[Korea travels] Korea’s silver grass fields offer a quieter kind of autumn beauty

In mid-October, silver grass bloomed like flowers across Mount Mindung. Hikers find peace of mind as they wander through the swaying grass. (courtesy of Jeongseon County Office)

Bite into a fully ripened autumn fruit, and its juices fill your mouth, naturally curling your lips into a smile. Seeing fall foliage offers a similar experience; the sight of leaves turned a brilliant red brings a smile to your face and an exclamation of awe.

And yet another sight rivals these pleasures: the season’s silver grass, which adorns the fields and mountains with such splendor that even fall foliage must get a little jealous. 

There are a few things that travelers should know before setting out to see such grass. Many confuse it with common reeds because they look quite similar. They also have comparable flowering periods, as both bloom and fade between September and early November.

Both are perennial grasses in the Poaceae family, but they are found in different habitats. Reeds typically grow in wetlands, along the coast or near lakes, while silver grass is found in mountains or fields.

They also differ in color — silver grass tends to be (you guessed it) silvery, white or golden, while reeds are brown — and height. Fully grown silver grass reaches about 2 meters, while reeds can grow to over 3 meters.

Mount Mindung in Jeongseon County, Gangwon Province, is one of the country’s top destinations for silver grass viewing. At a height of 1,119 meters, it is considered by hiking enthusiasts to be one of Korea’s top 100 mountains.

The mountain’s name is derived from the phrase “mindung-mindung-hada,” which means “bare” or “barren,” signifying a mountain with no trees that appears open and plain. True to its name, Mindung is unwooded.

Don’t make the mistake, however, of assuming that the absence of deep-green trees and shade makes the mountain’s landscape look bleak or unappealing. Instead, the silver grass blanketing the terrain is every bit as beautiful as a lush forest.

Each climb on the narrow trails leading to the summit is rewarded with a spectacular sight of silver grass swaying in the breeze. Coincidentally, the Mount Mindung Silver Grass Festival ran this year from Sept. 18 through Nov. 8.

The doline on Mount Mindung, with its distinctive landscape, is a popular spot for photography. (courtesy of Jeongseon County Office)

The routes up Mindung are classified by difficulty as advanced, intermediate and beginner. The most challenging route starts at Jeungsan Elementary School in a 2.6-km ascent, so steep that it’ll leave you gasping for breath.

The mid-level route also starts at the school but follows a gentler 3.2-km path. This trail is doable at a leisurely pace, with breaks along the way.

The beginner route is an easy climb that starts in Balgudeok Village, which is located about 70% of the way up Mindung. A well-paved asphalt road leads to this village, allowing hikers to drive part of the way there before beginning their ascent.

From this point, the summit is walkable in about 30 minutes. Access to this route is restricted during the festival period.

Mindung is also different from other destinations famous for silver grass. Upon reaching the doline near the summit, visitors’ sense of wonder only intensifies. As a characteristic feature of karst topography resembling a small lake, a doline is a depression formed when rainwater mixed with carbon dioxide seeps into cracks in limestone, dissolving the rock.

In recent years, the doline has emerged as a popular photo spot for people in their 20s and 30s. At first glance, it looks as if a spacecraft landed on it and took off, leaving a mark behind.
Photos taken against this backdrop often rack up dozens of likes and comments, with posters praised for their knack for finding hidden travel gems.

Hikers make their way up Mount Mindung in mid-October. (courtesy of Jeongseon County Office)

A ride on the Yeongnam Alps Eoreumgol Cable Car in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, takes visitors to Sky Garden, where sweeping views of the Yeongnam Alps unfold. A trail leads from here to Ganjeoljae Pass, a paradise of silver grass. (Park Mee-hyang/Hankyoreh)

I still vividly remember scaling Mindung years ago in September. I chose a steep route, something that instinctively caused my legs to tense up. The thought that I couldn’t let myself fall made me lower my head, an automatic physical reaction to ensure my safety.

Before long, however, my body began to relax. With every step I took, the silver grass brushing against me eased my tension, as if it were telling me to simply take my time, no need to rush and just relax my body and legs. The memory from that day remains with me.

Ganwoljae Pass (height 900 meters), located at the foot of the Yeongnam Alps, is also famous for silver grass. The latter is a mountain range spanning five cities and counties: Ulju County, Ulsan; Miryang and Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province; and Cheongdo County and Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. It also includes peaks all over 1,000 m in height, such as Gaji, Sinbul, Cheonhwang, Unmun, Jaeyak, Ganwol, Yeongchuk, Goheon and Munbok.

The name “Yeongam Alps” originated from the way the mountains’ ridgelines flow gracefully into one another like a painting, evoking images of the European Alps. Yeongnam is the name of the southeastern region of Korea where they are found. 

Ganwoljae is where the ridges of the mountains Sinbul and Ganwol meet. Spanning approximately 330,000 square meters, the pass transforms into a vast sea of silver grass in fall. A wooden deck path that is easy to walk on and winds through the grass makes this an elegant trail that may as well lead toward heaven.

On Oct. 3, Ganwoljae Pass hosted the Ulju Odyssey, an open-air mountaintop concert, for the first time since 2022. Surrounded by swaying silver grass, hikers listened to performances by Lim Hyung-joo, a tenor in popera, a musical genre featuring pop music with operatic vocals, traditional gugak music star Choi Jae-myung and the indie band Joongsik-i. As the audience bobbed their heads to the music, their colorful attire blended with the silver grass to create a picturesque scene.

The signature bulgogi at Eonyang Giwajip Bulgogi, a renowned restaurant known for its Eonyang-style bulgogi and a popular stop for hikers returning from Ganjeoljae Pass. (Park Mee-hyang/Hankyoreh)

About a 30-minute drive from Ganwoljae Pass, a cluster of beloved restaurants offers hikers a delicious reward for their climb. These are the renowned Eonyang bulgogi restaurants, concentrated around Eonyang in Ulju County. Among them is Eonyang Giwajip Bulgogi, a restaurant housed in a traditional Korean home more than a century old. It has been serving diners for over 40 years.

Now almost synonymous with the town itself, Eonyang bulgogi is a local specialty made by marinating thinly sliced beef in a soy-based sauce and grilling it over a wire mesh. Its rise from a small-town dish to a nationally known favorite owes much to the highway construction workers of the 1960s.

During the Japanese colonial period, the Eonyang area was known as a beef-producing hub, with slaughterhouses and related businesses thriving there. In those days of widespread poverty, local residents made the most of what little beef they had, slicing it as thinly as possible, marinating it and grilling it before cutting it into small pieces to serve as a side dish. 

Construction workers who discovered the dish came to love it so much that they continued talking about it long after their projects were finished, helping spread its reputation far beyond the town.

Like the fields of silver grass themselves, the flavor of Eonyang bulgogi is one of the pleasures that stays with travelers long after the journey ends.

Now is the most beautiful time of year to visit Haneul Park in World Cup Park, one of Seoul’s best-known destinations for silver grass. (Park Mee-hyang/Hankyoreh)

An unusual sculpture peeks through the silver grass at Haneul Park in World Cup Park, one of Seoul’s best-known destinations for silver grass. (Park Mee-hyang/Hankyoreh)

Seoul, too, has its own celebrated silver grass destinations. At Haneul Park, part of World Cup Park in the Sangam neighborhood of Mapo District, the silver grass is at its most beautiful this time of year. What makes the park special is the way its sweeping grasslands frame the cityscape. As you stroll through the rippling silver grass and look up, distant skyscrapers glimmer on the horizon.

The sight is breathtaking: silver grass blankets the entire 191,736-square-meter park. Although the Seoul Silver Grass Festival wrapped up on Oct. 23, the festive crowds have given way to a quieter spectacle — silvery plumes swaying in the sunlight.

Other well-known destinations for silver grass include Mount Hwangmae in Hapcheon, Mount Myeongseong in Pocheon, Mount Hwawang in Changnyeong, Mount Oseo in Boryeong and Mount Cheongwan in Jangheung.