spreadyourwingsandflyy

I went paragliding in the mountainous region of Danyang, South Korea (also known as 단양군, Danyang-gun, or Danyang County), with my friends back in July 2018 during summer school, and this draft has been in the Draft folder for the longest time so… time to work on this post in case it helps anyone 😆

Getting There

We first had to travel to Seoul Subway Line 2 Gangbyeon Station. Next to the station is the Dong Seoul Bus Terminal, where you can buy tickets for the bus to Danyang. The bus trip is about 2hrs 10mins long, and there’s a bus every hour.

Once you reach the Danyang Intercity Bus Terminal, you will be fetched by the Paragliding team to their office, where they will show you a quick video and give brief training session what to do and what to expect.

Attire

In terms of what to wear, there’s no need to worry about what is appropriate to wear for the paragliding session as jumper suits are provided! But if you’re worried, the most important would be the long pants for the landing! Personally I would say covered shoes like sneakers/sports shoes should also be worn so that you won’t have to worry about your shoes falling off mid-flight xD

Anyway after you have your gear on, the team will take you on another van ride up a Yangbangsan – this ride will be superrr bumpy (we had a rollercoaster in the van xD)

The Paraglide

Once at the top (Yangbangsan Paragliding site), you will be equipped with a seat with a harness attached on, and the parachute with the tandem. The tandem will also be setting up the GoPros and take plenty of photos and videos from here on 😀

To start off the paragliding session, you will need to run off the slope (yes, like running off the edge of a mountain xD) as fast as you can, so that the wind will be able to pick up the parachute and off you and your tandem goooo~

The entire flight time is about 10mins, and you’ll get a beautiful panoramic view of Danyang and Namhangang River. You’ll also be holding the GoPro stick at some point, so remember to hold that upright! If you and your tandem are up for it, they can also do interesting stuff like a controlled-spiralling downwards for more rollercoaster effects.

We landed somewhere opposite the mountain, along a landing path next to the Namhanggang River near the Danyang Intercity Bus Terminal. After returning to their office, we received all of the photos and videos from their GoPro, to our mobile phones. A very swift and quick transfer 🙂

And this more or less concludes the paragliding experience! You can also ask the team for food recommendations nearby, and there are plenty of attractions in Danyang that you could venture to as well! For us, we weren’t staying the night so after lunch we returned to Danyang Intercity Bus Terminal and took the bus back to Seoul (also runs hourly, about 2hrs 30mins for a journey back, with a bit of traffic at the end).

On a side note, we had 1 more friend who didn’t paraglide with us that day, but could follow us up the mountain (and of course, returned back down in the van with the driver). So to give an idea of the view or photos that can be taken from the Yangbangsan Paragliding site, here are some cool pics (the first one is my tandem and I paragliding!) our friend had helped us take!

* Information accurate as of July 2018