Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Nature
울진군
Inland from Uljin, Buryeonggyegok Valley winds for about 15 km, with pale rock cliffs rising on both sides of clear water. The rock here is gneiss formed some 2 billion years ago, among the oldest on the Korean Peninsula. The valley was de…
Churches & monasteries
울진군
Deep in a valley of Cheonchuksan in Uljin, at the end of a path through Korean red pines, lies a temple built around a pond. On the ridge west of the temple is a rock shaped like a seated Buddha, and its shadow is said to fall on the pond…
Caves
울진군
Reached at the foot of a cliff beside the Wangpicheon River in Uljin, Seongnyugul is a limestone cave packed with stalactites, stalagmites and columns. Inside are nine large chambers and pools 4-5 m deep, and in 2019 inscriptions about 1,5…
Coast & islands
여수시
In front of the new apartment blocks of Ungcheon-dong in Yeosu, Ungcheon Beach Park has created a 360 m sandy beach on the shore of Gamak Bay. Here, in the middle of the city, you can swim in the sea, camp and paddle a kayak, and at low ti…
Nature
인제군
On a hillside in Wondae-ri, Inje, some 690,000 birch trees stand packed across 138 hectares. Walking between their straight white trunks, you are surrounded by white and green on every side, which is why it is also called the "Whispering B…
Historic sites & memorials
원주시
On Wonil-ro in the old centre of Wonju, a two-storey gate with red pillars stands right beside the traffic. This is Pojeongnu, the main gate of Gangwon Gamyeong, the office from which a royal governor ran the whole of Gangwon Province for…
Churches & monasteries
원주시
Follow the forest path of tall red pines up the northern valley of Chiaksan and Guryongsa appears on the slope beside the stream. Two legends overlap in its name: a pond full of dragons and a turtle-shaped rock said to have sapped the temp…
Nature
원주시
Standing alone in the fields of Munmak-eup near Wonju, the Bangye-ri ginkgo is a single tree that looks like a small wood. Its branches spread 37.5 m east to west and 31 m north to south, so when the leaves turn gold all at once in autumn…
Historic sites & memorials
원주시
In Buron-myeon, Wonju, not far from the South Han River, a wide temple site holds a National Treasure that came home after more than 110 years away. Beopcheonsa was the monastery where State Preceptor Jigwang, Haerin (984–1070), the spirit…
Viewpoints
원주시
At the Ganhyeon tourist area in Jijeong-myeon, Wonju, Sogeumsan Grand Valley strings a suspension bridge, a cliff walk, an observation tower and a second, longer bridge along the cliffs of Sogeumsan, where the Seomgang River and the Samsan…
Gardens & parks
서울특별시
Every autumn the hill of Haneul Park in Seoul's Mapo District ripples with silvery eulalia grass, yet underneath it is a mountain of rubbish. The park was created by capping and stabilising the Nanjido landfill, where Seoul dumped its wast…
Mountains & peaks
서귀포시
This low oreum looks straight across at Sanbangsan. At around 200 m above sea level, Wollabong in Gamsan-ri, Andeok-myeon, Seogwipo is not big, but its summit takes in Sanbangsan, the Hyeongjeseom islets and the sea off Hwasun in a single…
Coast & islands
인천광역시
Wolmido is a small island right in front of Incheon Port. Land reclamation has joined it to the mainland, so it hardly feels like an island any more, but because it guarded the sea route to Seoul, several turning points of modern Korean hi…
Mountains & peaks
제천시
The summit, Yeongbong, is one enormous block of rock rising out of the ridge. Stand on top and you look north over the winding arms of Chungju Lake and Cheongpung Lake. Woraksan sits midway along the Baekdudaegan range between Sobaeksan an…
Coast & islands
구좌읍
On Jeju's east coast, in Gujwa-eup, the village name Woljeong-ri means roughly "where the moon stays". The beach in front of it combines white sand, jade-green water and outcrops of black basalt into one of the best-known seascapes on the…
Mountains & peaks
영암군
A rock mountain bursts out of the surrounding farmland, its peaks as sharp as flames. Wolchulsan, straddling Yeongam and Gangjin counties, means "the mountain where the moon rises". Its highest peak, Cheonhwangbong (809 m or 810.7 m, depen…
Coast & islands
위도면
Fifty minutes by ferry from Gyeokpo Port, off the Byeonsan Peninsula, Wido is the largest island in Buan County. Its name comes from its outline, which is said to resemble a hedgehog (wi), and a coastal road of about 20 km links beaches, a…
Museums
안산시
Glass Island is a glass-art museum and cultural complex at the western edge of Daebudo, Ansan, looking out over tidal flats and West Sea sunsets. Billed as "Korea's Murano", its site of about 43,000 m² brings together a gallery of contempo…
Gardens & parks
대전광역시
In front of the Yuseong-gu office in Daejeon, where the Gapcheon and Yuseongcheon streams meet, Yurim Park is a city park best known for its pond in the shape of the Korean peninsula. Tulips and cherry blossom in spring and chrysanthemums…
Mountains & peaks
양평군
Rising to 862 m on the border between Gapyeong and Yangpyeong counties in Gyeonggi Province, Yumyeongsan has a summit ridge so open that a paragliding launch sits right beside the top. On its northern slope is Korea's first natural recreat…
Viewpoints
부산
High on the Sanbok-doro hillside road in Choryang-dong, Busan, a giant red postbox stands on a rooftop overlooking Busan's North Port and Yeongdo Island. Postcards you write here reach their recipients only one year later. This small obser…
Gardens & parks
성남시
Yuldong Park wraps around a reservoir tucked among low wooded hills on the eastern edge of Bundang, Seongnam. The lakeside path is about 2.5 km long and takes around 40 minutes at an easy pace, with lawns, a book-themed garden and a reed b…
Coast & islands
인천광역시
At the western tip of Yeongjongdo in Incheon, Eurwangni Beach is often called the closest swimming beach to Seoul. Its draws are about 700 m of sand, a shallow sea averaging just 1.5 m deep, and sunsets over the open water to the west. It…
Other
서울특별시
When the sun goes down, the lanes of Euljiro 3-ga fill with plastic tables and beer glasses. This is the alley that started nomaek: grilled nogari (dried young pollack) dipped in red pepper paste, washed down with draught beer. By day the…