34 attractions in South Gyeongsang, including Gayasan Mountain, Haegeumgang Islets, Geoje and Geojedo (Geoje Island).
Mountains & peaks
합천군
Gayasan is a rocky 1,433 m mountain on the border of Hapcheon (South Gyeongsang) and Seongju (North Gyeongsang), with Haeinsa Temple, home of the Tripitaka Koreana woodblocks, on its southern slopes. It was long counted among the "eight gr…
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…
Coast & islands
거제시
Geojedo is South Korea's second-largest island after Jeju, covering about 380 km². A ria coastline more than 443 km long winds around it, forming pebble beaches, rocky islets and sea cliffs, and the island has seen several chapters of Kore…
Museums
거제시
During the Korean War up to 173,000 prisoners were held on Geoje Island, more people than the island's own population, behind barbed wire. Prisoners even kidnapped the camp commandant. The Historic Park of Geoje POW Camp uses the remains a…
Coast & islands
고성군
The shore of Deokmyeong-ri, Hai-myeon, Goseong County in South Gyeongsang preserves Mesozoic dinosaur and bird footprints on its broad rock platforms. As a dinosaur track site it ranks among the world's most important for both number and v…
Museums
김해시
Built of black brick, Gimhae National Museum looks from a distance like a huge block of iron. The dark walls, evoking iron ore and charcoal, are a nod to Gaya, the confederacy known as "the kingdom of iron". The museum opened on 29 July 19…
Historic sites & memorials
김해시
A low hill in the middle of Gimhae is the burial ground of the kings and elite of Geumgwan Gaya. Tombs were built here for over 400 years, from the 1st to the 5th century, so the site traces how the small polity of Guya grew into Geumgwan…
Fortresses
김해시
A stone wall roughly 900 m long rings the top of Bunseongsan, the hill on the eastern edge of Gimhae. From the ramparts you look over the city, the Gimhae Plain and the lower Nakdonggang River, and on clear days as far as the sea to the so…
Historic sites & memorials
김해시
In the middle of Gimhae, a round grassy mound sits among lawns and pine woods. The Royal Tomb of King Suro is traditionally identified as the grave of King Suro, founder of Geumgwan Gaya (Garak), one of the Gaya confederacy states. As the…
Historic sites & memorials
김해시
On a pine-covered hill in Gusan-dong, Gimhae, a single round burial mound sits quietly. This is said to be the tomb of Heo Hwang-ok, queen of King Suro, founder of the Geumgwan Gaya kingdom. The Samguk yusa records that she was a princess…
Churches & monasteries
남해군
Boriam is a hermitage set into the cliffs near the summit of Geumsan in Namhae, surrounded by strangely shaped rocks. Together with Hongnyeonam at Naksansa in Yangyang and Bomunsa on Ganghwa Island, it is counted among Korea's three great…
Old towns & squares
남해군
White walls and orange roofs cluster on a hillside above the sea in Namhae. At first glance Namhae German Village looks like a European-themed resort, but it was built by Korean miners and nurses who went to work in West Germany in the 196…
Coast & islands
남해군
Off the southern tip of South Gyeongsang Province, Namhaedo covers 301 km², making it the fifth-largest island in South Korea. It is the main island of Namhae County, which also includes neighbouring Changseondo. Despite being an island, y…
Historic sites & memorials
밀양시
Spreading its wings on a cliff above a bend of the Miryang River, Yeongnamnu is counted with Chokseongnu in Jinju and Bubyeongnu in Pyongyang as one of Korea's three great pavilions. It belonged to the government guesthouse where distingui…
Historic sites & memorials
김해시
Bongha Village in Jinyeong-eup, Gimhae, is where Roh Moo-hyun, Korea's 16th president, was born, where he returned to live after leaving office, and where he died on 23 May 2009. It is an ordinary farming village known for sweet persimmons…
Coast & islands
통영시
Bijindo is an island in the Hallyeosudo waterway, a little over 40 minutes by ferry from Tongyeong, made of two islands joined by a narrow sandbar. The beach along the sandbar has fine sand on one side and smooth pebbles on the other, so f…
Coast & islands
통영시
Saryangdo belongs to Saryang-myeon in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, and is made up of two main islands that face each other about 1.5 km apart, Sangdo (Upper Island) and Hado (Lower Island), plus the smaller Suudo. For its size the…
Coast & islands
통영시
Out at sea 26 km south-east of Tongyeong harbour lies Somaemuldo, an island of just 0.51 km². What made it famous is its tiny neighbour, Deungdaeseom ("Lighthouse Island"). Twice a day, when the tide goes out, a 70-metre pebble causeway ap…
Churches & monasteries
양산시
Tongdosa sits on the southern slopes of Yeongchuksan in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang, and is known as the "Buddha Jewel Temple" because it enshrines relics of the historical Buddha. That is why its main hall has no Buddha statue: worshippers…
Gardens & parks
거제시
Oedo Botania is a marine botanical garden covering the whole of Oedo, a small island off the southeast coast of Geojedo. A couple spent more than 30 years shaping this remote island, which once had no electricity, into what you see today.…
Mountains & peaks
산청군
Jirisan is a vast mountain spread across three provinces and five cities and counties: Hadong, Hamyang and Sancheong in South Gyeongsang, Gurye in South Jeolla and Namwon in North Jeolla. Its highest peak, Cheonwangbong, is second only to…
Fortresses
진주시
Walls run along a cliff above a bend in the Nam River, and at their end a large pavilion looks down over the water. Jinju Fortress (Jinjuseong) saw one of the most dramatic victories and one of the most devastating defeats of the Imjin War…
Historic sites & memorials
창녕군
On the western foot of Hwawangsan, just east of central Changnyeong, rows of grassy burial mounds rise one after another. These are the Ancient Tombs in Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong, built for the elite of Bihwa Gaya, who ruled the area in…
Nature
창녕군
In Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang, Upo Wetland is the largest inland wetland in Korea, a landscape of water plants, willows and migrating birds that changes with every season. Protected as a Ramsar site and a natural reserve, it is best exp…