Mangwon Han River picnic mat rental with embossed mat: Picnic List

Picnic gear rental at Mangwon Han River Park — Picnic List

The weather's gotten so good lately that you basically have to go to the Han River, right? I couldn't let this pass either, so my friend and I went to Mangwon Han River Park last weekend. Turns out you don't need to lug a bunch of stuff there yourself — you can rent a whole picnic set right in front of Mangwon Han River Park. We used Picnic List, right at the park entrance.

Picnic List Mangwon: location and rental prices at a glance

• Location | 1 Mangwon-ro 1-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul
• Hours | 11:00 – 22:00
• Price | 3 hours base / +₩5,000 per extra hour, +₩10,000 for an all-day pass
• Feature | Right across from the entrance to Mangwon Han River Park
• Reservation | Naver Reservation

How close is Picnic List Mangwon to Mangwon Han River Park?

Picnic List sits right across the street from the main entrance to Mangwon Han River Park. On the way I noticed a fair number of rental shops around, but this one was the closest to the park by far. Carrying gear for a long stretch tires you out before the picnic even starts, but here you just pick up your stuff and cross the underpass to reach the park, so there was none of that exhaustion — I liked that.

Can you walk into Picnic List Mangwon without a reservation?

You book through Naver Reservation, and we made one ahead of time too. It's clearly peak Han River picnic season, because there were a ton of customers. By the time we got there, reservations had already used up most of the stock, and some walk-in visitors had to leave without renting anything. If it's the weekend or the weather's nice, I'd recommend booking ahead.

Inside Picnic List Mangwon: the shop and how to pay

The Picnic List Mangwon shop is smaller than I expected, but the gear is arranged neatly and is easy to spot at a glance. It runs unmanned, but since it was the weekend and busy, staff were on hand. If you've already made a reservation, you check your items and pay at the kiosk. The base rental time is 3 hours, with +₩5,000 per additional hour, and +₩10,000 for the all-day pass.

A staff member checked our order and got everything ready, asking if we needed anything else — kind even with people constantly coming and going 🥰

Besides the basic picnic gear, they also sell party supplies, so if it's a birthday or anniversary, grabbing a few little props to dress up the picnic could be fun too.

Is the embossed mat worth adding at Mangwon Han River Park?

If you're headed to Mangwon Han River Park, I'd recommend adding the embossed mat. There's a lot of uneven ground, and Mangwon Han River Park has plenty of cement surfaces too, so it was noticeably more comfortable. In fact, before we returned our gear, we sat briefly on the cement steps by the river to watch the sunset, and even that short sit on bare ground made our backsides ache 😣

Quick pickup done, and we were ready to picnic.

Finding a spot at Mangwon Han River Park at 3pm on the weekend

Cross the underpass right across from Picnic List and you're in Mangwon Han River Park. We got there around 3pm, and it was already packed.

Still, there was plenty of open space near the 7-Eleven, so that's where we set up. Being near a convenience store is a nice bonus too. If the entrance area is too crowded, try checking near the 7-Eleven 👍

What two people rented, and how big the L-size mat is

We rented an embossed mat, an L-size picnic mat, a wood table, a Bluetooth speaker, and bubbles. The L-size mat was the same size as the embossed mat, and it was roomy enough for two adult women to lie down. If you can, I'd recommend going with the L size — the basic size seemed like it'd be on the small side.

We ate dakgangjeong (sweet crispy fried chicken) from Mangwon Market, cup wine from the convenience store, and a few breads from our bread tour.

Riding out a blood sugar spike and then napping while lying down — pure bliss 😌 The weather's cool enough right now that it really does feel like picnic season.

Sunset at Mangwon Han River Park and returning the gear

And Mangwon Han River Park is genuinely a great spot for sunsets. It was a cloudy day so I thought we wouldn't get much of a view, but as the sun went down the sky turned a beautiful color and we ended up watching it for ages 😮 That's really what completes a Han River picnic.

We watched the sunset until about 6pm before heading back to return everything, and since the shop was right there, the return was just as easy as the pickup.