Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Mountains & peaks
봉화군
Twelve rock peaks rise like a folding screen above the upper Nakdonggang River at Cheongnyangsan, long nicknamed "the little Diamond Mountains". At 870 m it is not high, but every peak is ringed with cliffs, so the scenery changes constant…
Mountains & peaks
서울특별시
Bugaksan is a granite peak about 342 m high rising directly behind Gyeongbokgung Palace and the former presidential compound, Cheong Wa Dae. In the Joseon period it was called Baegaksan, and as the guardian mountain on the northern side of…
Mountains & peaks
서울특별시
Bukhansan is the granite mountain that rings the northern edge of Seoul and the highest mountain in the city. Its top peak, Baegundae (836.5 m), rises next to Insubong (810.5 m) and Mangyeongdae, and the jagged skyline is visible from almo…
Mountains & peaks
대구
Rising to 1,084 m where Daegu's Dalseong County meets Cheongdo and Changnyeong, Biseulsan turns pink with azaleas along its summit ridge in spring, and on its slopes lies a huge block stream, a river of boulders. Near the top, Daegyeonsa,…
Mountains & peaks
서귀포시
Rising like a bell from the flat fields of southwest Jeju, Sanbangsan is a 395 m mountain made of a single mass of lava. It is counted among Jeju's three great mountains alongside Hallasan and Seongsan Ilchulbong, and a Buddha is enshrined…
Mountains & peaks
제주시
Drive along the Pyeonghwa-ro road across western Jeju and a rounded hill rising from the open fields catches your eye. Saebyeol Oreum in Bongseong-ri, Aewol, is a small volcanic cone whose slopes turn into a sea of silver grass in autumn,…
Mountains & peaks
속초시
Seoraksan spans Sokcho, Yangyang, Inje and Goseong in Gangwon Province, and its highest peak, Daecheongbong (1,708 m), is the third-highest in South Korea after Hallasan and Jirisan. Sharp granite ridges and deep valleys make it one of the…
Mountains & peaks
성산읍
Seongsan Ilchulbong is a 182 m volcano rising from the sea at the eastern tip of Jeju, in Seongsan-eup, Seogwipo. Jagged rocks ring a huge bowl-shaped crater like the walls of a fortress, so you can recognise it from far away. In 2007, tog…
Mountains & peaks
단양군
Sobaeksan is a major peak of the Baekdudaegan mountain range, straddling Danyang in North Chungcheong and Yeongju in North Gyeongsang. Around its main summit, Birobong (1,439 m), there are wide grassy meadows instead of trees, so once you…
Mountains & peaks
동두천시
A short walk from Soyosan Station on Seoul Metro Line 1, Soyosan is a rocky mountain nicknamed the "little Geumgangsan of Gyeonggi". At 587 m it is not high, but six sharp peaks ring the valley like a horseshoe, and the full ridge loop is…
Mountains & peaks
보은군
True to its name, "the mountain that leaves the world behind", Songnisan has long been tied to stories of kings and monks who came here to retreat. It straddles Boeun and Goesan counties in North Chungcheong and Sangju and Mungyeong in Nor…
Mountains & peaks
서귀포시
At Jeju's southwestern tip, a low volcano juts into the sea, and from its rim Sanbangsan, the Hyeongjeseom islets, Gapado and Marado line up in a row. Songaksan is a double-crater volcano, one crater nested inside another. Under its coasta…
Mountains & peaks
의정부시
Suraksan is a 638 m granite mountain on the border of Nowon-gu in Seoul and the cities of Uijeongbu and Namyangju in Gyeonggi Province. You can start hiking straight from a subway station, yet the summit area is a ridge of bare boulders th…
Mountains & peaks
제주시
Suwolbong is a low volcanic cone, just 77 m high, on the coast at Gosan-ri at the far western tip of Jeju. The summit itself looks ordinary, but the sea cliffs below expose layers of volcanic ash laid down in an eruption about 18,000 years…
Mountains & peaks
부산
Seunghaksan (496 m), on the border of Saha-gu and Sasang-gu in Busan, is the mountain whose upper slopes turn silver with pampas-like silver grass every autumn. Below you spread the Nakdong River estuary, Eulsukdo Island and the sea off Da…
Mountains & peaks
서울특별시
Achasan is a low granite mountain on the border between Gwangjin District in Seoul and the city of Guri. Its height is given as anywhere from 285 to 296 m depending on the source, but from the ridge you look out over the Han River and the…
Mountains & peaks
서울특별시
Ansan is a modest hill about 296 m high in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. A Joseon-era beacon tower has been restored on the summit, and the Ansan Jarak-gil, a loop of about 7 km around the hillside, is famous as a step-free forest trail. You can wa…
Mountains & peaks
울산
On an autumn afternoon, silver eulalia grass bends in the wind on a high mountain pass while lines of hikers file through it. The Yeongnam Alps are not a single mountain: the name compares a cluster of high peaks spread across Ulju County…
Mountains & peaks
영동군
Leave the small town of Hwanggan and follow the river, and a row of sheer, knife-cut peaks suddenly rises from the water's edge. The Chogangcheon river makes a wide bend beneath them, and a tiny pavilion perches on the tip of a riverside r…
Mountains & peaks
평창군
Straddling Pyeongchang, Gangneung and Hongcheon in Gangwon Province, Odaesan is remembered for soft ridges and deep forest rather than jagged rock. From the summit of Birobong five peaks stand around you like a folding screen, and in the v…
Mountains & peaks
구좌읍
In Jongdal-ri, Gujwa-eup, on the east side of Jeju, rises a small volcano of soft, rounded curves. It is 247.8 m above sea level but only 88 m above the surrounding land, yet from the top you see three linked craters and a view that reache…
Mountains & peaks
제천시
The summit, Yeongbong, is one enormous block of rock rising out of the ridge. Stand on top and you look north over the winding arms of Chungju Lake and Cheongpung Lake. Woraksan sits midway along the Baekdudaegan range between Sobaeksan an…
Mountains & peaks
영암군
A rock mountain bursts out of the surrounding farmland, its peaks as sharp as flames. Wolchulsan, straddling Yeongam and Gangjin counties, means "the mountain where the moon rises". Its highest peak, Cheonhwangbong (809 m or 810.7 m, depen…
Mountains & peaks
서울특별시
Inwangsan is a 338 m rocky mountain rising west of Gyeongbokgung Palace. The Seoul City Wall runs along its ridge, and from the top you can see the palace, Bugaksan, Namsan and the whole of downtown Seoul. Reachable straight from the subwa…