The Four Rivers Trail in South Korea is one of the most famous cycling trails in the world – it spans close to 400 miles and links the metropolises of Seoul in the north and Busan in the south. The trail is primarily on dedicated cycling paths and low traffic country roads, and there are numerous impressive bikes-only bridges along the route. We spent 10 days in late March 2023 cycling the Four Rivers Trail, including a rest day in Daegu.

Route

Download the GPX track for the Four Rivers Trail.

Starting Out in Seoul

We arrived in Seoul from Da Nang, Vietnam, and took about a week off to rest and get our bearings. We found a cheap, tiny, and very cute AirBnB in the Jongno-gu district, which turned out to be a great base to explore the city. While South Korea was quite a bit more expensive than Southeast Asia, we could still find plenty of affordable places to eat.

Our good friend Marcus met up with us and we spent a few more days visiting attractions around the city before starting off on the Four Rivers Trail. Marcus was able to rent a hybrid bike with rear Ortlieb panniers for the trip and then just drop it off at another bike shop in Busan – very convenient!

First Impressions of the Bike Path

Getting out of the city center to the actual start of the bike trail turned out to be pretty hectic – as is often the case in big cities. There weren’t a whole lot of bike paths linking different districts of the city, and a lot of people seemed to ride on the sidewalks. Once we finally reached the bike path, it was unbelievably smooth sailing. The signage was fantastic and there were frequent convenience stores right off the trail to pick up snacks and drinks. We were particularly impressed with how seamless the bike path was – we rarely had to cross any roads or wait at stoplights. The bike path was its own entity totally separate from the roads.

Terrain and Elevation

The Four Rivers Trail is fairly flat, with the exception of a few significant climbs. Most of the trail is on a dedicated bike path, though there are some short sections that utilize low traffic country roads. The infrastructure in place for bicycles is impressive – we were frequently marveling over the beautiful bridges that were built specifically for bikes.

When to Go

Spring and fall are both excellent options for biking the Four Rivers Trail. We started in mid-March, which is a little on the early side and the weather was a bit chilly but overall nice for biking. We hit the southern part of the country right when cherry blossoms were peaking, which was an incredible sight to behold. Summers can be very hot in Korea and winters very cold, so best to avoid those times unless you don’t have another option.

Food and Water

To be honest, we initially didn’t know a whole lot about South Korean cuisine, and there were so many dishes to try that we’d never even heard about. Dining could be intimidating since we often didn’t know how to order, and English is not widely spoken in the rural areas. Google Translate was immensely helpful, but more elaborate meals were still a challenge to order. Try to go in with an open mind and make peace with the fact that you might be totally surprised by what appears at your table.

Some of our favorite dishes in South Korea were bibimbap, gimbap, Cheonggukjang (fermented soybean stew), Korean fried chicken, and Korean barbecue. Our least favorite food we tried was sea pineapple. Jenny was the only one that actually tried it, and while it’s a delicacy in Korea, she’d recommend avoiding it at all costs.

The tap water in South Korea is safe to drink unless otherwise noted. We drank tap water the whole time we were there and never had any problems.

Convenience Stores

Convenience stores in South Korea are a beautiful thing. They’re a great place for grabbing a quick snack while you’re on the road, and the food you can get is generally a lot fresher than the stuff you’d find at a convenience store in the US. They’re frequent and easy to find along the bike path, especially when you’re closer to big towns.

Lodging

Since we had three people to split hotel rooms between and Marcus was traveling light, we stayed in hotels for the entirety of our tour on the Four Rivers Trail. We never had a major issue finding a place to stay, and with the exception of the bigger cities we stayed in (Seoul, Daegu, and Busan), we never booked a place more than a day in advance. We tried to stay in triple rooms when we could (though some hotels didn’t have them), and they ranged from about $60-$80 per night.

Hotels in South Korea are generally very nice, and they often come with a big gaming PC, which Andrew and Marcus were stoked about. We stayed in a few love hotels since they were usually the cheapest option. The whole setup was a little weird at first, and one that we went to was self-service booking and payment (for privacy’s sake), which we obviously couldn’t figure out. The lady that came out to help us was definitely giving us the side-eye but eventually rented us a three person room complete with a giant Jacuzzi.

Bike-Friendly Hotels

We found some hotels along the Four Rivers Trail that marketed themselves as bike-friendly, which is always wonderful to see. Usually the biggest issue when booking a hotel is finding a secure place to store bicycles for the night. Many hotels in Asia really do not like bringing bicycles indoors, since they’re seen as dirty. One hotel we found was very accommodating to cyclists, and they had a sort of “bike garage” in the back with individual lockers that each fit a bicycle. It had been a very rainy day, and they offered to let us dry our clothes in the dryer for free. The owners were very friendly and recommended a good restaurant for dinner as well.

Navigation

The Four Rivers Trail is generally very well signed, but it’s helpful to have a GPX track and navigation app as a backup. We used OSMand and highly recommend it for offline cycling navigation. South Korea does NOT use Google Maps (as of 2023) – you can search for businesses on it, but navigation will not work. There are a couple local apps that you can use instead – Naver or KakaoMaps. They’re still a bit challenging to use if you don’t speak/read Korean, so we stuck with OSMand as much as possible.

Final Thoughts

The Four Rivers Trail in South Korea is a fantastic trip for beginners and seasoned bicycle tourists alike. The bike path and infrastructure along the route makes for a relaxed and enjoyable tour, and there is much to explore as far as culture, food, and historic sites. If you want to extend your tour through East Asia as we did, ferries to Japan are short and fairly inexpensive.

Video from Cycling the Four Rivers Trail