She slowly walked out of the Samsung Medical Centre in Seoul as cameras flashed and dozens of supporters shouted their support.
"I express my greetings to our people for the first time in five years, " Park said.
"My health has really improved, thanks to your worries."
She stopped by a cemetery and offered flowers and incense at the grave of her father, the slain military dictator Park Chung-hee, before heading for her newly built residence in the southern city of Daegu.
Supporters laid wreaths of flowers and a huge national flag near her home.
Park was ousted from office and imprisoned for bribery and other crimes in 2017 in a stunning fall from grace. She has described herself as a victim of political revenge and refused to attend most of her trials.
Conservatives, who were initially left in disarray by her downfall, recovered to narrowly win this month's presidential election, but only after fielding a candidate who had helped send her to jail.
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol was part of a special investigation team that indicted Park in 2017 for bribery, abuse of power and extortion, which established her as the central figure in an influence-peddling scandal that also involved a shadowy confidante and a billionaire Samsung heir.
Yoon became prosecutor general under current liberal President Moon Jae-in, who won the election to succeed Park in 2017, but Yoon resigned and joined the opposition last year following infighting over probes of Moon's allies.
Yoon will take office on May 10.
Park had served less than a quarter of her 22-year sentence before President Moon pardoned her in December, citing her health problems and a need to promote unity in the face of pandemic-related difficulties.
She had been treated at the Seoul hospital since November. Officials have refused to elaborate on Park's health, but local media said she has been suffering from a lumbar disc problem, a shoulder injury and dental problems as well as mental stress.
Park was once the darling of conservatives in South Korea and was elected the country's first female president in 2012, beating Moon by a million votes.
Park was propelled by conservatives who celebrate her father as a hero whose industrial policies pulled the country up from post-war poverty despite his brutal suppression of human rights.
She was impeached by lawmakers in late 2016, and was formally removed from office and arrested the following year over the corruption scandal that prompted months of massive street protests.
