Visiting Edelweiss, The Swiss Theme Park in Gapyeong, Korea
I decided that I wanted to get out of Seoul, and possibly Korea, this week. A simply train ride got me as far as Switzerland!
How to get there:
From Seoul, you can take the Gyeongchunseon (경춘선) line to Cheongpyeong Station. I took it from Sangbong Station! It is the same as a subway so you don’t need to buy any ticket in advance, just your subway card :)
From Cheongpyeong, you can take a free shuttle bus on weekends from exit 1 (go straight and it is to the right of the taxi stand, in front of the tourist information booth) it comes at 9am, 1:15pm, 2:55pm, and 7:10pm. This will take about 40 minutes because it stops at many tourist attractions all in Gapyeong. Get off at the Swiss Village! The bus picks up at Swiss Village at 11:20am, 1pm, 5:20pm, 7pm.
PLEASE NOTE! At the time I went, because of COVID, the shuttle bus was canceled so if you are traveling and COVID is still an issue please don’t rely on the bus!
Instead, I took a taxi and it cost me 20,900won.
The park opens at 10am, but they were letting people in about 15 minutes early. It costs 9,000won and includes a free drink at the cafe (americano, tea, or juice).
My first stop was to do a quick loop around the park to see what there was to offer. I ended up taking the Hillside Road up to see the sheep. You can buy a small bushel of hay to feed them :)
There was a lot of room for kids to run around including lots of play structures and swing sets, so I think above all this place is made for young families that want a change of scene.
The “museums” were a little lackluster. Just lots of photozones and a few placards of info in Korean about chocolate, wine, santa, and cuckoo clocks (absolutely no shade towards cuckoo clocks, i love them dearly!)
The main attraction for me was the view, the quiet, and the cute buildings. I ended up getting a red bean pastry in the shape of a bear and sketching a bit on a shady picnic bench.
I walked around a bit more, enjoyed a coffee with an incredible view, and then headed home.
The ticket office was nice enough to call me a cab and they picked me up at the entrance and brought me back to the train station.
Because of the missing free shuttle bus, this was more expensive than I planned but if you have a car or you go with a group to split the taxi cost, it was a charming day. There wasn’t a ton to do but it was nice to just get out of the city for a little bit and the scenery made me feel like I traveled a lot further than I did :)