Beautiful place but a lot of climbing and walking. The area commands a view of the old city, with the fortress and sentry posts pretty well maintained. Quite a bit of climbing and walking so it's very hot especially in summer and early autumn. My elderly parents had difficulties walking the place for long.

We very much enjoyed the fortress city wall and gates, so respectfully incorporated into a city. Some lovely photos of city walls and high rises with the juxtaposition of high rises peaking over in the background. Great public exercise spaces. We missed the Flying Suwon ride due to slight wind conditions. The archery was great though. Plenty of places nearby to walk to for lunch. Really enjoyed the visit to explore the fortress. Slightly physical, but you can make it fairly flat too. The trolley car around the fortress was a great way for people who don’t walk so well to see the main highlights. You want half a day here, including lunch.

Suwon Hwaseong Fortress is the only remaining walled fortress in Korea. For the several dollars entry fee, we strolled the interior and perimeter of the complex at our leisure. An occasional stop for hydration and nibbles was always an option. Photo ops were also plentiful. The visit to Gyeongju and the Hwaseong Fortress provided a wonderful fresh-air break from Seoul. Personally, I am not good at taking walks. But, yes, it was worth walking a bit and even climbing a few stairs to experience this UNESCO World Heritage site.

It is the first time I have visited an ancient fortress. We didn't walk the whole length but the area that we walked had some good views and we took some good pictures all week. We just took the subway from Seoul and too us an hour with 1 transfer I think you can take the express train but it wasn't going to save us that much time. When you reach the Suwon station, you will Still need to take a short bus ride. Quite picturesque and we were able to talk to a tour guide who wa manning the information booth to give us some history. We also managed to watch the archery classes. The instruction was in Korean though. Aside from the fortress, there are also many touristy shops and restaurants When you get to the Suwon station, it's a very nice one with an impressive food court with mostly Korean food, sweet treats and coffee shop. make sure you stop by. On the way back . We had dinner there. All in all if you have a day to spare, it's worth the visit. The city is very different from Seoul. Not so modern and touristy and very few English signs except at the fortress itself. If you are interested n history, I think it is worthwhile to join a tour. There is also a trolley which I believe starts at the front gate that takes you along part of the route.

If you want to experience a Korean traditional architecture, I’d suggest visiting Suwon Hwaseong Fortress. By visiting here, you can experience the well-preserved buildings in harmony with nature. The best thing about this place is that you can walk around the whole place for free. Since Suwon is not that far away from Seoul, it didn’t take long time to get to this place. When I visited this place, the weather was great, which was perfect for sightseeing. Unique characteristics of Hwaseong made my trip Interesting and not boring. Also, the overwhelming night view made me think of visiting once more. It’s well worth a visit.

My favourite thing to do in Suwon, although be warned to walk to whole fortress area can take at least 1.5hours. I did the whole loop and enjoyed it thoroughly. Many steps but lots of places to stop along the way. I love how you can go inside the gates and sit and relax compared to other gates in Seoul. Don't forget to check out some of the 'secret' gates along the way and lots of garden space to rest. The north gate sis apparently the largest gate in Korea. Nice to see at night also.

We combined visiting the fortress with hiking the All Trails “Suwon Hwaseong Fortress Loop” (4 miles). That made this exploration extra interesting as we were able to explore the entire fortress and adjacent areas, climbing many steep and high stairs to be rewarded with views and different perspective. That did not stop us from coming down from the ramparts elevation to town within the fortress for a cup of coffee at a pleasant place L’after Coffee Bar. The 18th century fortress has interesting history and origin. There are guided visits available to this UNESCO treasure but with a little reading on the subject one have a great visit with decent understanding. The structures of the fortress are very interesting and can be explored. The visit can be started at Yongyeon Pond, the pond where a dragon stays, followed by the Northern Secret Entrance. Then one can walk along the ramparts visiting guard stations, Northeastern Watchtower, beautiful Changnyogmun Gate, Eastern Bastions. At some point you are likely to enter the city for another perspective look at the structures just to embark soon on numerous stairs leading to a hilltop. And then back towards the main structures of the fortress. The parking lot is a short walk from the Fortress and there is a small fee. Top destination in Suwon.

I guess most visitors come to Suwon for Hwasegong fortress, beautiful in it's own way and also a UNESCO site - once visited you can see why! Walking along the fortress walls is a must, either in part or completely. From memory the entire wall is around 5-6km and takes around 2 hours. During our visit certain sections of the wall were off limits due to restoration. For the die-hards the entire wall walk will take in most of the gates, towers and secret gates with excellent vistas at multiple locations. Information is limited, but collectively all the snippets help you get a basic understanding for the fortress.