Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Old towns & squares
경주시
Yangdong Folk Village sits on the slopes of Seolchangsan in Gangdong-myeon, about 20 km north-east of central Gyeongju. Two clans, the Gyeongju Son and the Yeogang (Yeoju) Yi, have lived side by side here for nearly 600 years, cooperating…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
Step away from the crowds around the great mounds of Daereungwon, head a little south and you reach a quiet burial ground ringed by pine trees. Oreung, the "Five Tombs", is believed to hold Hyeokgeose, the founder of Silla, his queen Lady…
Churches & monasteries
경주시
Oksan Seowon is a Joseon-period Confucian academy beside a mountain stream in Angang, Gyeongju. It was founded to honour the Neo-Confucian scholar Yi Eon-jeok (Hoejae) and is counted, with Dosan Seowon in Andong, among the leading academie…
Fortresses
경주시
Walk south from Cheomseongdae Observatory and a long, wooded ridge blocks the way. It looks like an ordinary hill, but this is Wolseong, where Silla's kings lived for close to a thousand years. The palace buildings are gone, yet the earthe…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
Woljeonggyo is a roofed wooden bridge over the Namcheon (Muncheon) stream in Gyo-dong, Gyeongju, just south of Gyochon Village. It recreates a Silla-era bridge that linked the royal palace of Wolseong with the land to the south, rebuilt in…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
Cheomseongdae, whose name means "star-gazing tower", is a stone structure built in Gyeongju during the reign of Queen Seondeok of Silla (632–647). It is regarded as the oldest surviving observatory in Asia, was designated a National Treasu…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
Poseokjeong is a Silla-era stone watercourse hidden in woodland at the western foot of Namsan in Gyeongju. Water ran along a groove curved like an abalone shell, and the site is famous as a place where courtiers floated wine cups and compo…
Churches & monasteries
경주시
Only huge foundation stones remain in an open field. Yet on this spot once stood a nine-storey wooden pagoda thought to have reached about 80 m. Hwangnyongsa was the largest temple of the Silla kingdom, built over 93 years as a national pr…
Old towns & squares
경주시
Behind a wall you can see the grassy mounds of Silla royal tombs, and along the street in front of them runs a line of cafés, bakeries and photo studios under hanok tile roofs. Hwangnidan-gil follows Poseok-ro through Hwangnam-dong in Gyeo…
Palaces
서울특별시
Gyeonghuigung stands next to the Seoul Museum of History in Jongno-gu. Because it lay west of Gyeongbokgung, it was also called Seogwol, the "West Palace". Of Seoul's five royal palaces it was the most thoroughly destroyed, and very little…
National parks
공주시
Gyeryongsan takes its name from its ridgeline, said to resemble a dragon wearing a rooster's crest. It spans Gongju, Gyeryong and Daejeon, and on 31 December 1968 it became Korea's second national park after Jirisan. Rocky ridges, deep val…
Historic sites & memorials
고령군
Along the ridge of Jusan, the hill behind Daegaya-eup in Goryeong, rows of round burial mounds rise one after another. The Goryeong Jisan-dong Tumuli are the tombs of the kings and ruling class of Daegaya, one of the states of the Gaya con…
Historic sites & memorials
철원군
Walk down the steps into the gorge and, in the middle of the Hantan River between black basalt cliffs, a single rock crowned with pines stands on its own. Goseokjeong means "pavilion of the lonely rock", and the name covers the rock, the p…
Churches & monasteries
고성군
In the hills of Goseong, not far from the inter-Korean border, Geonbongsa sits where the ridges of Geumgangsan, the Diamond Mountains, begin, which is why it is often called "Geumgangsan Geonbongsa". It was once a vast temple of 3,183 kan…
Coast & islands
고성군
The shore of Deokmyeong-ri, Hai-myeon, Goseong County in South Gyeongsang preserves Mesozoic dinosaur and bird footprints on its broad rock platforms. As a dinosaur track site it ranks among the world's most important for both number and v…
Historic sites & memorials
고성군
In Toseong-myeon, Goseong County, the Cheonggancheon stream flows down from the Seoraksan area into the East Sea, and on a rocky bluff right at the river mouth stands Cheongganjeong. A few minutes along a path through pine trees bring you…
Churches & monasteries
고성군
North of Sokcho, below Misiryeong Pass on the southern slope of Sinseonbong Peak, stands a temple whose gate reads "Geumgangsan Hwaamsa". It has long been described as lying at the foot of the peak where the twelve thousand summits of the…
Historic sites & memorials
고양시
Between the wide pastures and woods of Wondang in Goyang, Seosamneung, "the three tombs west of the capital", is the name for the royal tombs of Huireung, Hyoreung and Yereung, where Joseon kings and queens are buried. Part of the UNESCO W…
Fortresses
고양시
On Deogyangsan, a hill rising where the Han River makes a wide bend at the western edge of Seoul, stands Haengjusanseong. In 1593, during the Japanese invasions of Korea, Joseon troops under General Gwon Yul defeated a much larger Japanese…
Churches & monasteries
고양시
On the slopes of Hanmisan, on the western edge of Bukhansan in Jichuk-dong, Goyang, stands a temple whose story begins with the great monk Wonhyo and takes a turn when King Yeongjo spent a snowy night here. That night made it a royal praye…
Fortresses
고창군
Gochangeupseong is the walled town that guarded Gochang county in the Joseon era, and its rough stone walls survive almost intact for 1,684 m. You can walk the entire circuit on top of the wall, and inside are rebuilt government buildings…
Churches & monasteries
곡성군
Taeansa lies deep in a valley of Dongnisan in Jukgok-myeon, Gokseong, and was the head temple of the Dongnisan school, one of the Nine Mountain Schools of Seon Buddhism in Unified Silla. The forest path of about 1.8 km along the stream fro…
Churches & monasteries
공주시
An old saying goes "Magok in spring, Gapsa in autumn" (春麻谷 秋甲寺): Magoksa is at its finest in spring, Gapsa in autumn. Set on the northwestern slopes of Gyeryongsan, Gapsa feels special from the moment you walk in under old pines and zelkov…
Fortresses
공주시
Gongsanseong is the mountain fortress that guarded the royal capital of Baekje while it was based at Ungjin, today's Gongju, from 475 to 538. Its walls run for about 2.66 km along a ridge about 110 m high south of the Geumgang River, and f…