Haenggung-dong, the low-roofed Suwon neighbourhood dramas keep casting as home

From the top of the wall at Hwaseomun (화서문), the west gate of Suwon's Hwaseong Fortress (수원 화성), the town below looks unlike most Korean cities of its size. No apartment towers stand inside the ramparts. Tiled and flat roofs sit two or three storeys high, persimmon trees lean over brick walls, and on a weekday morning a delivery scooter is the loudest thing in the lane. This is Haenggung-dong (행궁동), and it explains why several recent dramas went looking for their characters' homes roughly an hour south of Seoul.

Why the roofs stay low

Hwaseong is a late-Joseon fortress, a circuit of stone and brick wall a little under six kilometres long, built on the orders of King Jeongjo (정조) and now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The old town inside it falls under heritage rules that limit how tall anything new can be. The practical result, for a camera, is a skyline made of gate pavilions and the ridge of Paldalsan (팔달산) rather than glass.

That gives location scouts something hard to find in the capital: a residential street that reads as ordinary and present-day, with no construction crane behind it. A character can step out of a gate, walk a short block, and reach an eighteenth-century wall without a cut. The neighbourhood's nickname, Haengnidan-gil (행리단길), borrows its ending from Gyeongnidan-gil in Seoul and refers loosely to the café streets around Hwaseomun-ro (화서문로) and Sinpung-ro (신풍로).

Three dramas within a short walk

Our Beloved Summer placed its illustrator lead, Choi Ung, in a house in these lanes, and used the fortress wall and the streets below it for several of its quieter walking scenes. Lovely Runner set the facing homes of Im Sol and Ryu Sun-jae on one short alley off Hwaseomun-ro; the house with the blue gate, used as Sol's, has been run as a café. Extraordinary Attorney Woo hung a prop sign reading Woo Young-woo Gimbap (우영우 김밥) over a small Japanese restaurant on a side lane near Sinpung-ro for the length of its shoot.

None of these is a set. They are homes and working businesses whose owners agreed to host a production, and what you find now depends on what each owner has since decided: a small sign acknowledging the drama, a photo spot by the gate, or nothing at all. Addresses circulate on Naver Map and KakaoMap under the Korean titles. Searching the title with 촬영지 (chwaryeongji, filming location) turns up more than an English query does.

The wall is the better half of the walk

Start at Janganmun (장안문), the north gate and the largest, and follow the rampart east. Within a few minutes the wall drops to Hwahongmun (화홍문), a pavilion built over seven stone arches through which the Suwoncheon (수원천) stream runs into the old town. Just above it, on a rocky rise, stands Banghwasuryujeong (방화수류정), a pavilion whose irregular roofline turns up in period dramas and wedding photographs alike.

Below the pavilion is Yongyeon (용연), a round pond with a small island of pines. On mild evenings the grass around it fills with picnic mats, and shops on the lane behind rent out baskets, low tables and blankets for a fee; ask at the counter what a set includes. Stay until the wall lighting comes on. The stone goes amber, the pond takes the reflection, and the frame directors come for arranges itself without help.

The palace that plays other palaces

Hwaseong Haenggung (화성행궁) was the king's temporary residence on his journeys south, and it gives the neighbourhood its name. For production crews it is a stand-in: a Joseon compound with courtyards deep enough for a procession, usually quieter than the palaces in Seoul. Signage inside the grounds has long marked where scenes from the historical drama Dae Jang Geum were shot, and the two-storey front gate, Sinpungnu (신풍루), has faced a good many costumed extras.

Jeongjo himself is a recurring lead. Both Yi San and The Red Sleeve tell his story, and a viewer who has seen either will recognise the outline of what happened here: a king building a walled town near his father's relocated tomb. The palace charges admission and keeps seasonal hours, with evening openings in some months. The Suwon Cultural Foundation (수원문화재단) posts the current schedule and ticket details.

What to eat between locations

Walk south from the palace to Paldalmun (팔달문), the south gate stranded in a roundabout, and the smell changes from espresso to frying oil. Suwon's Tongdak Street (통닭거리) is a short lane of shops that fry whole chickens in iron cauldrons and serve them cut up with pickled radish and a dish of salt. Several also sell wang-galbi tongdak (왕갈비통닭), the galbi-glazed version that the film Extreme Job turned into a running joke.

The markets start on the far side of the gate. Jidong Market (지동시장) is known for its sundae (순대) hall, where stalls stir-fry blood sausage with vegetables on wide griddles, and the adjoining Motgol Market (못골시장) is where residents buy banchan and rice cakes. Prices are written on boards above the stalls. Some vendors prefer cash, so carry a little.

Getting there, and the mistake at the station

Suwon Station (수원역) is on Seoul Subway Line 1 (1호선) and the Suin–Bundang Line (수인분당선), and mainline trains from Seoul Station (서울역) also stop there; Korail's site and app show which services do and what each costs. Red metropolitan buses from Sadang (사당) and Gangnam (강남) run to stops nearer the north gate. Routes and stops shift, so check Naver Map or KakaoMap on the day rather than trusting a number from an old blog post.

The mistake is assuming the fortress is beside the station. It is not. Paldalmun is a bus or taxi ride away, or a long walk through an ordinary shopping district, and arriving on foot spends the energy the wall deserves. Take a city bus toward Paldalmun or Hwaseong Haenggung from the stops outside the station; a T-money card works on these buses as it does in Seoul.

Weekday afternoons are calmer than weekends, and many of the small cafés take a day or two off early in the week, so look up each shop's listing before building a route around it. Spring and autumn suit the full wall circuit. In summer, do the palace in the morning and the pond after dusk. The filmed houses stand on lanes where people live, and you may see a notice by a gate asking passers-by to keep their voices down because residents are home. Photograph from the street, leave the gate alone, and move on.

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