Naejangsan

Naejangsan National Park was declared in 1971 in North Jeolla province, in south-western South Korea, and covers some 81 km². Its name means "the mountain with many treasures inside", a reference to what it hides once the ridges that ring it are crossed.

The park's shape is its most characteristic feature: a series of summits arranged in a horseshoe enclose a central valley, so that the whole works as a natural amphitheatre. That configuration creates a humid, sheltered microclimate that favours an especially rich deciduous forest, with a high proportion of maples.

Naejangsan is, for that reason, the most famous autumn foliage destination in Korea. Each November the avenue of maples leading to the temple of Naejangsa forms a red tunnel that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors within a few weeks, with enormous pressure on the park concentrated in a very small space. Naejangsa temple, founded in the seventh century and rebuilt several times after successive fires, is the main cultural feature, alongside neighbouring Baegyangsa, in the southern sector of the park. Outside the autumn season, the park offers little-frequented ridge paths with views over the whole amphitheatre.