110 attractions in Gyeonggi Province, including Paju Samneung Royal Tombs, Jangneung Royal Tomb, Paju and Bidulginang Waterfall and Hantan River Basalt…
Historic sites & memorials
파주시
In a forest in Jori-eup, Paju, Paju Samneung – "three tombs" – brings together Gongneung, Sunneung and Yeongneung, which is why it is also called Gong-sun-yeong-neung. Two of them belong to the daughters of Han Myeong-hoe, the most powerfu…
Historic sites & memorials
파주시
In a pine forest in Tanhyeon-myeon, Paju, lie King Injo, the 16th king of Joseon, and his first queen, Queen Inyeol. Add the story of a king who lived through the Manchu invasion and the humiliation at Samjeondo to the tale of a tomb moved…
Waterfalls
포천시
A gorge opens suddenly beneath flat farmland, and at its far end a waterfall drops in front of a basalt cave into a blue-green pool. Bidulginang Waterfall was formed as the river cut into the lava plateau of the Hantan River, and because c…
Nature
영북면
Where the Hantangang River makes a sharp bend it has carved out a deep pool, and from the water rises a pale granite rock 13 m high. Because it looks like a stack of rice sheaves, locals called it Byeotgariso, "rice-stack pool", rendered i…
Nature
포천시
Sheer granite cliffs drop into an emerald pool at Pocheon Art Valley, which was once a stone quarry. For almost three decades, hard and handsomely patterned Pocheon granite was cut here; after the quarry was abandoned, the city turned it i…
Museums
용인시
Before electricity, how did Koreans light their homes at night? The Korean Deungjan Museum in Mohyeon-eup, Yongin, answers that question with traditional oil lamps (deungjan), candlesticks and lamp stands, and it is the only museum in Kore…
Museums
용인시
The Korean Folk Village in Giheung-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, is an open-air folk museum and traditional culture theme park. Opened on 3 October 1974, it was Korea's first open-air folk museum and recreates a late Joseon village on abo…
Nature
연천군
The Hantan River rises in Pyeonggang in North Korea and flows 136 km through Cheorwon, Pocheon and Yeoncheon before joining the Imjin River. As it cut down through a plateau of hardened lava, it carved canyons tens of metres deep lined wit…
Old towns & squares
파주시
On the edge of Tongil Dongsan in Paju, painters, architects, writers and musicians bought land and built their own homes and studios: this is Heyri Art Valley. With around 380 member artists it is Korea's largest artists' village, its muse…
Gardens & parks
광주시
Hidden in a valley behind Konjiam Resort in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, the arboretum Hwadamsup is so popular in autumn that tickets for the foliage season sell out fast. The original terrain and woodland on the slopes of Nogobong were kep…
Historic sites & memorials
파주시
Hwaseokjeong is a Joseon-era pavilion on a cliff above the Imjin River at Yulgok-ri, Paju. It belonged to the family of Yi I (pen name Yulgok), one of Korea's great Confucian scholars, and a poem he is said to have written here at the age…
Nature
화성시
South of Sihwa Lake, red rock islets rise out of an endless reed bed. These rocks yielded dinosaur egg fossils in large numbers, and today a wooden boardwalk lets you walk out and look at real fossil eggs. Until the Sihwa seawall was built…
Churches & monasteries
화성시
Yongjusa is the temple King Jeongjo of Joseon rebuilt to console the spirit of his father, Crown Prince Sado, who died a cruel death. Because it served as the guardian temple of Sado's royal tomb, it is a mountain temple with traces of pal…
Historic sites & memorials
화성시
Yunggeolleung is the joint name for two Joseon royal tombs where the tragic Crown Prince Sado and his son, King Jeongjo, lie side by side. A son who lost his father as a child became king, moved his father's grave to an auspicious site, an…