Maisan hike info

Maisan is two peaks standing side by side: Ammaibong (687.4 m) to the west and Sutmaibong (681.1 m) to the east. From far off they look like a horse's ears pricked up, hence the name. Nothing else around is tall, so from anywhere on the Jinan plain you see just these two. Up close the rock is gravel and sand fused together, pitted like a sponge.

Most people head first to Tapsa, under the south cliff. About eighty stone towers, piled stone on stone, stand like a small forest, the biggest 15 m tall. The mountain is said to have looked like a ship's mast in spring mist, dragon horns in summer, and horse ears in autumn. Cherry blossom lines the approach in early April.

There are three ways to walk it. The 3.3 km path from the south car park past Tapsa and Eunsusa to the north car park takes about an hour and a half. The top of Ammaibong is 0.6 km from Cheonwangmun, up steep stairs. Sutmaibong has no trail, so you look at it from the viewpoint across the gap.

From Seoul (BUS)

From Busan, Daegu and elsewhere (BUS)

To the trailhead (LOC)