Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Museums
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The Seodaemun Museum of Natural History sits at the foot of Ansan mountain in Seoul. Step inside and you are greeted by a sperm whale suspended from the ceiling of the central hall and the skeleton of Acrocanthosaurus, a meat-eating dinosa…
Museums
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Seodaemun Prison History Hall is a modern prison built under Japanese rule and preserved as a museum. It opened in 1908 and held prisoners for almost 80 years until 1987: independence activists such as Kim Gu, Yu Gwan-sun and Ahn Chang-ho,…
Other
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In Seo-dong, in Busan's Geumjeong district, narrow lanes twist into such a tangle that it is easy to lose your bearings, and that is where the market gets its name: miro means maze. Unlike Jagalchi or Gukje Market, which are full of visito…
Churches & monasteries
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Off Ganwoldo in Buseok-myeon, Seosan, Ganworam is a tiny hermitage you can walk to at low tide and that becomes an island when the tide comes in. At high water it seems to float on the sea; at low water a path across the seabed leads to it…
Churches & monasteries
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Gaesimsa is a small temple halfway up Sangwangsan (307 m) in Seosan, South Chungcheong, famous for buildings whose pillars are crooked tree trunks left in their natural shape. Its main hall (Treasure), rebuilt in 1484, keeps its early Jose…
Historic sites & memorials
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At the far end of the Yonghyeon Valley, on the northern slopes of Gayasan, a single five-storey stone pagoda stands in the middle of a wide clearing ringed by hills. The Bowonsa Temple Site in Seosan belonged to a monastery that once house…
Historic sites & memorials
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On the slopes of Gayasan in Seosan, a short climb from the Yonghyeon Valley leads to a cliff where three Buddhas are smiling. After more than 1,300 years of wind and rain, their full cheeks and gentle smiles are still clear. The Rock-carve…
Fortresses
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Most old Korean fortresses cling to hills or rivers, but Haemieupseong was built in an egg-shaped ring around a low rise and a wide stretch of flat ground. Step through the gate and you find open lawns dotted with government buildings and…
Gardens & parks
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This is the park where a jet of water shoots up from the lake whenever a plane on its way into Gimpo Airport passes overhead. Set in Sinwol-dong, Yangcheon-gu, on the far western edge of Seoul, it opened on 26 October 2009 on the site of a…
Historic sites & memorials
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Between Seoul Station and Chungjeongno, ringed by office towers, Seosomun Historical Park stands on the site of the Joseon dynasty's official execution ground. During the persecutions of Catholics in the 19th century so many believers died…
Historic sites & memorials
고양시
Seooreung in Yongdu-dong, Deogyang-gu, Goyang, is a cluster of royal tombs of the Joseon dynasty. The name means "five tombs in the west": five royal tombs of kings and queens, plus several tombs of princes and royal consorts, are spread a…
Museums
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Step out of Sadang Station and, between tower blocks and a busy road, you will find a two-storey building of red brick and granite. It was built as the Belgian Consulate in the days of the Korean Empire, first stood in Hoehyeon-dong in cen…
Historic sites & memorials
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Dongmyo, formally Donggwanwangmyo, is a shrine to Guan Yu, a general of China's Three Kingdoms period. A Chinese general's shrine in the Joseon capital may seem odd, but it is a legacy of the Imjin War, the international conflict of the 15…
Historic sites & memorials
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Just inside the main gate of Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul Munmyo and Sungkyunkwan preserve a shrine to Confucius and the highest state academy of the Joseon dynasty within one walled compound. The old lecture hall and student dormitories…
Historic sites & memorials
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In Joseon Korea the phrase "jongmyo-sajik" simply meant the state, and Sajikdan was one of its two pillars alongside the royal ancestral shrine of Jongmyo. Set on the lower slopes of Inwangsan west of Gyeongbokgung Palace, this is where th…
Historic sites & memorials
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The Samjeondo Monument is a stele that Joseon was forced to erect to the "virtues" of the Qing emperor Hong Taiji after surrendering to the Qing in the war of 1636. Its official name is the Stele to the Merits and Virtues of the Emperor of…
Historic sites & memorials
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In the middle of a residential block in Songpa, under the gaze of Lotte World Tower, huge stepped mounds of stone sit on the grass. These are the Seokchon-dong Ancient Tombs, burial places of the royalty and nobility of early Baekje, when…
Historic sites & memorials
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On the east bank of the Han River, the Amsa-dong Prehistoric Site is where Neolithic people lived in a village about 6,000 years ago. An exhibition hall built directly over the excavated house pits and a park dotted with thatched pit house…
Historic sites & memorials
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Joseon kings are buried in royal tombs called neung, but this grave in Banghak-dong, Dobong-gu, is merely a myo. That is because it belongs to Yeonsangun, the tenth Joseon king, who was deposed after a reign of terror, and his wife, Lady S…
Historic sites & memorials
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Between Cheongnyangni Station and Korea University, in the middle of the city, two royal tombs lie hidden in a patch of forest. Yeonghwiwon is the tomb of Imperial Noble Consort Sunheon (Lady Eom), a consort of Emperor Gojong and mother of…
Gardens & parks
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Olympic Park in Bangi-dong, Songpa-gu, covers about 1.45 million m². It was built for the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and today it is a public park of stadiums, concert halls, museums and wide lawns. Right in the middle s…
Viewpoints
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On the Han River in Seongdong-gu, Eungbongsan is a rocky hill under 100 m high, yet from the pavilion on top you see the meeting of the Han and Jungnangcheon streams, Seoul Forest and Gangnam across the river at a glance. In spring the who…
Historic sites & memorials
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Uireung, in Seokgwan-dong in northern Seoul, is the tomb of King Gyeongjong, the 20th Joseon king, and his second queen, Seonui. Instead of placing the two burial mounds side by side, it sets them one above the other on the same slope – a…
Historic sites & memorials
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Tucked behind a small children's playground in the residential streets of Yeokchon-dong, Eunpyeong-gu, a tiled pavilion shelters the Stele for the Private Residence Site of King Injo. It was erected in 1695 by King Sukjong to mark the coun…