Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Churches & monasteries
서울특별시
On the western slopes of Bukhansan in Seoul's Eunpyeong-gu, Jingwansa was founded in 1011 by the Goryeo king Hyeonjong to thank the monk Jingwan, who had saved his life. In the Joseon era it was the main temple for the state-sponsored sury…
Coast & islands
진도군
A few times a year, at low tide, the sea parts and a 2.8 km path appears between two islands. Jindo, Korea's third-largest island, is known for this "Miracle Sea Road", for Admiral Yi Sun-sin's Battle of Myeongnyang and for the Jindo dog.…
Mountains & peaks
진안군
Drive across the Jinan plain and two grey rock peaks stand up side by side like a pair of pricked ears. Their resemblance to a horse's ears gave the mountain its name, Maisan (馬耳山). Up close the rock looks like rough concrete studded with…
Lakes
진주시
Follow the Namgang River west from central Jinju and you reach Jinyangho, the large lake created by the Namgang Dam. The hillside overlooking the water is Jinyangho Lake Park, where a three-storey observatory, a flight of 365 steps and an…
Historic sites & memorials
대전광역시
At the foot of a low hill in Gyochon-dong, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, a state-run provincial school founded in 1405, under King Taejong of Joseon, has stood for more than 600 years. It keeps the classic layout of a hyanggyo, a Confucian school w…
Nature
진주시
Step inside the science museum of the Gyeongsangnam-do Science Education Institute in Jinju and you find a slab of 100-million-year-old shoreline laid bare in the middle of the exhibition floor. Builders digging into a hillside uncovered t…
Fortresses
진주시
Walls run along a cliff above a bend in the Nam River, and at their end a large pavilion looks down over the water. Jinju Fortress (Jinjuseong) saw one of the most dramatic victories and one of the most devastating defeats of the Imjin War…
Historic sites & memorials
진천군
The name sounds like a Buddhist temple, but the "sa" in Jincheon Gilsangsa is not the character for temple (寺) but for shrine (祠). It is a shrine holding the portrait of General Kim Yu-sin (595–673), who was born in Jincheon and led the un…
Historic sites & memorials
진천군
From a distance it looks like a giant centipede crossing the stream. Jincheon Nongdari is a stone bridge whose 28 piers of small reddish stones wind across the Segeumcheon. What makes it special is that the stones were stacked without lime…
Coast & islands
울산
In Seosaeng-myeon, Ulju-gun, Jinha Beach opened in 1974 as Ulsan's first public swimming beach. About 1 km of wide sand is backed by pine woods, and just offshore floats the uninhabited islet of Myeongseondo. After dark the islet's woods l…
Coast & islands
제주시
About 2 km off the coast of Gosan-ri, at Jeju's western tip, a grass-topped island floats in the sea. Chagwido is Jeju's largest uninhabited island, made up of Jukdo (Daeseom) and Wado among other islets, and it is only about 10 minutes by…
Palaces
서울특별시
Changgyeonggung is a Joseon palace in Jongno, Seoul. Together with Changdeokgung, from which it is separated by a single wall, it was known as the "East Palace". Built to house senior royal women, it is modest in size, yet it has Myeongjeo…
Coast & islands
제주시
On the shore of Bukchon-ri in Jocheon-eup, Jeju City, a round hole has been punched clean through a lump of black basalt. Like a picture frame, it holds the sea and the small uninhabited islet of Daryeodo. Locals call this rock Changkkom.…
Historic sites & memorials
창녕군
On the western foot of Hwawangsan, just east of central Changnyeong, rows of grassy burial mounds rise one after another. These are the Ancient Tombs in Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong, built for the elite of Bihwa Gaya, who ruled the area in…
Nature
창녕군
In Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang, Upo Wetland is the largest inland wetland in Korea, a landscape of water plants, willows and migrating birds that changes with every season. Protected as a Ramsar site and a natural reserve, it is best exp…
Palaces
서울특별시
Changdeokgung was built in 1405 as a secondary palace, yet it became the palace where Joseon kings spent the most time. Instead of the strict symmetry of Gyeongbokgung on the flat ground, its halls follow the slopes of a spur of Bugaksan m…
Old towns & squares
서울특별시
Right behind Dongdaemun Gate, steep stairways and narrow lanes climb the slopes of Naksan in layers. Sewing workshops leak the sound of machines into every alley, many houses still look as they did in the 1970s and 80s, and tucked between…
Nature
창원시
In Dongbu Village, Bukbu-ri, on the northern edge of Changwon, a single hackberry tree stands on a small hill above the fields. After it appeared as the "Sodeok-dong hackberry" in the 2022 drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo, people came from…
Mountains & peaks
남양주시
Rising in the middle of Namyangju, Cheonmasan stands 812 m according to its summit stone, making it one of the higher peaks you can reach from eastern Seoul by train. True to its name, which means "the mountain that touches the sky", it is…
Mountains & peaks
양산시
Cheonseongsan rises to 920 m east of Yangsan, and what sets it apart is the summit: open grassland and upland marshes instead of forest. Its name comes from a legend of the monk Wonhyo turning a thousand monks into saints, and its ridge on…
Historic sites & memorials
천안시
Out in the fields of Seonghwan near Cheonan, a lone stele stands on the back of a stone turtle. It records the founding of Bongseon Honggyeongsa, a temple built by King Hyeonjong of Goryeo, and it is a National Treasure. The temple vanishe…
Gardens & parks
천안시
Cheonan Samgeori Park commemorates the Cheonan crossroads made famous across Korea by the folk song Heungtaryeong and its line about the weeping willows of Cheonan Samgeori. First laid out in the 1970s, it spent years mainly as an event gr…
Churches & monasteries
구례군
Sitting on the road up to Nogodan in Jirisan, Cheoneunsa is counted with Hwaeomsa and Ssanggyesa among the three great temples of Jirisan. Its name means "the spring that hid", and stories of a spring, a serpent and a fire-proof signboard…
Waterfalls
서귀포시
Between the hotels and resorts of the Jungmun tourist complex hides a deep ravine. Walk down the steps and you reach an emerald pool ringed by dark, column-shaped rock. Cheonjeyeon, "the pond of the emperor of heaven", is the source of a w…