By Charles Usher

Seoul is often lamented as a cramped expanse of concrete, but in truth it’s home to no shortage of fantastic parks. Some, like Seoul Forest and Olympic Park, are places that everybody knows about, but there are plenty of others that are secrets to everyone outside of the neighborhood. To help you get the best out of Seoul’s most pleasant season, here’s a guide to some of the city’s overlooked parks.

Guam Neighborhood Park (구암근린공원)

Guam was the pen name of Heo Jun, the late 16th- and early 17th-century physician who was the father of Korean medicine. Heo was most famous for writing Donguibogam, a medical treatise that had a major influence on medical practice not only in Korea, but in China and Japan as well. The park pays tribute to the doctor, who was born in this area, with a statue and a large cartoon image of him in the central plaza. There’s also a pleasant artificial pond. Adjacent to the park is the Heo Jun Museum, which explores the physician’s life and the history of medicine in Korea, and Heogabawi, a rock with a small cave that’s said to be the birthplace of an ancestor of Heo’s. Gangseo-gu, Heojun-ro-5-gil 42

Ankara Park (앙카라공원)

Everybody knows about Yeouido Island’s Yeouido Park, and quite a few people are also familiar with Saetgang Park, which runs along its southern edge. But hardly anyone has heard of Ankara Park, which is wedged into a little triangle next to Saetgang Station. Commemorating Seoul’s sister city relationship with the Turkish capital, the park is dotted with sculptures and laced with shady walking paths. The park’s centerpiece is the Traditional Turkish Vineyard House, a replica of such a house: its bottom is built from stone, while its upper portion is whitewashed and crossed by slats of wood and topped by a red tile roof. Inside it’s decorated with folk articles brought to Seoul from Ankara. For anyone with an interest in Turkish culture, it’s an interesting place to visit. Just make sure you do so on a weekday, as the house is closed on weekends. Yeongdeungpo-gu, Uisadang-daero 166

Sohn Kee-chung Athletic Park (손기정체육공원)

Out the rear exit of Seoul Station and up a hill is Sohn Kee-chung Athletic Park. Son is perhaps Korea’s most famous Olympian, but his history is a bitter one. Born in Sinuiju, in what’s now North Korea, Son won the gold medal in the marathon at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. But because Korea was under Japanese occupation at the time, Son was forced to compete for the Japanese team and under a Japanese name: Son Kitei. The park is located on the site of Son’s former high school, and, fittingly, its emphasis is on athletic facilities. There’s a soccer pitch, tennis courts, and a table tennis table. There are also two sculptures of Son: one a bust of him as an old man; the other a full statue depicting him in the Berlin marathon. Also on the grounds is an oak tree that grew from the sapling Son was awarded as the race’s winner and that he raised to hide the Japanese sun on his chest during the medal ceremony. Jung-gu, Sonkeechung-ro 101

Achasan Ecology Park (아차산생태공원)

At the foot of eastern Seoul’s Achasan Mountain, Achasan Ecology Park is a sprawling expanse that includes badminton courts, picnic tables, funhouse mirrors, a performance stage, a large manmade pond, and the Achasan Goguryeo History Museum. The park itself is lovely, but its best feature is as a gateway to the mountain, which is notable for two reasons. On Seoul’s eastern edge, Achasan is a popular spot to view the first sunrise of the New Year. It’s also one of the most historically important sites in Seoul. Because of its strategic position overlooking the Han River and the surrounding valleys, the mountain was of great military importance and was frequently fought over, particularly during the Three Kingdoms period (57 BC-AD 668). Today, visitors to the mountain will find the remains of a fortress wall that’s hundreds of years old, as well as a number of Goguryeo military forts. Gwangjin-gu, Gwangjin-dong 370-2

Charles Usher is a travel columnist and author of the book "Seoul Sub→urban."