Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Churches & monasteries
공주시
An old saying goes "Magok in spring, Gapsa in autumn" (春麻谷 秋甲寺): Magoksa is at its finest in spring, Gapsa in autumn. Set on the northwestern slopes of Gyeryongsan, Gapsa feels special from the moment you walk in under old pines and zelkov…
Fortresses
공주시
Gongsanseong is the mountain fortress that guarded the royal capital of Baekje while it was based at Ungjin, today's Gongju, from 475 to 538. Its walls run for about 2.66 km along a ridge about 110 m high south of the Geumgang River, and f…
Churches & monasteries
공주시
Donghaksa sits in a valley on the eastern side of Mt. Gyeryongsan and is home to Korea's oldest college for Buddhist nuns. Together with Gapsa on the western side, it is one of the two best-known temples of Gyeryongsan, and in spring crowd…
Churches & monasteries
공주시
Right in front of the temple, the stream swings round in a wide S-bend. Geomancers likened its course to the taegeuk symbol, and Joseon writers counted the Magoksa area among the ten refuges where you could sit out a war in safety. Magoksa…
Historic sites & memorials
공주시
The Tomb of King Muryeong and Royal Tombs lie on the southern slope of Songsan hill in Ungjin-dong, Gongju, South Chungcheong. They are the burial ground of the kings and royal family of Baekje during its Ungjin period, when the capital wa…
Churches & monasteries
공주시
On the southwestern slopes of Gyeryongsan, Sinwonsa is counted with Donghaksa and Gapsa among the mountain's three great temples. It dates back to the Baekje kingdom, but what sets it apart is Jungakdan, a shrine where the Joseon royal cou…
Other
공주시
A walk of just over 10 minutes from Gongsanseong, the hilltop fortress of the Baekje kings, brings you to Gongju Sanseong Market in the heart of Gongju's old town. Opened in 1937, it is the city's main traditional market, with produce and…
Mountains & peaks
서울특별시
Gwanaksan is a 632 m granite mountain rising on Seoul's southern edge, and you can start hiking straight from a subway station. At the summit, Yeonjudae, a small hermitage clings to the top of a sheer cliff – one of the most dramatic sight…
Churches & monasteries
논산시
On the eastern slope of Banyasan in Nonsan, Gwanchoksa is home to the Stone Standing Maitreya Bodhisattva, often called the largest stone Buddha statue in Korea. About 18 m tall and nicknamed Eunjin Mireuk after the area's old name, it is…
Mountains & peaks
수원시
Gwanggyosan rises on the border of Suwon and Yongin; its highest peak, Sirubong, is given as 582 m or 585 m depending on the source. Standing alone in a plain with no other large mountains nearby, it has long been seen as Suwon's guardian…
Gardens & parks
수원시
Gwanggyo Lake Park lies at the heart of Gwanggyo New Town in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, and joins two reservoirs, Woncheon Lake and Sindae Lake, into one urban lake park. The loop path connecting the two lakes is 6.5 km long, with boardwalks ove…
Churches & monasteries
천안시
On the slopes of Gwangdeoksan (699 m) south of Cheonan, this temple is said to be where walnuts were first grown in Korea. A nearly 400-year-old walnut tree, a protected Natural Monument, stands before the steps to the main hall, and treas…
Caves
광명시
Just outside Seoul's southwestern edge, Gwangmyeong Cave is not a natural cave at all but a gold mine dug by hand and machine. It was a site of colonial-era resource exploitation, and after it closed the tunnels spent decades as a store fo…
Coast & islands
부산
Gwangalli Beach in Suyeong-gu, Busan, is a 1.4 km city beach. Gwangan Bridge spans the bay in front of its half-moon of sand, so people come during the day to walk along the water and after dark to see the bridge lights and the city skylin…
Nature
광양시
On the southern slope of Baekgyesan in Gwangyang, a temple site with nothing left but foundation stones is ringed by more than 7,000 camellia trees. Tradition says they were planted by Doseon, the late-Silla monk famous for geomancy, to st…
Other
서울특별시
Gwangjang Market is Seoul's best-known traditional market, founded by Korean merchants in the early 1900s. Under its covered lanes, the smell of frying mung bean pancakes and customers perched on stall benches fill the centre, while shops…
Old towns & squares
광주
Walk into the lanes of Wolgok-dong in Gwangju's Gwangsan district and Cyrillic signs hang right next to Korean ones. Koryoin Village is a community of Koryo-saram, descendants of ethnic Koreans who lived across the former Soviet Union, and…
Gardens & parks
광주
On a hill south of central Gwangju, facing the Yangnim-dong neighbourhood, an old altar, a cherry-tree forest and a city lookout share one park. Sajik Park occupies the site of the Sajikdan, the altar to the gods of land and grain, and has…
Other
광주
Stretching along the Gwangjucheon stream, Yangdong Market is counted as the largest traditional market in the Honam region. From fruit and vegetables to ancestral-rite foods, wedding gift platters and fermented skate, locals say there is n…
Historic sites & memorials
광주
In the middle of Gwangju's Cheomdan district in Gwangsan-gu, two keyhole-shaped mounds, square at the front and round at the back, rise like grassy hillocks. Known as janggobun because they resemble the janggu hourglass drum, they look rem…
Churches & monasteries
광주
On the western slopes of Mudeungsan, right where hikers start their climb, stands Jeungsimsa. Founded in the 9th century and burned and rebuilt several times since, the temple is mostly made up of newer halls, yet among them survive the ol…
Historic sites & memorials
광주
On a hillside above a stream at the upper end of Gwangju Lake, in Chunghyo-dong, Buk-gu, stands the small pavilion of Hwanbyeokdang. It is where the mid-Joseon scholar Kim Yun-je taught students after retiring to his home village, and wher…
Museums
광주
The Gwangju History and Folk Museum in Yongbong-dong, Buk-gu, brings together the everyday life of the Jeolla region and the modern history of Gwangju in a single city-run museum. The ground floor follows the homes, farming, fishing, marke…
Historic sites & memorials
광주
In the Joseon era this was the public school of the Gwangju district and the place where rites were held for Confucius and other sages. It sits at the northern foot of Sajik Park in the middle of the city, yet its red spiked gate, stone st…