25 attractions in North Chungcheong, including Gagyeonsa Temple, Hwayang Gugok Valley, Goesan and Cheongju National Museum.
Churches & monasteries
괴산군
At the end of a deep valley on the flanks of Chilbosan in Chilseong-myeon, Goesan, lies Gagyeonsa. The mountains close around it like the petals of a lotus, so even the drive in feels secluded, and inside the grounds you will find a Treasu…
Nature
괴산군
North of Songnisan National Park, in Cheongcheon-myeon, Goesan, Hwayang Gugok is a valley where clear water runs over broad white rock. Nine scenic bends follow one another upstream, each with its own name, and spotting the characters carv…
Museums
청주시
Cheongju National Museum is worth a look for its building alone. It was designed by Kim Swoo-geun, the architect who shaped modern Korean architecture, and opened on 30 October 1987, its galleries stepping down a wooded valley on the easte…
Caves
단양군
Cross the bridge over the Namhan River from Danyang town and the cave entrance is right there at the foot of the hill. Gosu Cave is a limestone cave whose narrow passages are packed with stalactites, stalagmites and cave coral. Metal stair…
Churches & monasteries
단양군
Drive deep into a valley of Sobaeksan and an unusual sight appears: multi-storey halls stacked like steps up both slopes. Guinsa in Danyang is the head temple of the Cheontae Order of Korean Buddhism, overseeing more than 140 temples natio…
Nature
단양군
Dodamsambong is a group of three rock peaks rising from the middle of the Namhangang River in Danyang, North Chungcheong. Its scenery has long been ranked first among the Eight Views of Danyang, and it was designated a national Scenic Site…
Caves
단양군
In Yeongchun, Danyang, where the Namhangang River loops through the hills, a limestone cave opens beneath a fortress named after the Goguryeo general Ondal. Ondal Cave is a natural cave estimated to have begun forming as long as 450 millio…
Churches & monasteries
보은군
Beopjusa, founded in 553 at the foot of Songnisan, is the head temple of the 5th district of the Jogye Order and home to Palsangjeon, the only wooden pagoda in Korea to survive in its historic form. With three National Treasures and more t…
Fortresses
보은군
On the slopes of Ojeongsan above the town of Boeun, Samnyeonsanseong still raises Silla stone walls that are more than 1,500 years old. Standing below them, you look up at ramparts 13 to 20 metres high and get a real sense of what a Three…
Nature
보은군
In the middle of the road to Beopjusa Temple on Songnisan, a great pine leans its branches on iron props. Jeongipumsong is famous for a legend that a Joseon king gave it the second senior rank, the grade of a government minister. Estimated…
Mountains & peaks
단양군
Sobaeksan is a major peak of the Baekdudaegan mountain range, straddling Danyang in North Chungcheong and Yeongju in North Gyeongsang. Around its main summit, Birobong (1,439 m), there are wide grassy meadows instead of trees, so once you…
Mountains & peaks
보은군
True to its name, "the mountain that leaves the world behind", Songnisan has long been tied to stories of kings and monks who came here to retreat. It straddles Boeun and Goesan counties in North Chungcheong and Sangju and Mungyeong in Nor…
Mountains & peaks
영동군
Leave the small town of Hwanggan and follow the river, and a row of sheer, knife-cut peaks suddenly rises from the water's edge. The Chogangcheon river makes a wide bend beneath them, and a tiny pavilion perches on the tip of a riverside r…
Mountains & peaks
제천시
The summit, Yeongbong, is one enormous block of rock rising out of the ridge. Stand on top and you look north over the winding arms of Chungju Lake and Cheongpung Lake. Woraksan sits midway along the Baekdudaegan range between Sobaeksan an…
Nature
제천시
When Koreans call the Chungcheong region "Hoseo", west of the lake, the lake they mean is said to be Uirimji in Jecheon. This ancient reservoir is generally dated to the Samhan period, roughly two thousand years ago, and it still irrigates…
Historic sites & memorials
제천시
When Chungju Dam flooded the old county town of Cheongpung, its heritage was moved up the hillside and rebuilt here. Government offices, a Confucian school, old houses and stone monuments now stand above the lake, led by Hanbyeongnu, a pav…
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…
Historic sites & memorials
청주시
On the shore of Daecheong Lake, Cheongnamdae served as the presidents' private retreat for twenty years from 1983 before opening to the public in 2003. Its name means the Blue House of the warm south, and spacious gardens, pine-lined avenu…
Fortresses
청주시
Look east from central Cheongju and you can see a band of wall wrapped around the top of Sangdangsan. Sangdangsanseong is a valley-enclosing mountain fortress whose stone walls follow the ridges around an entire basin, and it is the city's…
Fortresses
청주시
In the middle of open farmland beside the Mihogang River, just north of Cheongju, a low square rampart of packed earth encloses a grassy field. Its circuit of about 675 m survives almost in its original shape, and with a few pine trees on…
Museums
청주시
In 1377 a Buddhist book printed at a temple in Cheongju quietly changed the history of printing. It was Jikji, the oldest surviving book in the world printed with movable metal type. The Cheongju Early Printing Museum stands right next to…
Historic sites & memorials
충주시
South of Suanbo in Chungju, in a basin below Haneuljae, the old pass between North Chungcheong and North Gyeongsang, lies the Mireukdaewon temple site. A stone Buddha about 10.6 m tall stands inside a grotto built from huge stone blocks, a…
Historic sites & memorials
충주시
In the middle of a lawn, on a mound raised on purpose, stands a seven-storey stone pagoda. The Seven-story Stone Pagoda in Tappyeong-ri is the largest and tallest surviving pagoda from the Unified Silla period. Because it stands roughly at…
Caves
충주시
In the hills north of Chungju Lake, Chungju Hwalok Cave lets you walk into the galleries of a talc mine that was worked for almost a century. White dolomite walls with folds and faults, giant winding engines and an underground lake with bo…