Goyang: Lake Park, a Fortress Over the Han, and Seoul's Best-Fed Suburb

Goyang sits immediately northwest of Seoul, and Ilsan — its planned new town, built in the early 1990s — is the part you'd actually visit. It's flat, green, and organized, which is not glamorous but makes for a very easy day, and it's 30 minutes from Hongdae on Line 3.

What to see

• Ilsan Lake Park. The largest artificial lake park in Asia when it opened, with a 4.7km loop path, a rose garden, and enough space that it never feels full. It hosts the Goyang International Flower Festival each spring. Free, and one of the best places in the greater Seoul area to rent a bike.
• Haengjusanseong Fortress. An earthen fortress on a bluff over the Han River, and the site of one of the decisive Korean victories of the 1592 Japanese invasion — a small garrison and the local population held it against a far larger force. The walk up is short and the view over the river and back toward Seoul is excellent.
• Starfield Goyang. One of Korea's largest malls, which matters mostly as a wet-weather option and a food court of last resort.
• The Han River path. Goyang's riverside connects into the national bike network; you can ride from here into central Seoul in about an hour.

What to eat

Ilsan has a reputation among Koreans as a good eating city, for a specific reason: it's a wealthy, dense, residential town with no tourist trade, so restaurants survive on repeat customers.

• Eel. The Haengjuoe-dong eel village, below the fortress, is a cluster of restaurants grilling freshwater eel over charcoal — a Goyang institution and the single most local thing to eat here.
• Oysters and shellfish. In winter, Goyang's oyster restaurants serve them raw, steamed, grilled and in gukbap. The season runs roughly November to March.
• Hoe and sushi. Ilsan's raw-fish restaurants are notably better than a suburb has any right to have, and cost meaningfully less than Gangnam.
• Pyongyang-style mandu and naengmyeon. Northwest Seoul and Goyang absorbed a lot of people displaced from the north, and the dumpling-and-cold-noodle houses here reflect it.
• Pojangmacha and drinking food. The Jeongbalsan and Lafesta areas run late.

How to plan the day

A clean version: morning at Haengjusanseong (it's on the Seoul side of the city), lunch at the eel village below it, afternoon at Ilsan Lake Park with a rented bike, and dinner around Jeongbalsan. In spring, invert it and build the day around the flower festival.

Practical tips

• Getting there: Jeongbalsan Station or Madu Station (Line 3) for Ilsan; Haengsin Station (Gyeongui-Jungang, KTX) for the fortress side, then a short bus.
• The lake park loop is 4.7km. Bike rental is at the main gates.
• Haengjusanseong charges a small entry fee and closes in the evening.
• Oysters are seasonal. Don't come in July expecting them.
• Ilsan is a late-dinner town. Restaurants get going after 7.

Each restaurant below has a video on its EatHub page — helpful in a new town where the exteriors tell you nothing.