Suwon Drama Filming Locations: Hwaseong, Ilwol, Wolhwawon, Hallim
From Namporu on the Hwaseong wall in Twenty-Five Twenty-One to Hwahongmun in Lovely Runner, here is what is actually there at the four filming locations Suwon City points visitors to. Hwaseong holds three of the spots along one wall; the other three places sit in separate districts.
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Namporu sitting on the Hwaseong wall, Hwahongmun and the pond where the north wall meets a stream, a glasshouse beside a reservoir, a garden of walls and pavilions laid out the Chinese way, and a municipal library in Gwonseon-gu. These are the spots Suwon City points to as its drama filming locations.
Of the four places, Hwaseong alone carries several shows, and it carries them at points scattered along the wall. The other three carry one show each and sit in different districts. With a day in Suwon, the workable shape is to give the fortress plenty of time and add one of the others.
Which one suits you — choosing by what you watched and how far you will walk
Two things decide it: which shows you have watched, and how much walking you want in the day.
If you have watched several of these shows and can give a day to walking, go to Hwaseong. Four shows' spots sit on one fortress, so a single visit covers the most scenes. The trade-off is that the wall climbs and drops, which makes it the more demanding walk of the four.
If Queen of Tears is your show, or a long up-and-down walk is not what you want, go to Ilwol Arboretum. A visit centres on the glasshouse and a flat path by the water, which asks something quite different of your legs than the wall does.
If you want to set one period-drama backdrop against another, go to Wolhwawon. On the same day as Hwaseong Haenggung, you can compare Joseon palace architecture and a Chinese garden side by side.
If The King: Eternal Monarch is your show and you already have a reason to be in Gwonseon-gu, go to Hallim Library. It is a library in use rather than an attraction, so building a day around it alone is not worth it.
Hwaseong — three spots you walk between
Namporu is the spot for Twenty-Five Twenty-One and Itaewon Class. The Korea Tourism Organization names the same pavilion. It sits on the wall itself, so there is nothing to find your way into — you arrive at it by walking.
The Lovely Runner spot is Hwahongmun and Banghwasuryujeong, with Yongyeon pond below them. Hwahongmun is the water gate where the north wall meets the Suwoncheon: seven arches, a stone bridge laid over them, a pavilion on top of that. Banghwasuryujeong is the lookout raised on the Yongdu, or dragon's head, rock, and Yongyeon is the pond outside the wall beneath it. The three stand close together on the north side, so the water and the pavilion you saw on screen can be taken in without moving on.
Hwaseong Haenggung is the Love in the Moonlight spot. Where the first two are places you come upon while walking, the palace is one you enter through a gate, and it has its own admission and last-entry time. Walking the wall and going into the palace are best planned as two separate items rather than one.
The wall is open; the palace has a gate
The Suwon Cultural Foundation states that the fortress wall itself is open all year with no set hours and charges nothing, and that walking it at night is possible. Namporu, Hwahongmun, Banghwasuryujeong and Yongyeon are all structures of that open wall, so the hour you arrive matters less than it usually would.
Hwaseong Haenggung, the Love in the Moonlight spot, is the opposite case: there is an admission charge and a last entry, and arriving late can mean walking the wall without seeing inside the palace. Check the amounts and times in the tables below first.
If you miss the palace's last entry, or one place is closed
Hwaseong Haenggung's opening hours, last entry and admission are below.
Hwaseong Haenggung opening hours
| Every day | 09:00–18:00last entry 17:00 |
|---|
Hwaseong Haenggung is free on the last Wednesday of each month, Culture Day, except during the night opening.
Hwaseong Haenggung admission
| Adult | ₩2,000 |
|---|---|
| Youth(soldiers and young people) | ₩1,500 |
| Child | ₩1,000 |
| Group(groups of 20 or more, adult) | ₩1,500 |
| combined ticket (Haenggung, Hwaseong Museum, Suwon Museum) · Adult | ₩4,000 |
| combined ticket (Haenggung, Hwaseong Museum, Suwon Museum) · Youth(soldiers and young people) | ₩2,500 |
| combined ticket (Haenggung, Hwaseong Museum, Suwon Museum) · Child | ₩1,000 |
| Admission(visitors wearing hanbok, including modernised hanbok) | Free |
| Senior(ages 65 and over, with photo ID) | Free |
| Infant(pre-school children aged 6 and under) | FreeChildren visiting on Children's Day (5 May) are also admitted free. |
If you arrive after last entry, leave the palace for another time and walk the wall. Namporu, Hwahongmun, Banghwasuryujeong and Yongyeon are structures of a wall with no set hours, so the spots for Twenty-Five Twenty-One, Itaewon Class and Lovely Runner are still there to see.
For Ilwol Arboretum, Wolhwawon Garden and Hallim Library, check each institution's own notices for opening hours and closed days before setting out. If one of them is closed on your day, giving the wall more time usually means less travel than switching to another of the three. Hallim Library in particular exists for its users, so on a closed day there is no way to look around.
Beyond the wall — a glasshouse, a Chinese garden, a library
Ilwol Arboretum is the Queen of Tears spot. It is a municipal arboretum that opened beside Ilwol Reservoir in 2023, and what a visit consists of is the glasshouse and the path around the water. After a long walk on the fortress wall, flat ground by a reservoir does not so much extend the day as change its texture.
Wolhwawon Garden in Hyowon Park is the Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo spot. Built inside the park through an exchange between Gyeonggi Province and Guangdong, it arranges its walls, pavilions and pond in a grammar Korean gardens do not use. That gives the list two period-drama settings, and putting this one next to the Joseon palace architecture at Hwaseong Haenggung is what makes the contrast obvious.
Suwon Hallim Library is the spot for The King: Eternal Monarch. It is the only one of the four that is not a visitor attraction but a working facility in daily use, and it lies furthest south, in Gwonseon-gu. It fits a day you already have reason to spend there better than a route bundled with the other three.
The library is a library first
Being a filming location does not change the rules of a reading room. Look around Hallim Library without photographing the reading rooms and without blocking the desks or the aisles people are using.
The same restraint pays at the fortress. Hwahongmun, Banghwasuryujeong and Yongyeon are protected heritage structures, so climbing a railing or a rock for a photograph is best avoided.
In this list
- Nationwide
Suwon Hwaseong Fortress
Three of the spots Suwon City names belong to this one fortress. Namporu, on the wall itself, stands in for Twenty-Five Twenty-One and Itaewon Class; Hwahongmun with Banghwasuryujeong and the pond below them for Lovely Runner; and Hwaseong Haenggung for Love in the Moonlight. The first two you reach by walking the wall, while the palace is somewhere you go through a gate — worth keeping as two separate items when you plan the day.
- Filmed here
- Twenty-Five Twenty-One · Itaewon Class · Love in the Moonlight · Lovely Runner
- What is there now
- A pavilion on the wall, a gatehouse over the water, a walled palace
- Location
- Paldal-gu — along the whole fortress
- How it fits a day
- Start here if you have a day in Suwon
open at all hoursOpen year-roundFree
NationwideIlwol Arboretum
The municipal arboretum Suwon City names for Queen of Tears. It opened beside Ilwol Reservoir in 2023, and a visit is largely the glasshouse and the path around the water. Where the fortress has you climbing and descending, this is flat ground by a reservoir, so it changes the grain of the day rather than simply lengthening it.
- Filmed here
- Queen of Tears
- What is there now
- A glass house and a path around Ilwol Reservoir
- Location
- Jangan-gu — beside Ilwol Reservoir
- How it fits a day
- An afternoon after walking the wall
- Nationwide
Wolhwawon Garden, Hyowon Park
The spot for Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo. Built inside Hyowon Park through an exchange between Gyeonggi Province and China's Guangdong, it lays out its walls, pavilions and pond in a grammar Korean gardens do not use. Seeing it alongside the Joseon palace architecture of Hwaseong Haenggung is what makes the difference legible.
- Filmed here
- Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo
- What is there now
- A Chinese garden of walls, pavilions and a pond
- Location
- Paldal-gu — on Dongsuwon-ro
- How it fits a day
- Pair it with the day you see the palace
- Nationwide
Suwon Hallim Library
The municipal library Suwon City names for The King: Eternal Monarch. It is the only one of the four that is not a visitor attraction but a working facility its readers are using, so it suits a stop you add when you already have reason to be in Gwonseon-gu. What applies here is library manners, not filming-location ones.
- Filmed here
- The King: Eternal Monarch
- What is there now
- A public library in use by its readers
- Location
- Gwonseon-gu — the southernmost of the four
- How it fits a day
- A day you are already in Gwonseon-gu
Frequently asked questions
Can all four be seen in one day?
By distance, yes. The two furthest apart, Ilwol Arboretum and Hallim Library, are a little over 7 km in a straight line, and the rest are closer. The catch is that Hwaseong alone holds three of the spots, so you walk a fair way inside the fortress before you leave it. Giving the wall the time it needs and adding one of the other three works better than forcing all four.
Where should I go inside Hwaseong?
Suwon City names three spots. Namporu on the wall stands in for Twenty-Five Twenty-One and Itaewon Class; Hwahongmun with Banghwasuryujeong and Yongyeon pond on the north side for Lovely Runner; and Hwaseong Haenggung for Love in the Moonlight. The first two you meet while walking the wall. The palace is somewhere you go inside.
Is there an admission charge at Hwaseong?
Not for walking the wall. The Suwon Cultural Foundation states that the fortress wall is open all year with no set hours. The admission and the last-entry time belong to Hwaseong Haenggung inside it, which is exactly the Love in the Moonlight spot. The amounts and times are on the cards below.
Does Suwon have other filming locations?
Yes. Suwon City's drama filming-location course also names Hwaseomun, Haengridan-gil, Gwanggyo Lake Park and the Haenggung-dong mural village, among others. This guide covers the four where it can say what you will actually find at the spot.
Can I just walk into Hallim Library?
It is a working municipal library before it is a filming location. Look around without photographing the reading rooms or getting in the way of the people using them. Being a filming location does not create an exception. Check the library's own notices for opening hours and closed days before you go.
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Official sources (3)
- Fact check: Suwon City — its drama filming-location course, each stop with its work and address
- Fact check: Korea Tourism Organization — K-drama filming locations (Namporu on the Hwaseong wall)
- Fact check: Suwon Cultural Foundation — Hwaseong visitor information (the wall is free and open; Hwaseong Haenggung has its own admission and last entry)