Balwangsan Mountain & Yew Forest Trail

Character

A gently graded deck now crosses Balwangsan’s summit forest at 1,458 metres, where old yews grow inside a protected mountain environment. The redesign opened the summit to wheelchairs, strollers and other mobility aids and shifted foot traffic away from a more vulnerable ridge path

The current boardwalk keeps gradients below 8 percent and threads through the summit forest from the cable-car upper station. The operator also links the forest directly to the summit skywalk

That accessibility work changed the mountain as well as the visitor experience. When the barrier-free trail was completed, the former ridge route through a forest genetic-resource protection zone was closed so vegetation there could recover

The experience

The usual visit begins at MONA YongPyong’s Dragon Plaza, where the cable car climbs 3.7 kilometres to the summit in about 18 minutes. From the upper station, the yew trail, skywalk and Peace Peak occupy one compact summit zone

The forest path is built as a broad, low-gradient deck. Korea Tourism Organization describes slopes of 8 percent or less and facilities for wheelchairs and strollers. That makes the high-elevation forest accessible to people who would otherwise be excluded by a normal summit approach

The mountain still controls access. Cable-car operation can stop in strong wind, lightning or other unsafe weather, so the forest trail’s practical opening is tied to the lift below

History

Balwangsan’s summit yews long predate the tourism infrastructure around them. The operator describes the stand as one of Korea’s largest concentrations of very old yews, with individual trees interpreted through names and stories along the route

Modern access developed through YongPyong’s resort infrastructure. The cable car connected Dragon Plaza with the 1,458-metre summit, creating a direct non-hiking route to the upper mountain. The summit later gained the skywalk and a more formal visitor network around the yew forest

Accessibility became a major part of that network. The Yew Forest Trail received the 2023 Korea Tourism Star award in the barrier-free destination category. A further barrier-free forest path was completed in late 2024. Because that work entered a protected forest zone, Pyeongchang County closed the older ridge trail and planned ecological restoration there

Before you go

The yew forest is a summit attraction whose ordinary public access depends on the Balwangsan cable car. The lift and upper trail function as one visit, and cable-car weather closures also remove the easy summit connection. The barrier-free deck is designed for low-gradient movement; the older ridge path was closed for vegetation recovery