Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Churches & monasteries
남원시
In the farmland of Sannae-myeon, Namwon, with the ridges of Jirisan rising behind like a folding screen, a temple stands at the end of a path between rice paddies. Unlike most Korean temples, which sit deep in the mountains, Silsangsa is b…
Nature
가평군
Nami Island (Namiseom) is a half-moon-shaped island in the Bukhan River, criss-crossed by avenues of metasequoias, Korean pines and ginkgo trees. It was not originally an island but a riverside hill; it became one in 1944, when the Cheongp…
Coast & islands
부산
The Namparang Trail runs for about 1,470 km in 90 courses along Korea's south coast, from Oryukdo Sunrise Park in Busan to Ttangkkeut Village, the "Land's End" of Haenam in South Jeolla. True to its name, "the path along the deep-blue sout…
Fortresses
광주시
Namhansanseong is a mountain fortress on Namhansan in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, southeast of Seoul, built as a fortified town where the king could govern in wartime as an emergency capital. Its walls run for 12.4 km, and inside there is…
Nature
남해군
On the flat shoreline rocks of Gain-ri, on Changseondo island in Namhae, the footprints of dinosaurs, pterosaurs, birds and lizards that crossed a Cretaceous mudflat about 100 million years ago are still clearly visible. More than 1,500 di…
Old towns & squares
남해군
At the southern tip of Namhae Island, where Seolheulsan and Eungbongsan drop straight into the sea, more than 100 tiers of rice paddies climb the slope like a giant staircase. These terraced fields, carved out of the hillside to win every…
Churches & monasteries
남해군
Boriam is a hermitage set into the cliffs near the summit of Geumsan in Namhae, surrounded by strangely shaped rocks. Together with Hongnyeonam at Naksansa in Yangyang and Bomunsa on Ganghwa Island, it is counted among Korea's three great…
Old towns & squares
남해군
White walls and orange roofs cluster on a hillside above the sea in Namhae. At first glance Namhae German Village looks like a European-themed resort, but it was built by Korean miners and nurses who went to work in West Germany in the 196…
Churches & monasteries
남해군
On the slopes of Hogusan Mountain, Yongmunsa is regarded as the oldest temple in Namhae County. The story of how it ended up here is unusual: in 1660, Confucian scholars at the Namhae Hyanggyo (the local state Confucian school) objected to…
Coast & islands
남해군
Off the southern tip of South Gyeongsang Province, Namhaedo covers 301 km², making it the fifth-largest island in South Korea. It is the main island of Namhae County, which also includes neighbouring Changseondo. Despite being an island, y…
Mountains & peaks
정읍시
In autumn, the maples on both sides of the road into Naejangsan meet overhead and form a red tunnel. The mountain, 763 m high on the border of Jeongeup and Sunchang, has been famous for its autumn colour for more than 500 years. On peak da…
Museums
제주시
Behind the glass sits a computer that looks like a wooden box. It is an Apple I, one of the few that still work. The Nexon Computer Museum, near Halla Arboretum in Jeju City, was opened by the game company Nexon on 27 July 2013. Its big dr…
Mountains & peaks
구례군
At the western end of Jirisan, 1,507 m Nogodan is the easiest of the range's high peaks to reach. Drive up to Seongsamjae pass at about 1,100 m and an hour or two on foot brings you onto a broad upland. It is counted with Cheonwangbong and…
Other
서울특별시
South of the Han River, just east of the 63 Building, Noryangjin Fish Market is the largest seafood wholesale market in inland Korea. Some 250–300 tonnes of seafood change hands every day, and auctions begin at 1 a.m. You stroll between th…
Mountains & peaks
강릉시
In Daegi-ri, a mountain village in Gangneung's Wangsan-myeon district, a valley at the foot of Nochusan is lined with stone towers, many of them as tall as a person. There are about 3,000 of them, and one mother built them all by herself o…
Historic sites & memorials
대구
In Urok-ri, Gachang-myeon, in Daegu's Dalseong County, Nokdong Seowon is a Confucian academy and shrine dedicated to a Japanese general who switched sides and became a subject of Joseon. Sayaga landed at Busan in 1592 as a vanguard command…
Historic sites & memorials
논산시
Donam Seowon was founded to honour Kim Jang-saeng (1548–1631), the great Joseon scholar of Confucian ritual. It is one of the few academies that survived the 1871 decree abolishing seowon, and in 2019 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World H…
Theme parks
논산시
In Yeonmu-eup, Nonsan, Sunshine Studio was built as the set for the 2018 tvN drama Mr. Sunshine. On a site of about 20,000 m² (6,000 pyeong) it recreates the streets of Hanseong, as Seoul was then called, in the early 1900s of the Korean E…
National parks
완도군
Dadohaehaesang ("sea of many islands") is South Korea's largest national park, a scatter of islands and open water off the south-western tip of the peninsula in South Jeolla Province. Hundreds of islands, from Hongdo in Sinan to Geumodo an…
Churches & monasteries
사천시
At the end of a pine-lined lane on the eastern slopes of Bongmyeongsan in Sacheon, Dasolsa is a temple whose story is said to go back to the Silla kingdom. Tea bushes climb the hillside behind the halls, and during the Japanese occupation…
Mountains & peaks
경주시
At 827 m, Danseoksan is the highest mountain in Gyeongju. Its name, "cut-stone mountain", comes from the legend that the young general-to-be Kim Yu-sin split a boulder here with a sacred sword, and near the summit there really is a rock cl…
Caves
단양군
Cross the bridge over the Namhan River from Danyang town and the cave entrance is right there at the foot of the hill. Gosu Cave is a limestone cave whose narrow passages are packed with stalactites, stalagmites and cave coral. Metal stair…
Churches & monasteries
단양군
Drive deep into a valley of Sobaeksan and an unusual sight appears: multi-storey halls stacked like steps up both slopes. Guinsa in Danyang is the head temple of the Cheontae Order of Korean Buddhism, overseeing more than 140 temples natio…
Nature
단양군
Dodamsambong is a group of three rock peaks rising from the middle of the Namhangang River in Danyang, North Chungcheong. Its scenery has long been ranked first among the Eight Views of Danyang, and it was designated a national Scenic Site…