Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
Walk a little further up the valley of the Jagyecheon stream from Oksan Seowon Confucian Academy, and behind an earthen wall you reach a house one family has kept for almost 500 years. This is Dokrakdang, "the hall of solitary joy", the gu…
Palaces
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Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond in Gyeongju are the site of a detached royal palace and an artificial pond created just after Silla unified the Three Kingdoms. After dark the restored pavilions are lit up and mirrored in the water, which ma…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
In an open meadow at the foot of Nangsan in Gyeongju, only foundation stones and a pair of stone pillars remain of a temple. The Mangdeoksa Temple Site belongs to a temple that, legend says, Silla built to fool a Tang Chinese envoy, and it…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
On the slopes of Seondosan on the west side of Gyeongju, the Tomb of King Muyeol belongs to Kim Chun-chu, King Taejong Muyeol, 29th ruler of Silla, who laid the groundwork for unifying the Three Kingdoms. It is one of the few Silla royal t…
Historic sites & memorials
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The Tomb of King Munmu is a small rocky islet about 200 m off the beach at Bonggil-ri, Munmudaewang-myeon, on the coast of Gyeongju. It is said to hold the remains of King Munmu (r. 661–681), the 30th ruler of Silla, who completed the unif…
Nature
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East of central Gyeongju, below the old fortress walls of Myeonghwalsan, a tourist resort spreads around a large lake. Bomun Lake is the man-made lake at the heart of the Bomun Lake Resort, known for its lakeside loop path and spring cherr…
Churches & monasteries
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Next to the Hwangnyongsa temple site in Gyeongju, a small temple courtyard holds what looks like a dark brick tower. Up close, it turns out to be made of stone cut one piece at a time into the shape of bricks. The Bunhwangsa stone brick pa…
Historic sites & memorials
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In a village at the eastern foot of Namsan in Gyeongju lies a small pond covered with lotus leaves. Its name, Seochulji, means "the pond where a letter came out". The Samguk Yusa, a thirteenth-century collection of histories and legends, t…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
East of central Gyeongju, inside a pine wood on the slopes of the low hill of Nangsan, lies the first queen to rule Silla. The Tomb of Queen Seondeok is one of the few Silla royal tombs whose occupant is known with certainty, and it belong…
Other
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If you want to eat among locals rather than tour groups in Gyeongju, head to Seongdong Market. Gyeongju's largest traditional market sits at the Wonhwa-ro entrance opposite the old Gyeongju Station and has traded on this spot since 1971. B…
Coast & islands
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On Gyeongju's east coast, between the harbours of Eupcheon and Haseo, the shoreline rocks fan out like an open hand. The Yangnam Columnar Joints bring together basalt columns that stand upright, lean at an angle or lie flat, all on one sho…
Old towns & squares
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Yangdong Folk Village sits on the slopes of Seolchangsan in Gangdong-myeon, about 20 km north-east of central Gyeongju. Two clans, the Gyeongju Son and the Yeogang (Yeoju) Yi, have lived side by side here for nearly 600 years, cooperating…
Historic sites & memorials
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Step away from the crowds around the great mounds of Daereungwon, head a little south and you reach a quiet burial ground ringed by pine trees. Oreung, the "Five Tombs", is believed to hold Hyeokgeose, the founder of Silla, his queen Lady…
Churches & monasteries
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Oksan Seowon is a Joseon-period Confucian academy beside a mountain stream in Angang, Gyeongju. It was founded to honour the Neo-Confucian scholar Yi Eon-jeok (Hoejae) and is counted, with Dosan Seowon in Andong, among the leading academie…
Fortresses
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Walk south from Cheomseongdae Observatory and a long, wooded ridge blocks the way. It looks like an ordinary hill, but this is Wolseong, where Silla's kings lived for close to a thousand years. The palace buildings are gone, yet the earthe…
Historic sites & memorials
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Woljeonggyo is a roofed wooden bridge over the Namcheon (Muncheon) stream in Gyo-dong, Gyeongju, just south of Gyochon Village. It recreates a Silla-era bridge that linked the royal palace of Wolseong with the land to the south, rebuilt in…
Historic sites & memorials
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Cheomseongdae, whose name means "star-gazing tower", is a stone structure built in Gyeongju during the reign of Queen Seondeok of Silla (632–647). It is regarded as the oldest surviving observatory in Asia, was designated a National Treasu…
Historic sites & memorials
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Poseokjeong is a Silla-era stone watercourse hidden in woodland at the western foot of Namsan in Gyeongju. Water ran along a groove curved like an abalone shell, and the site is famous as a place where courtiers floated wine cups and compo…
Historic sites & memorials
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In a grove of twisting pines beside the Bukcheon stream in Gyeongju lies the tomb of King Heondeok (r. 809–826), the 41st ruler of Silla. A ring of stones carved with the animals of the zodiac surrounds the round mound, which is 26 m acros…
Churches & monasteries
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Only huge foundation stones remain in an open field. Yet on this spot once stood a nine-storey wooden pagoda thought to have reached about 80 m. Hwangnyongsa was the largest temple of the Silla kingdom, built over 93 years as a national pr…
Old towns & squares
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Behind a wall you can see the grassy mounds of Silla royal tombs, and along the street in front of them runs a line of cafés, bakeries and photo studios under hanok tile roofs. Hwangnidan-gil follows Poseok-ro through Hwangnam-dong in Gyeo…
Theme parks
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After a few days of royal tombs and temples in Gyeongju, the ancient Silla capital, Gyeongju World in the Bomun Tourist Complex offers a very different kind of day out. Open since 1985, the theme park is home to some of Korea's best-known…
Palaces
서울특별시
Gyeonghuigung stands next to the Seoul Museum of History in Jongno-gu. Because it lay west of Gyeongbokgung, it was also called Seogwol, the "West Palace". Of Seoul's five royal palaces it was the most thoroughly destroyed, and very little…
Old towns & squares
공주시
In Sangsin-ri, Banpo-myeon, on the northern slopes of Gyeryongsan in Gongju, Gyeryongsan Ceramics Village is a small community of working potters. It was founded in 1993 when 18 young ceramicists moved in together, and its members have sin…