Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Coast & islands
부산
Follow the trail through the dense pine forest and, where the trees end, grey cliffs drop away tens of metres beneath your feet with waves breaking white at the bottom. Taejongdae, a low hilly headland under 200 m high at the south-eastern…
Coast & islands
부산
If you had to pick one image of Busan's coastline, it would be these rocky islets. Oryukdo is a line of small islands about 600 m off the tip of Seungdumal point in Yongho-dong, Nam District. The view is one of the city's emblems, and from…
Gardens & parks
부산
Ride the escalators up from one side of the Gwangbok-ro shopping street and you suddenly come out on a tree-shaded plaza on top of a hill. Yongdusan Park covers a small hill in the middle of Busan's old town. Its name, "dragon's head mount…
Other
부산
Jagalchi Market stretches along the waterfront of Busan's South Port, between Nampo-dong and Chungmu-dong in Jung-gu. Selling live and fresh fish, shellfish and dried seafood, it is counted among Korea's largest seafood markets and has bec…
Old towns & squares
부산
Cross the square in front of Busan Station to the far side of the main road and you step into lanes hung with red lanterns and Chinese signboards. This is Busan Chinatown, also called Shanghai Street, where Chinese residents began to settl…
Historic sites & memorials
부산
In April 1592, Japanese forces landed at Busan and the Imjin War began. Busanjin Fortress and Dongnae Fortress were the first to be attacked, and many commanders, officials and ordinary people died defending them. Chungnyeolsa, in Allak-do…
Museums
부산
On a hillside in Daeyeon-dong, right next to the UN Memorial Cemetery, Busan Museum tells the story of the city from the Old Stone Age to the democracy movement under one roof. Busan has chapters no other Korean city shares, from the Joseo…
Gardens & parks
부산
A short walk from the busy Seomyeon district, a wide green space opens up between the high-rise blocks. For decades, Busan Citizens Park was land that ordinary people could not enter. It passed from racecourse to Japanese army training gro…
Fortresses
부산
Among the apartment blocks and markets of Beomil-dong in Busan's Dong District, one small hill has been left as woodland. Busanjinseong was a Joseon naval fortress, closely tied to the first battle of the Japanese invasion of 1592. The wal…
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…
Nature
부안군
On a seaside hill behind the village of Mohang, at the southern tip of the Byeonsan Peninsula, about 50 Chinese holly trees grow together in a loose grove. This is the northernmost point where the warmth-loving species grows wild, which is…
Historic sites & memorials
부안군
Suseongdang is a small tile-roofed shrine on the cliffs of Jeokbyeokgang at the western tip of the Byeonsan Peninsula. It honours Gaeyang Halmi, the sea goddess who rules the West Sea, and her eight daughters, and every year at the first f…
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.…
Historic sites & memorials
부안군
On a hill on the west side of Buan town, ringed by pine woods, Buan Hyanggyo climbs the slope in terraces. Founded in 1414 as a state Confucian school, it is approached past a red spindle gate and a dismount stone, then up stone steps thro…
Old towns & squares
서울특별시
Buam-dong is a neighbourhood of Jongno-gu tucked into the valley between Inwangsan and Bugaksan. Being so close to the former presidential compound, it spent decades under military and green-belt restrictions, so there are almost no tall b…
Fortresses
부여군
Garimseong is the only Baekje fortress for which both the year of construction and its original name survive in written records. It rings the summit of Seongheungsan, a hill of only about 260 m, so the climb is easy, yet the top looks out…
Historic sites & memorials
부여군
On the northern edge of downtown Buyeo, where Busosan hill meets the plain, lies a wide stretch of lawn. It looks like a park, but this is believed to be the royal palace of Sabi, Baekje's last capital from 538 to 660. In 2015 it was inscr…
Historic sites & memorials
부여군
A wide stretch of lawn a short walk from Gungnamji Pond in Buyeo hides the site of a Baekje temple whose name has been lost. Excavations in 1935–1936 revealed, for the first time, the classic Baekje "one pagoda, one hall" layout, with the…
Gardens & parks
부여군
In the fields south of the town of Buyeo lies a wide pond lined with weeping willows. Gungnamji, literally "the pond south of the palace", was made south of the royal palace when Sabi, today's Buyeo, was the capital of the Baekje kingdom.…
Churches & monasteries
부여군
On the slopes of Mansusan, Muryangsa is remembered for its Geungnakjeon Hall, which looks two-storeyed from outside but is one tall open space inside, and for the Goryeo pagoda and stone lantern lined up in front of it. The Joseon writer K…
Fortresses
부여군
A low wooded hill on the south bank of the Baengmagang River watched over the last days of Sabi, the final capital of the Baekje kingdom. Busosanseong Fortress is thought to have served as a royal retreat in peacetime and as the city's las…
Historic sites & memorials
부여군
During the 538–660 Sabi period, when Baekje ruled from what is now Buyeo, its kings and royal family were buried on a hillside at Neungsan-ri just east of town. The grass-covered round mounds lined up on a south-facing slope look modest, b…
Historic sites & memorials
부여군
In an open field in the middle of Buyeo stands a stone pagoda that has kept its place for almost 1,400 years. Jeongnimsa Temple Site was the main temple of the period when Sabi (today's Buyeo) was the Baekje capital (538–660), and its five…
Historic sites & memorials
부여군
At the foot of Bihongsan in Hongsan-myeon, Buyeo, a Joseon-era county office survives almost in its entirety. The Hongsanhyeon Government Office is a very rare example where both the dongheon, the magistrate's office, and the gaeksa, the g…