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Korea national parks: free entry, mountain shelter and campsite fees, how to reserve
Numbers checked against the official source on 2026-10-19
Korea's national parks have no entrance fee: a Korea National Park Service official said entry fees were abolished in 2007. You pay only for facilities you book. In the park service's English reservation pages, a mountain shelter (대피소) bed costs ₩20,000 on weekdays and off-peak days and ₩30,000 at weekends and in peak season, in all 14 shelters listed. An auto campsite is ₩20,000 off-peak or ₩30,000 in peak season on 28 of the 30 auto-campsite price rows; the smallest regular sites start at ₩6,000. Book on reservation.knps.or.kr, which has an English version.
Are national parks free in Korea?
Yes, for entering. In a 2013 government briefing a park service official said visitor numbers began rising sharply after entrance fees were abolished in 2007. The shelter and campsite pages list fees only for beds and sites, not for entry. One caution: the Natural Parks Act still lets the park authority charge an entrance fee (the Ministry sets the amount for national parks), and it lets a temple's head charge visitors entering a park's cultural heritage district, in consultation with the park authority. So if a temple sits inside the park, ask at the gate about any separate temple charge.
Mountain shelter (daepiso) fees and booking
The park service describes shelters as places where people can take refuge in an emergency in the mountains, and it also takes bookings for overnight stays. The English reservation site lists shelters in Jirisan, Seoraksan, Deogyusan and Sobaeksan. Each of the 14 shelter pages shows the same fee table:
| Weekday / off-peak | Weekend / peak season |
|---|---|
| 20,000 | 30,000 |
- Peak season: 1 July to 31 August and 1 October to 15 November.
- Weekend means Friday, Saturday and the day before a legal holiday.
- Pay at the shelter on the day you visit, after the booking is confirmed. Registration at the shelter office is needed to confirm the reservation, and you and your companions must show an ID card or passport.
- No same-day walk-ups: the park service says you cannot make a reservation at the box office on the day, and telephone booking is not allowed either.
- Shelter admission hours are 15:00 to 18:00 regardless of season. You cannot go into the mountain after the park's closing time, so check the trekking time rules for your route first.
- Group size: a reservation covers a maximum of 5 people, including yourself.
- Waiting list: capacity is up to 10% of the shelter's capacity; waiting lists expire two days before the date at 24:00.
- Cancellation: if a special weather report is issued near the mountain, local offices cancel all shelter reservations. If you remove yourself from a booking, the other members are removed too.
When shelter booking opens: two versions
| Official page | What it says |
|---|---|
| General shelter guidance and policy | Booking opens once a month, on the 1st (at 10:00), for the next month; it stays open until 14:00 on the day of use if not full. Up to 4 tickets a month, with up to 5 people on one ticket. |
| Nogodan shelter page | Two launch dates: on the 1st, dates from the 16th to the end of the month; on the 15th, dates from the 1st to the 15th of the next month. Up to 2 tickets per person and 5 companions including yourself. A holiday on the 1st or 15th moves the launch to the nearest weekday. Waiting lists expire the day before at 10:00 (the general page says two days before at 24:00). |
The two pages are not worded the same, and the Nogodan page describes its own schedule. Check the shelter you want on the booking site before the 1st or the 15th.
Campsite fees
The park service's English pages list 48 campsites. Prices have an off-peak and a peak column, with peak season again 1 July to 31 August and 1 October to 15 November. A few examples:
| Campsite | Type | Off-peak | Peak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palgongsan, Dohak | Auto campsite | 20,000 | 30,000 |
| Seoraksan, Seorakdong | Auto campsite | 20,000 | 30,000 |
| Jirisan, Deokdong | House of Nature | 55,000 | 70,000 |
| Jirisan, Somakgol | Regular campsite unit | 9,000 | 12,000 |
| Jirisan, Baemsagol 1 | 30 to 40 square metres | 6,000 | 9,000 |
| Gayasan, Samjeong | Auto campsite | 16,000 | 24,000 |
| Naejangsan, Naejangho | Complex campsite | 110,000 | 160,000 |
- Check-in and out: from 14:00 on the reserved day to 12:00 the next day (full-option sites 15:00 to 11:00). The park suggests arriving before 18:00.
- Limits: a maximum of 4 reservations a month (none overlapping), and a maximum of 3 days and 2 nights. You cannot change sites after booking online.
- Count: of the auto-campsite price rows on the 48 pages, 28 read ₩20,000 / ₩30,000 and 2 (Gayasan, Samjeong and Chiin) read ₩16,000 / ₩24,000.
- Booking opens once a month, on the 1st at 14:00, and remains open until 14:00 on the day of use if sites are free.
- Payment: the campsite page says you pay at the campsite on the day of your visit, and the English FAQ says you do not pay when booking and can pay by cash.
How to book as a foreign visitor
- Open reservation.knps.or.kr and use the English version (the site has KR and EN switches; the foreigners' section lists shelters and campsites).
- Choose the park, then the shelter or campsite, and check the date picker for availability.
- Complete the booking; the park service FAQ says the English site is meant for non-Korean speakers and its helpline often has English-speaking staff.
- On the day, register at the shelter or campsite office with your ID or passport and pay there.
The reservation helpline is 1670-9201 (weekdays 09:00 to 18:00, closed 12:00 to 13:00 for lunch). Hiking itself needs no ticket. Trail-specific rules differ by park; for Hallasan see our Hallasan reservation page.
Read on 2026-10-19 from reservation.knps.or.kr (English pages), law.go.kr and the government briefing site korea.kr. The park service's main site is not used here because its robots file blocks automatic access. Not covered: the rest of the 48 campsites, cabins and lodges, ecology centres, trail reservation programmes, and discount rules.
Official sources
- Korea National Park Service — reservation site, English: shelters — shelter list, guidance, reservation policy; each shelter's fee table (getShelterDetail.do pages, 14 shelters) (checked 2026-10-19)
- Korea National Park Service — reservation site, English: campsites — campsite list, service information, reservation policy; each campsite's fee table (getCampDetail.do pages, 48 campsites) (checked 2026-10-19)
- Korea National Park Service — reservation site, English: FAQ — payment, English version for reservations, fees vary with size and facilities (checked 2026-10-19)
- Natural Parks Act (law.go.kr), Article 37; Enforcement Rule Article 23 — the park authority may charge entrance fees (in force 2026-07-07); the Ministry sets the national-park amount (rule Article 23) (checked 2026-10-19)
- Policy Briefing (korea.kr) — national park visitors, 2013-01-10 — park service official on visitor growth after entrance fees were abolished in 2007 (checked 2026-10-19)
Prices change. If an official page shows a different number from this page, the official page wins — and please tell us so we can fix it.