Hwadam Botanic Garden (화담숲)

Hwadam Botanic Garden is a major private botanical garden in Gwangju-si, Gyeonggi-do, set on the slopes of Mt. Konjiamsan as one of Korea's most-celebrated forest-themed botanical gardens. Operated by LG Sangnyong's Sangrok Foundation since 2006, Hwadam ("flower-pond") spans approximately 1.6 million m² with carefully designed themed botanical zones — the Korean traditional garden, the conifer collection, the moss garden, the alpine zone, and the broader forest-walk infrastructure including a long monorail loop that lets visitors traverse the garden without committing to the full walking circuit. The garden's distinctive integration of designed botanical zones with the surrounding mature forest landscape has made it one of Korea's most-cited botanical-tourism destinations. Best in spring through autumn for the strongest seasonal landscape, particularly during the autumn-color peak.