Namhae German Village

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 1960s and 70s and came home to retire. Every house carries a story of migration spanning decades.

History: a village for those who came back

In the 1960s and 70s South Korea sent thousands of nurses and miners to West Germany, and many stayed on after their contracts ended. After Namhae County signed a sister-region agreement with Nordfriesland in 1997, it planned a place for these emigrants to resettle, and from 2001 it sold plots on the hill above Mulgeon-ri. The returnees imported building materials from Germany and built German-style homes. The village started with just five houses; by 2020 it had 43 houses and about 60 residents. Visitor numbers rose sharply after it appeared as a TV drama location in 2006.

What to see

• Village lanes: sloping streets lined with white houses, orange roofs and small gardens. From the upper lanes you look over the roofs to Mulgeon Harbour and the sea.
• Germany Exhibition Hall: built in 2014 as a community space, it presents the lives of the miners and nurses who went to Germany.
• German food: shops and cafés in the village sell sausages, beer and other German fare.
• Mulgeon-ri windbreak forest: the coastal forest below the village was planted by villagers around 300 years ago to protect against wind and waves. About 1,500 m long and 30 m wide, it is a Natural Monument.

Good to know

• Beer festival: the village's beer festival, first held in 2010, takes place every autumn. About 10,000 people came the first year, and it is now one of Namhae's signature events.
• Many houses are run as guesthouses, so you can stay overnight in the village.
• The Horticulture Art Village right next door makes an easy add-on.

Nearby

• Horticulture Art Village: right next to the German Village, an easy continuation for garden lovers.
• Mulgeon Harbour: the harbour below the village, where a walk along the breakwater gives the best view back up to the houses.
• Boriam and Daraengi Village: the cliff-top hermitage of Boriam and the terraced rice fields of Daraengi Village are also in Namhae County and combine well into a day trip.

Tripto tips

• Etiquette: people live here. Do not photograph gardens or into windows, and stay on the public lanes.
• Admission and hours: there is no entrance fee for the village. Opening hours of shops and facilities vary.
• Photos: the upper lanes give you roofs and sea in one frame. The breakwater at Mulgeon Harbour offers a good view back up to the whole village.
• Time needed: 1–2 hours for the lanes, the exhibition hall and the windbreak forest. The village is about 30 minutes by car from Namhae-eup, and buses are infrequent.
• When to go: it gets very crowded during the beer festival. For a quiet visit, come on a weekday morning.