28 attractions in Gyeongju, including Gameunsa Temple Site (Gyeongju), Gyerim Forest and Golgulsa Temple. Map, details and practical tips before you go.
Historic sites & memorials
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Driving from central Gyeongju towards the East Sea, you will spot two huge stone pagodas standing side by side at the edge of the fields, below a low hill. Every temple building has gone and only foundation stones remain, yet the site stil…
Historic sites & memorials
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Between Cheomseongdae Observatory and Wolseong Palace Site lies a small grove of willows and zelkovas called Gyerim (鷄林), the "Rooster Forest". This is where, according to legend, Kim Al-ji, founder of the Gyeongju Kim clan, was found in a…
Churches & monasteries
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Stairs and railings cling to a yellowish cliff riddled with holes, and from the highest point a Buddha gazes out towards the East Sea. Golgulsa is a cave temple at the foot of Hamwolsan near Gyeongju. Twelve caves open in a tuff cliff tens…
Old towns & squares
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Between Wolseong and the Namcheon stream in Gyeongju lies a village of low tiled-roof houses. Gyochon grew up around the site of Silla's national academy, later the local Confucian school, and its name simply means "the village with the hy…
Historic sites & memorials
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In September 1921, a man building a house in Noseo-dong, in the centre of Gyeongju, dug soil from a nearby mound to level his plot. Children found beads in the earth and played with them; a policeman noticed, looked into the mound and real…
Churches & monasteries
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On the slopes of Hamwolsan, east of Gyeongju and not far from the East Sea, Girimsa sits quietly in the forest. It was once the largest temple in the Gyeongju area, so large that Bulguksa was at one point its branch temple, but its remote…
Historic sites & memorials
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On a pine-covered ridge, walk around the round burial mound and you notice that the twelve animal-headed guardians carved around its base all turn their heads the same way. The Tomb of Kim Yu-sin is traditionally the grave of Kim Yu-sin (5…
Mountains & peaks
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Climb the pine paths and you find a Buddha on almost every rock: some carved in shallow relief, some sitting headless. Namsan in Gyeongju was the most sacred mountain of the Silla kingdom, and its valleys hold the remains of about 100 temp…
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
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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…
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…
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…
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…
Museums
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If you want to understand Silla before visiting Gyeongju's tombs and temple sites, start here. Gyeongju National Museum holds the largest collection of artefacts from Silla (57 BC–AD 935), a kingdom that lasted almost a thousand years with…