Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Nature
의성군
On the western edge of Sachon village in Jeomgok-myeon, Uiseong, a long belt of centuries-old zelkovas and hackberries lines the fields. It was planted at the end of the Goryeo period as a windbreak by a scholar who settled here, and villa…
Lakes
춘천시
Uiamho Lake is the reason Chuncheon calls itself the "City of Lakes". When the hydroelectric Uiam Dam was built on the middle Bukhangang River in 1967, the waters of the Bukhangang and Soyanggang rivers gathered to form this lake. Water an…
Churches & monasteries
의왕시
Cheonggyesa is a Jogye Order temple set in the woods on the southern slopes of Cheonggyesan in Uiwang. One family looked after it for nearly 500 years from the Goryeo period, it is where Master Gyeongheo, who revived Korean Seon Buddhism i…
Other
의정부시
This short street is the place to find out, over a single meal, how budae-jjigae (army stew), a pot of ham, sausage and kimchi, became the signature dish of a whole city. The restaurants cluster around Hoguk-ro 1309beon-gil, next to the si…
Churches & monasteries
의정부시
In a residential street near Uijeongbu Station stands a small stone church wrapped in ivy. It was built in 1953, as the Korean War was ending, with donations from Catholic soldiers of the US Army stationed in Uijeongbu, and today it is pre…
Historic sites & memorials
강화군
The Goryeo poet Yi Gyu-bo loved "poetry, wine and the geomungo zither", and he was eccentric enough to write a story with wine as its hero and to design a pavilion on wheels. When the Goryeo court fled the Mongol invasions to Ganghwa Islan…
Coast & islands
부산
Igidae Park lines the coast of Yongho-dong in Busan's Nam-gu district, where the slopes of Jangsanbong drop into the sea in strangely shaped cliffs and broad rock shelves. On the coastal trail you see Gwangan Bridge and Haeundae on one sid…
Gardens & parks
서울특별시
Ichon Hangang Park runs along the north bank of the Han River in front of Ichon-dong, Yongsan. In 2017 the concrete blocks along its shore were removed and the wetlands restored, so today you can walk along a riverbank of earth and water p…
Towns & cities
서울특별시
Itaewon, in Seoul's Yongsan District, is usually described as the city's most international neighbourhood. Restaurants serving food from all over the world, an old jazz club and a second-hand bookshop, and Middle Eastern shops around the m…
Old towns & squares
서울특별시
East of Daehangno, on the slope just below Naksan Park, Ihwa Mural Village is a tangle of stairways and alleys that became Seoul's best-known mural village after a public art project in 2006 painted its walls and steps. Many works have sin…
Churches & monasteries
익산시
A red-brick Gothic bell tower stands in front of a hanok nave with a tiled roof: this is Nabawi Catholic Church. One of Korea's early churches, it fuses traditional Korean architecture with Western church design and was designated a nation…
Historic sites & memorials
익산시
The Mireuksa Temple Site in Iksan is the ground of the largest Buddhist temple of the Baekje kingdom, founded under King Mu, and it holds the Mireuksa Stone Pagoda, the oldest and largest stone pagoda surviving in Korea. Today only the pag…
Historic sites & memorials
익산시
In a pine wood in Seogwang-dong, Iksan, two round earthen mounds lie side by side, one north of the other. The Iksan Ssangneung Royal Tombs have long been regarded as the graves of King Mu of Baekje, the builder of Mireuksa, and his queen,…
Historic sites & memorials
익산시
On a low hill in Wanggung-myeon, Iksan, a single five-storey stone pagoda rises from a wide expanse of grass. Only the pagoda stands today, but this was the site of a royal palace built under King Mu of Baekje (r. 600–641). Its unusual sto…
Old towns & squares
서울특별시
Just north of Jongno 3-ga Station, a patch of low tiled roofs is squeezed between office towers. Ikseon-dong is one of the oldest clusters of hanok in Seoul, and its alleys, often barely wide enough for two people, are now lined with cafés…
Old towns & squares
서울특별시
Brushes and hanji paper, old ceramics and quiet tea houses all share one street. Insa-dong has been at the heart of Seoul since the Joseon dynasty, and today its main street and side alleys are lined with craft shops, galleries and tea roo…
Mountains & peaks
서울특별시
Inwangsan is a 338 m rocky mountain rising west of Gyeongbokgung Palace. The Seoul City Wall runs along its ridge, and from the top you can see the palace, Bugaksan, Namsan and the whole of downtown Seoul. Reachable straight from the subwa…
Fortresses
인천광역시
Climb the eastern ridge of Gyeyangsan (394 m) in Incheon's Gyeyang District and you reach a stone wall wrapped like a headband around a hilltop, now re-emerging after years of restoration. Gyeyangsanseong Fortress was first built in the Th…
Churches & monasteries
인천광역시
On a hill in the old treaty port of Jemulpo, Dapdong Cathedral is the red-brick and granite seat of the Catholic Diocese of Incheon. Its three bell towers stand out from afar, and as one of the oldest Western-style church buildings in Kore…
Churches & monasteries
인천광역시
In the middle of Yeongjongdo, the island that is home to Incheon International Airport, a small temple called Yonggungsa sits at the end of a forest path on the north-eastern slopes of Baegunsan (255 m). It is modest in size, but it was re…
Gardens & parks
인천광역시
The whole of Eungbongsan hill above Incheon Port is Jayu Park ("Freedom Park"). Laid out in 1888 by the foreign residents who settled here a few years after the port opened, it was Korea's first Western-style park. Its successive names, fr…
Gardens & parks
인천광역시
In Yeonsu-dong, Yeonsu-gu, on the southern slopes of Munhaksan, Rose Park is built around the rose, Incheon's official city flower. Its 102,000 m² combine a central rose garden with seasonal flower beds, woodland and paths beside a mountai…
Old towns & squares
인천광역시
Incheon Chinatown grew up after the port of Incheon opened in 1883 and a Qing Chinese concession was set up the following year, making it the oldest ethnic Chinese neighbourhood in Korea. It is known as the place where jajangmyeon, the bla…
Gardens & parks
인천광역시
In Jangsu-dong, Namdong-gu, set against the slopes of Gwanmosan and Sangasan, lies Incheon's largest park. Covering about 2.66 km² and attracting close to 4 million visitors a year, it is one of the main green escapes of the Seoul metropol…