Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Industrial heritage
춘천시
Soyang Dam blocks the Soyang River north-east of Chuncheon with a 123 m embankment of earth and rock, holding back the vast man-made Lake Soyang. It is the largest rock-fill dam in South Korea, and from the crest the lake stretches away be…
Churches & monasteries
속초시
Sinheungsa stands at the Seorak-dong entrance to Seoraksan National Park and is the head temple of the 3rd district of the Jogye Order. Hikers heading for Ulsanbawi Rock or Biseondae pass it first. Late Joseon halls and a large pavilion si…
Old towns & squares
속초시
There is no ferryman on board: passengers hook iron bars onto a steel cable and pull. About five minutes and some 50 m of water later, you step off in Abai Village. This corner of Cheongho-dong in Sokcho was built on a sandbar by refugees…
Churches & monasteries
양양군
Naksansa was founded in 671 by the Silla monk Uisang on Obongsan, right on the East Sea coast, and it is one of Korea's most important sites of devotion to Gwaneum, the bodhisattva of compassion. The cliff-top hermitage of Hongnyeonam, wit…
Caves
영월군
Cross the bridge over the Namhangang River and a narrow opening appears at the foot of a limestone cliff. Gossigul Cave in Yeongwol takes its name from the Go family, who are said to have hidden here during the Japanese invasions of 1592–1…
Historic sites & memorials
영월군
Jangneung in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province, is the tomb of King Danjong, the 6th king of Joseon. It tells the story of a boy king who lost his throne to his uncle and died in exile, and of a local official who buried him at the risk of his ow…
Historic sites & memorials
영월군
Cheongnyeongpo is the riverside spot in Yeongwol where the deposed boy-king Danjong was sent into exile. The Seogang River loops around three sides and a steep cliff closes off the fourth, so although it is attached to the mainland you can…
Viewpoints
영월군
Stand on the lookout in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province, and the wooded hill wrapped by the river really does look like the Korean Peninsula. The Korean Peninsula-shaped landform was carved by the Seogang (Pyeongchang River) as it loops sharply…
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…
Historic sites & memorials
원주시
On Wonil-ro in the old centre of Wonju, a two-storey gate with red pillars stands right beside the traffic. This is Pojeongnu, the main gate of Gangwon Gamyeong, the office from which a royal governor ran the whole of Gangwon Province for…
Churches & monasteries
원주시
Follow the forest path of tall red pines up the northern valley of Chiaksan and Guryongsa appears on the slope beside the stream. Two legends overlap in its name: a pond full of dragons and a turtle-shaped rock said to have sapped the temp…
Nature
원주시
Standing alone in the fields of Munmak-eup near Wonju, the Bangye-ri ginkgo is a single tree that looks like a small wood. Its branches spread 37.5 m east to west and 31 m north to south, so when the leaves turn gold all at once in autumn…
Lakes
춘천시
Uiamho Lake is the reason Chuncheon calls itself the "City of Lakes". When the hydroelectric Uiam Dam was built on the middle Bukhangang River in 1967, the waters of the Bukhangang and Soyanggang rivers gathered to form this lake. Water an…
Historic sites & memorials
철원군
On a low rise at the edge of the Cheorwon plain stands a three-storey concrete shell with every window blown out. The Korean Workers' Party Headquarters was built by the North Korean ruling party after liberation, and when the Korean War f…
Churches & monasteries
철원군
Not far from the Demilitarized Zone, in the town of Dongsong in Cheorwon, a small temple shelters an iron Buddha that has sat here for more than a thousand years. Dopiansa's Iron Seated Vairocana Buddha carries an inscription on its back d…
Churches & monasteries
춘천시
On the slopes of Obongsan north of Soyang Lake in Chuncheon, Cheongpyeongsa is known as "the temple on an island" because the classic way to reach it is by boat from the Soyang Dam landing. First built in 973, it still has the Goryeo Seonw…
Coast & islands
동해시
At the end of Chuam Beach in Donghae, a pillar of rock rises straight out of the sea. Chuam Candlestick Rock earns its name when the rising sun sits on its tip like a candle flame. It appears in the opening shot of the national anthem broa…
Mountains & peaks
원주시
A monk once saved a pheasant from a snake. That night the snake came for the monk and promised to spare him only if a bell rang on the mountain before dawn. The bell rang three times, and when the monk went to the temple he found the pheas…
Nature
태백시
Hwangji Pond is a spring in a small park right in the centre of Taebaek, between shops and roads. The water rising here is the starting point of the Nakdong River, which crosses the southeast of the country to reach the sea past Eulsukdo i…
Mountains & peaks
태백시
Rising on the border of Taebaek in Gangwon and Bonghwa in North Gyeongsang, Taebaeksan has long been called the sacred mountain of the Korean people. At 1,567 m it is not especially high, but its summit area still holds Cheonjedan, a stone…
Caves
평창군
Baengnyongdonggul Cave is a limestone cave opening onto a cliff at the foot of Baegunsan, right above the Donggang River in Mitan-myeon, Pyeongchang. Unlike show caves with lighting and staircases, this is an exploration cave: you put on a…
Churches & monasteries
평창군
Far up the Odaesan valley, among fir and oak forest, stands Sangwonsa. Most of its buildings are recent reconstructions, but the temple keeps Korea's oldest bell and a statue of a boy deity linked to a legend about King Sejo. It is also th…
Churches & monasteries
평창군
Past the first gate, straight fir trees rise on both sides of the path as if to close off the sky. Woljeongsa on Odaesan is often remembered first for this forest walk. Beyond the trees, a Goryeo-era octagonal nine-storey pagoda stands in…
Historic sites & memorials
화천군
The Peace Dam stands 125 m tall on the upper Bukhan River in Hwacheon, not far from the inter-Korean border. As a flood-control dam it normally holds almost no water, so a huge concrete wall blocks an all but empty valley – a striking sigh…