Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Coast & islands
강릉시
Step off the train and the end of the platform is the beach, with the East Sea right behind it. Jeongdongjin is a seaside village south of Gangneung that became famous across Korea for its tiny station almost touching the water and for New…
Coast & islands
강릉시
When the boats come in at dawn, the market by the harbour is the first thing to wake up. Jumunjin is a town at the northern edge of Gangneung and one of the main fishing ports on Korea's east coast, landing squid, pollack, sand lance and h…
Coast & islands
강릉시
North of Jumunjin in Gangneung, Hyanghohaebyeon Beach is a stretch of white sand backed by pine forest, running on into Jumunjin Beach to the south. What made it famous around the world is a lone bus stop on the sand. BTS shot the cover ph…
Historic sites & memorials
강릉시
About ten minutes' walk from Gangneung Station, tiled roofs climb in tiers up the slope of Hwabusan hill. Gangneung Hyanggyo is considered the largest provincial Confucian school in Korea after the national academy Seonggyungwan, and becau…
Coast & islands
강릉시
The stream that drains Gyeongpo Lake into the sea splits the coast in two: Gyeongpo Beach to the north, Gangmun Beach to the south. Gangmun is the smaller, quieter neighbour, but it packs a tiny fishing harbour, a row of raw-fish restauran…
Historic sites & memorials
강진군
Daegu-myeon in Gangjin is the cradle of Goryeo celadon. Across the valleys of Yongun-ri, Gyeyul-ri, Sadang-ri and Sudong-ri lie more than 180 kiln sites where celadon and earthenware were fired throughout the Goryeo period, and few places…
Historic sites & memorials
강진군
On the slopes of Mandeoksan in Gangjin, Dasan Chodang is where the late-Joseon scholar Jeong Yak-yong (1762–1836), known as Dasan, spent more than ten years of his exile writing works such as Mongmin simseo and Gyeongse yupyo. A forest pat…
Fortresses
강진군
In the middle of the fields of Byeongyeong-myeon, Gangjin, a 1,060 m ring of stone walls encloses the Jeolla Byeongyeong Fortress. From 1417 to 1895, roughly 500 years, it was the army headquarters commanding the 53 counties and 6 garrison…
Historic sites & memorials
강화군
In the fields of Bugeun-ri on Ganghwa Island, a single slab of rock rests on two upright stones. Its capstone is 6.5 m long and the whole structure stands 2.6 m high: this is the Bugeun-ri Dolmen, often called the largest table-type dolmen…
Fortresses
강화군
On the east coast of Ganghwado, this fortress guarded the Ganghwa Strait, the narrow channel between Gimpo and the island. During the 1871 United States expedition to Korea (Sinmiyangyo) it saw the fiercest fighting between American and Jo…
Fortresses
강화군
Deokjinjin stands on Ganghwa Island's east coast, overlooking the Ganghwa Strait, the narrow channel between Gimpo and Ganghwa. It was the most important of the forts guarding the island in the late Joseon period, and during the American e…
Mountains & peaks
강화군
At the southwestern tip of Ganghwa Island, Manisan (472.1 m) is the island's highest peak. On its summit stands Chamseongdan, a stone altar where, according to old geographical records, Dangun, the mythical founder of Korea, offered sacrif…
Churches & monasteries
강화군
Halfway up Nakgasan on Seongmodo island in Ganghwa, Bomunsa is counted, together with Naksansa in Yangyang and Boriam on Geumsan in Namhae, as one of Korea's three great seaside sanctuaries of Avalokitesvara. People come for the cave hall…
Historic sites & memorials
강화군
On a low hillside in Seonwon-myeon on Ganghwa Island, terraced stone walls are all that remain of a once-great temple. Seonwonsa Temple Site is believed to belong to a monastery founded while the Goryeo court had fled to Ganghwa to escape…
Churches & monasteries
강화군
In Onsu-ri, a village in Gilsang-myeon on the south side of Ganghwa Island, a church with a tiled hanok roof sits on a low hill. Onsuri Anglican Church was built in 1906 by the English missionary priest Mark Napier Trollope (Korean name Jo…
Fortresses
강화군
Along the east coast of Ganghwa Island, facing Gimpo across the narrow Yeomha channel, runs a long defensive wall built and rebuilt by the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties. The Ganghwa Outer Fortress (Ganghwa Oeseong) was raised by the Goryeo c…
Coast & islands
강화군
Ganghwa Island sits in the estuary where the Han River flows into the Yellow Sea. Because it guarded the waterway into Seoul, one island holds layer upon layer of Korean history, from prehistoric dolmens and a Goryeo palace site to coastal…
Fortresses
강화군
In 1232, fleeing the Mongol invasions, the Goryeo court abandoned its capital Gaegyeong and moved to Ganghwa Island. The walls built to protect the heart of the island during the 39 years that followed were the beginning of Ganghwasanseong…
Churches & monasteries
서울특별시
Gaeunsa is a Jogye Order temple on the slopes of Gaeunsan, right next to Korea University in Anam-dong, Seongbuk-gu. It traces its origins to Yeongdosa, a temple founded by the monk Muhak in 1396, and in the 20th century it became a centre…
Mountains & peaks
서울특별시
Right next to Gimpo Airport and looking down on the lower Han River, this low hill marks the western edge of Seoul. Walking its 3.35 km loop you can watch planes landing and taking off, follow the river, spot Haengju Fortress on the far ba…
Mountains & peaks
제주시
Jeju has more than 360 oreum, its small volcanic cones, but only one is part of the UNESCO World Natural Heritage site: Geomunoreum. Lava from this volcano flowed northeast all the way to the coast, creating some 20 lava tubes, including M…
Viewpoints
거제시
Just above Dojangpo village at the southern tip of Geoje Island, a treeless, grass-covered headland juts out into the sea. Wind blows in from every side, hence the name Windy Hill (Baramui Eondeok). Its close-cropped grass, a Dutch-style w…
Viewpoints
거제시
At the southern tip of Geoje Island, in Galgot-ri, an observation deck just below the summit of Woojebong (107 m) gives the closest view from land of Haegeumgang, one of Korea's designated Scenic Sites. A 20–30 minute walk through camellia…
Coast & islands
거제시
Haegeumgang, "the Diamond Mountains of the sea", is a cluster of rock islets off Galgot-ri at the southern tip of Geojedo Island. Sheer cliffs, a cross-shaped sea cave that boats can nose into and rock shapes carved by wind and waves earne…