Damyang Juknokwon

Bamboo Forest Garden Opened In 2003; The Damyang Metasequoia Road And The Soswaewon Garden Are Nearby · Damyang, South Jeolla

A bamboo forest garden on a hillside at the edge of Damyang town, in South Jeolla about 40 minutes north of Gwangju, opened by the county in 2003. Damyang has been Korea's bamboo capital for centuries, famous for its groves, bamboo crafts and bamboo-shoot cooking, and Juknokwon gathers the best of it into a park of tall giant bamboo threaded by roughly eight themed walking paths, several kilometres in all. Inside, the light turns green, the air is noticeably cooler than outside on a summer day and the wind in the stems makes a constant rustle and knock. Pavilions sit among the groves, some paths are said to have been used as filming spots for Korean dramas and television shows, and an adjoining area of reconstructed hanok houses and pavilions honours the poetry culture of the region. Nearby are the famous metasequoia-lined road, the old Gwanbangjerim embankment forest by the river and, a short drive away, the Joseon-era garden of Soswaewon and the pavilions where Korea's gasa poems were written. In town, restaurants serve rice cooked in bamboo tubes and grilled tteokgalbi.

119 Jungnogwon-ro, Damyang-eup, Damyang, South Jeolla, 57359, South Korea

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: Juknokwon opens every day from about 9 am to about 7 pm from spring to autumn and to about 6 pm in winter, with last entry about an hour before closing; there is no regular weekly closing day, but it can shut in typhoons, heavy rain or snow. The metasequoia road's pedestrian section and Soswaewon keep similar daytime hours. Traps: arriving late afternoon with too little time for the paths; festival days in early May with full car parks; tour-group lunch queues at the restaurants; the last buses back to Gwangju; mosquitoes on still summer evenings.

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