28 attractions in North Jeolla, including Gochangeupseong Fortress, Jeonju National Museum and Seonyudo Island.
Fortresses
고창군
Gochangeupseong is the walled town that guarded Gochang county in the Joseon era, and its rough stone walls survive almost intact for 1,684 m. You can walk the entire circuit on top of the wall, and inside are rebuilt government buildings…
Museums
전주시
In Jeonju, ancestral home of the Joseon royal family, Jeonju National Museum tells the story of North Jeolla from prehistory to modern times. It opened on 26 October 1990 and displays around 2,000 of its 40,000-odd objects. Many come with…
Coast & islands
군산시
Bare white rock peaks rise straight out of the sea. This is Mangjubong, with a long stretch of fine sand at its feet and a sea that turns red at sunset. Seonyudo, "the island where immortals play", is the hub of the Gogunsan Islands, a gro…
Historic sites & memorials
군산시
Tucked into a residential lane on the southwestern edge of old Gunsan stands a two-storey timber mansion built for a Japanese landowner during the colonial era, still in almost original condition. Also known as the Hirotsu House, the Japan…
Churches & monasteries
김제시
Geumsansa is a large temple on the slopes of Moaksan in Gimje, North Jeolla. It is said to have been founded around 599 under the Baekje kingdom and became famous as a centre of devotion to Maitreya, the Buddha of the future. Its huge Mire…
Gardens & parks
남원시
Gwanghallu Garden in central Namwon is the setting of the classic tale of Chunhyang, where she is said to have first met Yi Mong-ryong. The pond represents the Milky Way, the pavilion the palace on the moon and the islands the mountains of…
Churches & monasteries
남원시
In the farmland of Sannae-myeon, Namwon, with the ridges of Jirisan rising behind like a folding screen, a temple stands at the end of a path between rice paddies. Unlike most Korean temples, which sit deep in the mountains, Silsangsa is b…
Mountains & peaks
정읍시
In autumn, the maples on both sides of the road into Naejangsan meet overhead and form a red tunnel. The mountain, 763 m high on the border of Jeongeup and Sunchang, has been famous for its autumn colour for more than 500 years. On peak da…
Mountains & peaks
완주군
Grey rock pinnacles stand layered like a folding screen, and a red suspension bridge hangs in the air between them. Daedunsan straddles Nonsan and Geumsan in South Chungcheong and Wanju in North Jeolla. At 878 m it is not high, but thanks…
Mountains & peaks
무주군
In winter every tree on the ridges is coated in white frost, and from the summit the mountain ranges roll away layer after layer in every direction. Deogyusan rises to 1,614 m across Muju and Jangsu in North Jeolla and Geochang and Hamyang…
Mountains & peaks
완주군
Where Jeonju, Gimje and Wanju meet, Moaksan rises to 793 m. Standing alone at the eastern edge of the vast Gimje plain, its summit looks out over the whole Honam lowland. True to its name, "Mother Mountain", it shelters a wide family of te…
Churches & monasteries
부안군
At the foot of the inland Byeonsan mountains on the Byeonsan Peninsula, Naesosa is remembered for its approach as much as for the temple itself. A shaded avenue of some 700 fir trees leads from the first gate to the Gate of the Four Heaven…
Coast & islands
부안군
Chaeseokgang and Jeokbyeokgang are stretches of coast at Gyeokpo-ri in Buan, at the point where the Byeonsan Peninsula juts furthest into the Yellow Sea. Despite the word "gang" (river) in their names, they are sea cliffs and rocky shores.…
Coast & islands
부안군
The Saemangeum Seawall is a 33.9-kilometre dyke built straight across the sea between Buan and Gunsan in North Jeolla. It is 1.4 km longer than the Afsluitdijk in the Netherlands (32.5 km), which earned it a Guinness World Record as the lo…
Churches & monasteries
고창군
A band of camellia forest wraps around the hillside behind the temple. Seonunsa, on the northern slope of Dosolsan in Gochang, North Jeolla, is the head temple of the 24th district of the Jogye Order. Red camellias in early spring, a hermi…
Historic sites & memorials
군산시
On the road in front of Gunsan's inner harbour stands a red-brick building crowned with three pointed towers. This is the former main building of the Gunsan Customs, opened in 1908: a modern government office built by the Korean Empire bef…
Fortresses
완주군
In Soyang-myeon, Wanju, just north of Jeonju, Wibongsanseong is a mountain fortress built to protect the symbols of the Joseon dynasty in wartime. It was meant as a refuge for the portrait of King Taejo and the spirit tablets of his ancest…
Churches & monasteries
익산시
A red-brick Gothic bell tower stands in front of a hanok nave with a tiled roof: this is Nabawi Catholic Church. One of Korea's early churches, it fuses traditional Korean architecture with Western church design and was designated a nation…
Historic sites & memorials
익산시
The Mireuksa Temple Site in Iksan is the ground of the largest Buddhist temple of the Baekje kingdom, founded under King Mu, and it holds the Mireuksa Stone Pagoda, the oldest and largest stone pagoda surviving in Korea. Today only the pag…
Historic sites & memorials
익산시
On a low hill in Wanggung-myeon, Iksan, a single five-storey stone pagoda rises from a wide expanse of grass. Only the pagoda stands today, but this was the site of a royal palace built under King Mu of Baekje (r. 600–641). Its unusual sto…
Historic sites & memorials
전주시
In the heart of Jeonju Hanok Village, beyond a red spiked gate, lies a shrine to the very start of the Joseon dynasty. Gyeonggijeon houses the royal portrait of King Taejo (Yi Seong-gye), who founded Joseon. Jeonju was the ancestral seat o…
Churches & monasteries
전주시
From the entrance to Jeonju Hanok Village, a red-brick bell tower rises above the tiled roofs. Jeondong Cathedral is famous as one of Korea's most beautiful churches, but the ground it stands on carries a heavier story: it was built on the…
Fortresses
전주시
Just west of Jeonju Hanok Village, in the middle of a busy road junction, stands a two-storey gate tower. Jeonju, seat of the Jeolla provincial governor in the Joseon era, was a walled city, and Pungnammun was the south gate of those walls…
Historic sites & memorials
전주시
In the middle of downtown Jeonju, beside the busy Chunggyeong-ro, stands a large tile-roofed building. Jeonju Pungpaejigwan, usually called Jeonju Gaeksa, was the official guesthouse where visiting officials and envoys were received and lo…