Travel By Train From Seoul To Morning Calm / La Petite France

My guide from Seoul to Morning Calm and La Petite France. Both are shooting locations for some K-dramas. There are other ways of reaching these destinations. Here is only one of the ways, which in my opinion is pretty convenient.

Buy single journey ticket to CHEONGNYANGNI Station from your start location (see note at the end).

At Cheongyangni Station, DO NOT exit station. Instead follow transfer directions to ITX line (1 and 2).

Locate ITX ticket machines. Menu is available in english here.

Buy single trip ticket to CHEONGPYEONG.

Locate ITX Line 1 and 2 go up to the platform.

The Car number is indicated on the floor. Go wait there. There are 8 cars in total per train.

Do not board any train earlier than what is stated on your ticket or that is not your train number. 
Don't worry, train is always on the dot. Not earlier, not later.

Train number is indicated as above on each car. Board if train number matches your ticket.

Goto your car number and your seat. Enjoy the ride. Abt 40mins ride.

Wake up, stop dreaming and drop at CheongPyeong Station. 
ITX and KORail are always on time and on target.

Locate the Tourist Shuttle Bus Stop. If cannot locate, there is actually a tourist information booth just outside the station too.They are all very helpful. Don't worry abt language barrier. They basically know where you want to go :-)

It's good to familiarise yourself with the timetable.

Yes. This is the tourist route shuttle bus. Not the blue or green plain bus. This bus type is more colorful and lots of aunties. It'll cost 5,000won for a one day adult pass (single loop). Hop on and hop off type. Confirm your destination with bus driver and buy ticket from him. KEEP YOUR TICKET FOR YOUR RETURN TRIP (to CheongPyeong Station).

First stop is Morning Calm b'cos it's the nearest from the station. About 25mins ride.

Where the bus drops you is where you'll get your ride again later to the next destination.

Pay entrance fee and stroll the garden.

Some of you will instantly recognise those K-drama shooting locations already.

Time yourself and give enough to appreciate the garden. There is a great cafe that serves superb cappuccino here. The restaurants however are not operational during March period, so can't comment. Return back to bus hop on/off location and wait for your bus again. Show ticket and confirm with bus driver if he's routing to La Petite France.

La Petite France is about 40mins drive from Morning Calm. Yes. It's a big area here in CheongPyeong to enjoy. (Unless you intend to spend your time more in the shuttle bus rather than on locations, you'd probably manage 2 or 3 places in a day only). Today, I only manage 2 on a leisurely pace.

The bus will drop you at the opposite side of the street to La Petite France. Buy entrance ticket and enjoy the little village.

Going back from La Petite France to CheongPyeong Station.
Hop back onto the shuttle bus at the end of your visit from the bus stop (with benches) located on the same side of the street. Confirm with bus driver if he is heading to CheongPyeong Station. He will collect your ticket tab. Yes. That's your last ride of the shuttle service for the day b'cos tomorrow is another 5,000won ticket.

Going back from CheongPyeong Station. You have an option here (since you are no longer in the rush to go back). Either by ITX express train again or by KORail (aka MRT).
If by ITX, locate the same looking ITX machine to buy ticket (which is 1 hr interval each but stops at Cheongnyangni).
If by KORail, the ticketing machine is beside ITX's (which is abt 15mins each but stops at every stop along the way).
Your prerogative. One more expensive option than the other. A word of caution here: Same looking machine but no english menu option here. You may need the help of the station manager to buy ticket. Again, don;t worry as they are always helpful if you thank them.

Enjoy. Have fun!

<Start Note:>
Applies only to ITX travel. 

ITX is a rather new train service, so KORail haven't gotten their act altogether as yet. Remember the single journey ticket you bought in the morning to reach Cheongnyangni Station? Keep it. Do not return into the deposit refund machine as yet.

B'cos once you reach back to Cheongnyangni station AND you intend to return to your morning start point, this is your "get out of subway free" card. Yes, when you disembark from ITX at Cheongyangni, you are already within the subway transfer zone. Which means you do not need to exit the station and buy another single journey ticket from Cheongyangni station to your original start point within Seoul. 

Besides, you can't buy a single journey ticket while you are INSIDE the transfer zone. Only top-up for T-Card is available. There is simply no ticketing machine. Get it?

In another words, once you travel by ITX back to Cheongyangni station, your ride by normal subway back to your starting station is inclusive already. When you reach your final destination station, use that same original single journey ticket (see beginning of this blog) to tap out in order to exit; or you can show your ITX ticket to the station manager to exit manually. I don't know what will happen if you show both tickets :-)

Only upon exit from your station, then you return the ticket to the deposit refund machine and get your 500won back.

Applicable at this point of time as I write (March 2014). The rail operators may close up this loophole later and introduce single journey ticketing machines within the transfer zone or may request you to exit at Cheongyangni station to buy another ticket, so your mileage may vary in the future.

<End Note>