Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Coast & islands
태안군
Mallipo is a long, gently curving sweep of fine sand at the western tip of the Taean Peninsula. It has long been counted among the three great beaches of Korea's west coast, alongside Daecheon and Byeonsan, and more recently surfers have n…
Coast & islands
동해시
About 3 km north of Mukho Port in Donghae, a wide strip of sand runs along the coast behind a belt of pine trees. Mangsang's water is shallow and clear, which makes it popular with families, and it is counted among the signature beaches of…
Nature
서울특별시
Right beside the Yangjae interchange on the Gyeongbu Expressway, at the southern gateway to Seoul, a dense forest fills the ground between the roads. Created ahead of the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Maeheon Citizen's Fore…
Historic sites & memorials
담양군
On a low rise at the foot of Jebongsan in Damyang, a small pavilion open on all sides looks out over the fields. This is Myeonangjeong, built by the mid-Joseon official Song Sun after he left office. Scholars such as Yi Hwang (Toegye) visi…
Towns & cities
서울특별시
Myeong-dong is the busy district between Chungmu-ro, Eulji-ro and Namdaemun-ro in Jung District, Seoul. Cosmetics shops, fashion stores and big department stores are packed together here, making it one of the first shopping streets foreign…
Churches & monasteries
서울특별시
Myeongdong Cathedral stands on the hill above Myeong-dong as the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul. It was Korea's first parish with a resident priest and the first church in the country built in the Gothic style. Climb the st…
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…
Coast & islands
목포시
Gatbawi stands on the shore of eastern Mokpo where the Yeongsan River meets the sea. The two rocks look like people wearing conical bamboo hats (gat), which gave them their name. A walkway laid over the water lets you see them up close, an…
Mountains & peaks
목포시
Rising right behind Mokpo's old town, Yudalsan is only 228 m high, but its rocky peaks stand like a folding screen, and it has long been called the "Gaegolsan of Honam", after the winter name of the Diamond Mountains. It is one of the Eigh…
Museums
목포시
The Mokpo Modern History Museum occupies two early 20th-century buildings in the former Japanese settlement at the foot of Yudalsan. Building 1 is the old Japanese Consulate in Mokpo and Building 2 the former Mokpo branch of the Oriental D…
Mountains & peaks
광주
This rounded mountain can be seen from almost anywhere in Gwangju. Near the top stand Seoseokdae and Ipseokdae, rows of stone columns like folding screens; their individual columns are the largest of their kind recorded in South Korea. Mud…
Coast & islands
인천광역시
Just over half an hour by car from Incheon International Airport and one bridge away lies Muuido. With the wide tidal flats of Hanagae Beach, a coastal boardwalk along the sea cliffs and a footbridge to Somuuido, it is a favourite half-day…
Historic sites & memorials
안동시
In Mukgye-ri, in Gilan-myeon well to the southeast of Andong, a Confucian academy and a clan head house survive side by side in one village. Mukgye Seowon honours Kim Gye-haeng (pen name Bobaekdang), famed for his integrity as an official,…
National parks
문경시
Its name is usually explained as "the pass even birds find hard to cross". Mungyeong Saejae was the fastest route between the southeastern Yeongnam region and the Joseon capital, Hanyang (Seoul). With three gates, the sites of old inns and…
Gardens & parks
오산시
Mulhyanggi Arboretum is a Gyeonggi provincial garden just a five-minute walk from Osan University Station on Seoul Subway Line 1. As the name ("scent of water") suggests, it specialises in water-loving plants, with paths winding between po…
Mountains & peaks
고성군
Misiryeong is an 826 m pass over the Baekdudaegan ridge between Inje and Sokcho in Gangwon Province. Climb the twisting old road from the Sokcho side and Seoraksan's Ulsanbawi Rock stands right in front of you like a folding screen, while…
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…
Churches & monasteries
인제군
Baekdamsa sits at the mouth of the deep valleys of Inner Seorak, inside Seoraksan National Park. It is where the independence activist and poet Manhae Han Yong-un stayed and wrote his poetry collection The Silence of Love, and it is famous…
Coast & islands
옹진군
Baengnyeongdo is South Korea's northernmost island in the Yellow Sea, so close to the North that on clear days you can see Cape Changsan in Hwanghae Province. Getting there takes about four hours by ferry from Incheon, but the reward is a…
Lakes
의왕시
Ringed by the ridges of Cheonggyesan, Baegunsan and Moraksan, Baegunhosu Lake in Uiwang was created as an irrigation reservoir in 1953. Its job of watering the rice fields of Pyeongchon ended when the Pyeongchon new town was built in the 1…
Museums
부여군
In Gyuam-myeon, on the west bank of the Baengma River at Buyeo, red-pillared palaces with bright painted eaves spread across a wide site. Baekje Cultural Land is Korea's largest historical theme park, a full-scale re-creation of the palace…
Churches & monasteries
포항시
Bogyeongsa sits at the foot of Naeyeonsan Mountain in the north of Pohang and is the largest temple in the city. Its name means "temple of the precious mirror", and it comes from a founding legend about a mirror buried in the ground. From…
Churches & monasteries
파주시
Bogwangsa, at the foot of Goryeongsan in Gwangtan-myeon, Paju, was the temple that cared for Soryeongwon, the tomb of Lady Choe, mother of King Yeongjo. Royal connections are everywhere: a main-hall name board said to be in Yeongjo's own h…
Coast & islands
완도군
Off the south-west of Wando, Bogildo is best known as the island where the Joseon poet Yun Seon-do stopped on his way to Jeju and stayed to build a garden retreat. Yet the island as a whole has much more to offer: the Yesong-ri pebble beac…