers. This network was an initiative created by K-Water, or the Korea Water Resources Corporation - the governmental agency for comprehensive water resource development and providing both public and industrial water in South Korea. The bike path is part of a larger project to rejuvenate the riverside areas, implement flood mitigation and fix environmental problems as a whole.

After weighing all options, Eka eventually settled on Busan to Seoul rather than the more popular Seoul to Busan, touching down in the capital and taking the train to our starting point where most others would finish. Our chosen route would cover 2 rivers out of the whole circuit - the Hangang and Nakdonggang rivers, the connecting Saeje bike trail that goes through a mountain, and a slight deviation to Andong to see the Hahoe Village, a UNESCO heritage site. Either way, this route is one of the most popular in the country, because it connects the two main cities in South Korea.

The other two routes along the Geumgang and Yeongsangang rivers are a part of the entire network, but geographically are further west and are a bit far apart from the other sections. These would require a subsequent trip for us to attempt. We also left out the Bukhangang River stretch since it was a deviation from the main route. Eka proposed we choose what appeared to be the easier option in terms of navigation, although this wasn’t always the case. Even using the Korean version of Google Maps - Naver, we still took some wrong turns especially after sunset and racked up a bit more mileage than intended.

Thankfully we got some crucial intel before starting our journey in Busan. At Boutique Hotel YTT Nampo, there was a lovely lady who told us the story of her mad French boyfriend who cycled from Seoul to Busan in two days just to see her (it must be love!). He arrived resembling a homeless vagrant after riding helter skelter over more than 500km - a journey which included at least one crash. According to the poor chap there was a lack of food options and public facilities directly on the path, which we found to be quite true. We made a note to plan refuel stops properly, while stashing some snacks and enough water for our journey.

Our Busan to Seoul cycling itinerary

Our journey took 10 days to complete, with 8 full days in the saddle. Overall, we would cover a total distance of about 680km with a more than 5,430m of elevation gain. We had two rest days in between, one to allow the legs to recover after two back-to-back gran fondos and a second day to see a major UNESCO heritage site.

Stage 1: Busan to Namji - 107km
Stage 2: Namji to Daegu - 109km
Rest day in Daegu to recharge and do laundry
Stage 3: Daegu to Gumi - 51km
Stage 4: Gumi to Andong - 110km
Rest day in Andong to explore Hahoe Village
Stage 5: Andong to Suanbo - 103km
Stage 6: Suanbo to Yeoju - 87km
Stage 7: Yeoju to Yangpyeong - 45km
Stage 8: Yangpyeong to Seoul - 66km

Would we do things differently if we went back? Perhaps the distances could be reduced by adding a day somewhere in between, but Eka smugly announced that we’d get four gran fondos (badge of honour because we never had so many in a single tour or covered so much ground in so many days - what was I thinking agreeing to this). This would save us a crucial day that we could spend either in Busan or Seoul. Needless to say, I am infinitely relieved that I survived with two Strava trophies, my sanity intact, and all limbs attached still (somewhat) in working order.

Luggage forwarding in South Korea

Aha! The age old question of how to deal with your bag/case/carboard box when touring. In South Korea we found out that we had several options, the two most likely being Korea Post or the Korail freight train. Since there was a post office nearby our hotel in Busan, we opted for the first choice, based on the advice of the YTT Nampo hotel staff. We packed everything up and wheeled our bags to the post office, which turned out to be perfect since a train station would have been a bit further away. For future ease of travel, we will find one on the map and book a decent nearby hotel to avoid needing a taxi to get there with our cases.

At first it appeared that our clever RitcheyLogic cases were above the size limit - the first time we’d ever encountered this problem. As we conferred among ourselves on what to do next, the staff managed to communicate that her concern was actually possible damage to our bike case wheels. Being cyclists we obviously had allen keys on hand, and promptly took them off, making the Korea Post option possible! You may not think it is a big deal, but consider the fact that posting your bag allows it to be sent straight to your hotel. We didn’t need to pick them up at the train station like we had to in Taiwan, which required a train and taxi ride, costing us extra time and money.

In addition to this, sending our Ritchey cases (massive by postal standards) were ridiculously cheap. Fees were based on the weight of the bags, so it is in your best interest not to overpack as per usual. The total cost? KRW31,350 or roughly MYR111 for all three bags - believe it or not. It took a bit of work using Google Translate to sort out what we needed to do, but we figured it out in less than one hour including the time we took to take off the wheels AND wheel the cases to the post office in the first place. By the time we’d arrived in Seoul at the end of the tour, our bags were waiting at our lovely Hanok, the Cheong Yeon Jae Hanok Hotel.

If you think dismantling the Ritchey bikes are a pain in the ass, I will take this opportunity to tell you it is really not that troublesome, provided you have the right tools with you. Give it half an hour at least, or one hour if you take a bit of time. Like most things it takes practice, but will get easier and faster in time. Pro tip: opt for a fully electronic drivetrain like the SRAM etap and you will have only ONE brake cable to worry about (pricey but time = money, especially when traveling).

If you’re intrigued, do check out our article on packing the Ritchey Break-Away bikes. You get to know the basic workings of the machine really well when you have a breakaway bike in general. You could get one of the newer generation bike bags like Post Transfer Case or Oru Case, but it looks like the Ritchey is still the most compact since it is pretty much the size of a 700c wheel. For those who are not willing to invest in a break-away frame, Post and Oru are your next best options.

Pre-TOUR WARM UP IN BUSAN

After the long flight and train journey to Busan, we needed a bit of easy cycling to wake up the legs before our tour, which I was fairly apprehensive about considering there would be some long days in the saddle. After a night’s rest we set about doing a small bit of exploring as our customary precursor to a tour. In between, we also sorted out the luggage forwarding in advance, which allowed us to start on time on day one, a crucial decision considering it was the first gran fondo.

Our first checkpoint was the Jagalchi Market, Korea's largest seafood market that sells both fresh and dried seafood. It’s a true wet market kind of place, where the local residents buy food to cook at home rather than street food to eat (though some of this is available too). There’s a bewildering amount of live sea creatures on sale; we crossed paths with an octopus attempting to escape from the plastic basket of his vendor, only to be grabbed and unceremoniously dumped back in.

Jagalchi is an important market for the country in general, because half of the seafood supply nationwide is actually shipped out from there. Upon arrival you will assume that the stalls in the open area outside the imposing five-storey building there is the actual market. In reality, the entire building IS the market. The first floor is an epic selection of fresh seafood, above which is restaurants where you can eat seafood like Sannakji, Gaebul, Daege, Jangeo-gui, Jeonbok and much, much more.

Outside, you have a view of the waters off Nampo Port and Gamcheon Cultural Village nestled in the distant mountains, where we were headed next. Seen as the perfect balance between beauty and chaos, the former slum is reminiscent of the favela in Rio, where homes are arranged in the distinct Lego staircase fashion with steep slopes and tiny alleys. The village was built in the 1920s and 30s to relocate the poor away from the port but within distance of providing labour, and was also home to refugees during the Korean War in the 1950s.

In 2009, Gamcheon underwent a massive urban regeneration project or gentrification, making it the main tourist attraction in Busan besides Jagalchi. No more a shanty town, the village now has extremely instagrammable colourful houses, numerous art installations and plays hosts to many local and international artists. There are many handicrafts shops and art galleries along the twisting streets, and plenty of cafes to wile the afternoon hours away.

If you’ve a whole day to spend there you could opt to buy the Gamcheon Cultural Village Map at the tourist information office. Collect enough stamps from designated places to earn 2 free Gamcheon postcards back at the tourist office. For the traveling cyclist you’ll want to leave your bikes parked right outside the entrance to the village, since you would have spent a fair bit of time pushing your bike up the insanely steep road heading in. A quick check on Strava will show you that the road to Gamcheon is a popular hill training route for local cyclists with legs of steel. On the eve of a gran fondo, we weren’t going to risk our luck and took the easy option of dismounting to push.

STAGE 1: BUSAN TO NAMJI

Start Busan
Finish Namji
Distance 107km
Climbing 600m
Grade Easy

The beginning of our journey was an excruciating climb out of Busan, reminiscent of our uphill climb to Gamcheon the day before. Some deviations from the original route allowed us to spin up with our fully laden bikes, but this portion of the day’s route was undeniably painstakingly slow going. Eventually we reached some busy major roads heading out of the city, weaving our way through heavy traffic and construction areas. In hindsight it would have been better to grab a train to our official starting point at Eulsukdo east of the main city, but we had no idea that there were so many roadworks along the way.

It felt like forever to clock the first 10km, but once out of the main city we finally had the benefit of a raised cycling lane on the pavement. The remaining 25km to lunch was a bit of a bumpy ride along the bike lanes where we saw a lot of senior citizens out for their weekly exercise and bike commuters. After several riverside areas we reached our lunch checkpoint at Yangsan-si and sat down to a feast of the more elusive Jjimdak braised chicken, served by a lovely lady whose husband had just recently bought an apartment in Johor’s Iskandar region. Both were very excited to meet Malaysian cyclists.

It was afternoon by then and we still had the remaining three quarters of our journey left to go, pushing off with our massive lunch swimming in our bellies. Yangsan-si has some of the most picturesque areas of the bike network that run parallel to the Nakdonggang River, and if we weren’t so pressed for time we would have enjoyed the views much, much more. Still, golden hour and the setting sun were the perfect backdrop for us to ride towards our airbnb in Namji. A mountain climb was cut short by a newly constructed tunnel (THANK YOU GOD), and we eventually arrived around dinnertime and found a Lotteria still open for the night. Tired, cold and hungry, it would suffice before a warm shower and hitting the sack.

STAGE 2: NAMJI TO DAEGU

Start Namji
Finish Daegu
Distance 108km
Climbing 1,190m
Grade Moderate

After a late breakfast on location at Cafe 89°C, the morning greeted us with some steep inclines through quiet rural areas and villages. The route goes through Changnyeong where you can rack up some decent elevation gains, with the customary reward of nice views for your hard work. These segments told us that a disc brake bike in your fleet comes in pretty handy, especially when gradients that were marked 12% turned out to be closer to 20%. Thankfully I’d picked up the skill of unclipping mid-stroke while riding uphill back in Malaysia, though I quickly learnt in South Korea that I might as well unclip at the base and push my way up.

It was slow going in these areas, and we came close to bonking out before our lunch spot. A candy bar pick-me-up in the countryside allowed us a final push to reach our lunch spot at the 34km mark in Hapcheon, where we tucked into our only fried chicken meal of the entire trip, accompanied by seafood fried rice. This was a stop where we bumped into many cycle tourers both local and foreign, and it was nice to see that we weren’t the only ones out and about.

The shared roads were mostly quiet considering the area was fairly remote, while the rest of our path went through designated protected bike lanes. We rode through more countryside the rest of the daylight hours, and we were treated to the most wonderful sunset along the river in Dalseong. Unfortunately Eka hit a flint rock sometime after dark and had to bid farewell to his first try at a tubeless tyre, and we deliberated cutting the ride short with a taxi.

A calculated decision was made to abandon the bike lane for the better lit main road, and we reached Daegu with all its bright neon lights and love hotels slightly past dinnertime. Thankfully the location of our hotel remains quite lively until pretty late, and we found a barbecue restaurant that would stay open long enough for us to eat. Special mention goes to our accommodation for the night, February Hotel Dongseongro, which was the perfect place to recuperate from two long days of what seemed like endless pedaling.

DAEGU

As South Korea’s third biggest city after Seoul and Busan, Daegu definitely gets it fair share of visitors. The metropolis is known for the Daegu Yangnyeongsi Oriental Medicine Cultural Center and its Yangnyeongsi Market, and exhibitions tracing the history of local medical traditions. Established in 1658, the market spans 700m also known as ‘Yakjeon Golmok’ (‘alley of the medicine stores’). Daegu will also give you a balance of heritage and modernity, with the abandoned Ayang Railroad renovated to become a new cultural spot.

For more cityscapes, just head to E-World 83 Tower and Apsan Observatory for fabulous night-time views of the city and the river. There’s also the self explanatory Chicken and Beer Festival, enjoyed to the tune of K-pop. Other annual events include the Dalgubeol Lantern Festival and the Yangnyeongsi Traditional Medicine Festival. We did pay a visit to the iconic ARC Cultural Center, which you can read about in our next article.

For us, we simply wanted to unwind a bit before the next big stage of our journey, and enjoyed the beautiful atmosphere of the nearby parks from our hotel. The Daegu Arboretum is also a wonderful place to visit during the fall season for just this sort of thing.