Seoul's Gardens and Green Spaces: A Gardener's Walk From Palace to Park

Seoul's most rewarding green spaces for anyone who gardens are its palace gardens, above all the Secret Garden behind Changdeokgung, followed by three very different modern parks: Seoul Forest, Seonyudo on the Han River and Haneul Park on a former landfill mound. Together they show two ideas side by side, the old Korean habit of shaping a garden around the land rather than over it, and a newer talent for turning worn-out industrial ground into planting. A day spent moving between them gives you more to think about than any glossy plant catalogue.

The palace gardens: design by restraint

Korean palace gardens feel quieter than their Chinese or Japanese cousins. There is less clipping, fewer ornamental rocks and very little that looks arranged for effect. Slopes are left as slopes, old trees are allowed their lean, and buildings sit where the ground suggests rather than where a plan demands.

The Secret Garden behind Changdeokgung

The rear garden of Changdeokgung, often called the Secret Garden, is entered on a guided tour rather than wandered freely, so it is worth booking ahead and accepting the group's pace. That slower rhythm suits it. The path climbs through mixed woodland and opens onto small clearings where a pavilion stands beside a square pond, sometimes with a round island at its centre, an arrangement traditionally linked to the idea of square earth and round heaven. Notice how little lawn there is and how much shade: ferns, moss and leaf litter are left to do their work under the trees.

For a gardener, the lesson is proportion. Pavilions are modest, ponds are fed and edged simply, and the surrounding hills are treated as part of the composition. Nothing competes with the setting.

Borrowed scenery and framed views

Korean garden design leans heavily on what is sometimes called borrowed scenery: using a distant ridge, a neighbour's tree or the sky itself as a backdrop. Pavilions are often open on several sides so that each opening frames a different view, a little like windows in a house. Walking slowly and stopping at each doorway shows how carefully those frames were chosen.

Modern parks built on reclaimed ground

The newer parks are a different kind of lesson, about patience and about what plants can do for tired land.

Park	What it was	What a gardener notices
Seoul Forest	Riverside land with earlier industrial and leisure uses	Large woodland blocks, wetland edges, broad lawns and themed planting areas
Seonyudo	A water-treatment plant on an island in the Han	Old concrete tanks and columns reused as frames for aquatic and climbing plants
Haneul Park	A landfill mound turned grassland	Tall grasses such as silver grass moving in the wind, wide sky and open views

Seonyudo: plants in old concrete

Seonyudo is the one to linger in if you like structure. The designers kept parts of the treatment plant and let greenery take them over, so water plants grow in former settling basins and vines climb bare columns. It is a useful reminder that a garden does not need a blank slate; walls, paving and awkward corners can become the bones of a planting scheme.

Haneul Park: grasses as the main event

Haneul Park sits high above its surroundings and is planted mostly with grasses. In autumn the seed heads catch low light and the whole hill seems to shimmer. It shows how a limited plant palette, repeated over a large area, can be more striking than a mixed border. The climb up is steady, so go in comfortable shoes and bring water.

Pocket parks and street planting

Between the big names, Seoul is full of small green moments: planted corners beside apartment blocks, shaded benches under zelkova trees, narrow streams restored with reeds and stepping stones. These are where you see what grows reliably in a city with hot, humid summers and cold, dry winters. Look at which shrubs stay tidy without fuss, which ground covers survive foot traffic and how planters are used to soften hard edges. Many of those choices translate well to a small garden or courtyard elsewhere.

Seasonal planting to look out for

• Spring: cherry, forsythia and azalea flowering along paths and slopes.
• Summer: lotus and other water plants in ponds, deep shade under mature trees.
• Autumn: maples and ginkgo turning, grasses in seed on open ground.
• Winter: the bare structure of pine, rock and pavilion, which is when the design is easiest to read.

If you are planning a trip around a season, our notes on timing spring bulb planting and what to sow as the weather cools follow the same calendar thinking that Seoul's gardeners use.

Visiting respectfully

Palace grounds are heritage sites, so stay on marked paths, keep off fragile moss and planted edges, and leave plants, cones and stones where they are. In the parks, take litter home and keep picnics to areas where they are clearly welcome. Early mornings tend to be calmer, which suits sketching or photographing planting details without crowding anyone.

Is the Secret Garden worth it if I only have one day?

For anyone interested in garden design, yes. It is the clearest example in the city of a Korean garden laid out around natural ground, and the guided route covers its main pavilions and ponds without rushing.

Which park suits a short visit?

Seoul Forest is easy to reach and varied enough for an hour or two. Seonyudo rewards a slower look at its reused structures, and Haneul Park needs time for the climb.

From the gardens to a Gangnam evening

After a day outdoors, many visitors cross the river to Gangnam, where the planting gives way to lit avenues and late cafes. Singing in a private room with friends is a common way to round off the day there, and a Gangnam Karaoke Guide is a handy reference for how the karaoke rooms in the district work before you go. If drinks are part of the evening, pace yourself and plan the ride back without getting behind the wheel.

Whatever you do after dark, the gardens tend to stay with you longer. A square pond, a framed ridge or a hill of moving grass is an idea small enough to take home and try in a corner of your own plot.