Ilsan, South Korea

I realized after looking back at some old posts from when I started this blog that I did an information post on Suwon which was where I lived and served as the basis for the previous name (and the current address) of this blog.  If you have seen recent posts this year then you will know that I have since moved to Ilsan so I thought I would tell you a little about Ilsan.

Ilsan (일산) is a district rather than a city, the city that Ilsan is located in is called Goyang City and it is located Northwest of Seoul. It is very close to Seoul and connected by bus, train and subway so getting to and from is almost effortless depending on where you are heading and as I've said before public transport is pretty cheap too.

Ilsan itself is actually split into to areas too, there is Ilsandong-gu (Eastern district) and Ilsanseo-gu (Western district). It is a area that is growing all the time and that has a number of attractions including, stadiums, event and art centers, shopping areas, malls and entertainment. 

One of it's most well know attractions is Lake Park.  Lake Park is a large park that features a huge artificial lake, the park includes various gardens, walking and biking tracks and a musical fountain   I actually live right next door to the Lake Park and it's a nice place for walking and taking photos, I've been practicing my photography over there this week.

There are a number of other parks all around Ilsan, there are lots of bike and walking trails and these parks are popular family spots especially on the weekends.

There are also a number of department stores like Lotte and Hyundai and two main shopping areas called La Festa and Western Dom - these latter ones are like outside malls and include hundreds shops and restaurants both big and small. Ilsan also has a Costco, which if you are not American is a large supermarket/department type of store that sells lots of home wares and groceries mostly wholesale. Here in Korea there are a few locations and they are popular with expats as you can get western food items there that you can't get anywhere else.

There is also a new shopping area and amusement park that opened up this year, it's called 'One Mount' and it has a shopping mall, a winter park and a water park. The shopping mall hosts some western chains like H&M which means if you live in Ilsan you don't have to go into Seoul to go to these stores anymore. The water park has good reviews, I've heard so far that it's pretty fun but can be very crowded, the amenities are nice and it's a good place to entertain the kids as it has about nine slides and 18 pools both inside and outside. The winter park is inside and is like a Santa's village type park that includes an ice road, ice lake and a snow slide. 

So that is just some basic info on Ilsan, if you are visiting or coming to live for a while I hope it helps to give you an idea of what to expect.  If you live in Ilsan or have visited, please feel free to comment and let me know what your favorite things to see and do are.  I would love to hear from you.