Eating street food and shopping for K-pop merchandise and cosmetics tops to-do lists for many people travelling to Korea, but a new experience is climbing in popularity.

Hiking Korea’s urban mountains, often dubbed “K-hiking”, has quickly become one of the most unexpected yet popular activities among international tourists. Searching hashtags like #seoulhiking, #hikingtourism or #hikinginseoul on Instagram now turns up more than 10,000 posts.

Seoul is a particularly popular destination for urban hiking and it is now common to see foreign tourists exploring mountain paths and taking photos at the summits.

A unique joy of hiking popular among Koreans – slurping ramyeon (instant noodles) and eating kimbap (seaweed rice rolls) at the peak, and cooling down with makgeolli (Korean rice wine) after a trek – is even catching on among foreigners as well.

One key reason behind urban hiking’s growing popularity is the ease and spontaneity it offers: tourists can enjoy a scenic hike surrounded by nature without leaving the city or preparing much at all. The idea of reaching a mountain just by taking a bus or subway feels fresh and novel to visitors from abroad.

Catalina, from Romania, recently took part in a “Seoul Hiking Tour Programme” with some 30 foreigners that involved a three-hour hike on Mount Bugak, in the north of Seoul. She says that accessibility is the most surprising factor for mountains in Seoul and Korea more broadly.

“In Korea, it’s so easy to go climb mountains. In my country, we have very high mountains, but we don’t have infrastructure. So, in order to go there, you actually have to take a car, and then hiking is going to take you at least one weekend,” she says