Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Coast & islands
거제시
Geojedo is South Korea's second-largest island after Jeju, covering about 380 km². A ria coastline more than 443 km long winds around it, forming pebble beaches, rocky islets and sea cliffs, and the island has seen several chapters of Kore…
Museums
거제시
During the Korean War up to 173,000 prisoners were held on Geoje Island, more people than the island's own population, behind barbed wire. Prisoners even kidnapped the camp commandant. The Historic Park of Geoje POW Camp uses the remains a…
Gardens & parks
거제시
The heart of Geoje Botanic Garden is the Jungle Dome, a glass dome 30 m high covering 4,468 m². Often described as the largest single greenhouse in Korea, it packs in more than 300 species and around 10,000 tropical plants, with a waterfal…
Mountains & peaks
하남시
Rising to 657 m on the eastern edge of Hanam, Geomdansan looks down on Dumulmeori in Yangsu-ri, where the Namhangang and Bukhangang rivers meet, and on Paldangho Lake. You can walk straight to the trailhead from Hanam Geomdansan Station on…
Historic sites & memorials
서울특별시
The two-storey villa attached to the front of Kangbuk Samsung Hospital is Gyeonggyojang. After liberation, independence leader Kim Ku lived here from November 1945, using it as the last seat of the Korean Provisional Government, and on 26…
Museums
용인시
Gyeonggi Provincial Museum, in Sanggal-dong, Giheung-gu, Yongin, tells the story of Gyeonggi Province from prehistory to the modern era under one roof. Its strength is donated material from the province's old clans, such as portraits of Jo…
Other
서울특별시
Step out of Jegi-dong Station in Dongdaemun-gu and the smell of medicinal herbs greets you before anything else, from lanes stacked with sacks of ginseng, liquorice, jujubes and goji berries. Gyeongdong Market, opened in 1960, is one of Se…
Palaces
서울특별시
Gyeongbokgung was the first palace built after the Joseon dynasty moved its capital to Hanyang, today's Seoul, in 1395. Its name, taken from a line in the Chinese Classic of Poetry, means roughly "palace of great blessings", and the schola…
Churches & monasteries
경산시
On the summit of Gwanbong, on the southern side of Palgongsan, a stone Buddha wearing a flat stone hat sits against a screen of rock. Officially the Stone Seated Buddha at Gwanbong Peak of Palgongsan, it is known to everyone as Gatbawi, th…
Churches & monasteries
경산시
On the eastern flank of Palgongsan, deep in a valley in Sagi-ri, Hayang-eup, Gyeongsan, lies Hwanseongsa Temple. Its name, written with the character for "ring", comes from the way the hills wrap around it like a fortress wall. The Daeungj…
Historic sites & memorials
대구
In the heart of downtown Daegu, a few minutes' walk from Jungangno Station, brightly painted Joseon government buildings appear among the trees. Gyeongsang-gamyeong Park stands on the site of the Gyeongsang Provincial Office, which governe…
Gardens & parks
서울특별시
When the railway went underground, a long, narrow park 6.3 km in length appeared on top of it. Gyeongui Line Forest Park is a linear park running from Yeonnam-dong in Mapo to Wonhyo-ro in Yongsan, and the Yeonnam-dong stretch near Hongik U…
Viewpoints
인천광역시
The Gyeongin Ara Waterway is a canal dug across the land from near Haengju Bridge on the lower Han River to the Yellow Sea at Incheon. It is 18 km long and 80 m wide. It was built to control floods and carry ships, but the cycle paths and…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
Driving from central Gyeongju towards the East Sea, you will spot two huge stone pagodas standing side by side at the edge of the fields, below a low hill. Every temple building has gone and only foundation stones remain, yet the site stil…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
Between Cheomseongdae Observatory and Wolseong Palace Site lies a small grove of willows and zelkovas called Gyerim (鷄林), the "Rooster Forest". This is where, according to legend, Kim Al-ji, founder of the Gyeongju Kim clan, was found in a…
Churches & monasteries
경주시
Stairs and railings cling to a yellowish cliff riddled with holes, and from the highest point a Buddha gazes out towards the East Sea. Golgulsa is a cave temple at the foot of Hamwolsan near Gyeongju. Twelve caves open in a tuff cliff tens…
Old towns & squares
경주시
Between Wolseong and the Namcheon stream in Gyeongju lies a village of low tiled-roof houses. Gyochon grew up around the site of Silla's national academy, later the local Confucian school, and its name simply means "the village with the hy…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
On the road from central Gyeongju to Bulguksa Temple, at the foot of a low hill to the north, lies a tomb with a square mound. Almost all Silla tombs are round, and this is the only square tomb of the Silla period, so it is especially inte…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
In September 1921, a man building a house in Noseo-dong, in the centre of Gyeongju, dug soil from a nearby mound to level his plot. Children found beads in the earth and played with them; a policeman noticed, looked into the mound and real…
Churches & monasteries
경주시
On the slopes of Hamwolsan, east of Gyeongju and not far from the East Sea, Girimsa sits quietly in the forest. It was once the largest temple in the Gyeongju area, so large that Bulguksa was at one point its branch temple, but its remote…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
On a pine-covered ridge, walk around the round burial mound and you notice that the twelve animal-headed guardians carved around its base all turn their heads the same way. The Tomb of Kim Yu-sin is traditionally the grave of Kim Yu-sin (5…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
About 1 km southeast of Oreung in Gyeongju, a lawn ringed by pine trees marks Najeong, the well where Bak Hyeokgeose, founder of Silla, is said to have hatched from an egg. For centuries it was regarded as a purely legendary spot. Excavati…
Mountains & peaks
경주시
Climb the pine paths and you find a Buddha on almost every rock: some carved in shallow relief, some sitting headless. Namsan in Gyeongju was the most sacred mountain of the Silla kingdom, and its valleys hold the remains of about 100 temp…
Nature
경주시
In front of Dori Village in Seo-myeon, west of Gyeongju, ginkgo trees stand in dense rows, and in late autumn the whole grove turns yellow. It is neither natural forest nor a planned park: the trees were originally planted to be sold as sa…