Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Churches & monasteries
서울특별시
Bongeunsa stands on the slopes of Sudosan in Samseong-dong, Gangnam, directly across the road from COEX. Tiled roofs and pine trees in the middle of a forest of glass towers make a striking contrast. Together with nearby Seonjeongneung, it…
Churches & monasteries
안동시
Bongjeongsa sits on the slopes of Cheondeungsan in Andong, North Gyeongsang, and is home to Geungnakjeon, regarded as the oldest wooden building in Korea. Both Geungnakjeon and the main hall, Daeungjeon, are National Treasures, and in 2018…
Churches & monasteries
부산
Beomeosa sits on the eastern slopes of Geumjeongsan in Cheongnyong-dong, Geumjeong-gu, Busan. It is the head temple of the 14th District of the Jogye Order and, with Haeinsa in Hapcheon and Tongdosa in Yangsan, is counted among the three g…
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…
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…
Churches & monasteries
경주시
Bulguksa is the best-known temple of the Silla kingdom, set on the western slopes of Tohamsan in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. Its wooden halls stand on tall stone terraces, so while fires replaced the buildings several times, the 8…
Churches & monasteries
안양시
Sammaksa sits high on the slopes of Samseongsan, the mountain shared by Anyang and Seoul's Gwanak and Geumcheon districts, at the end of a long forest climb. It is not a large temple, but within one compound you find a late Joseon Buddha t…
Churches & monasteries
서산시
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
경주시
Seokguram is a hermitage belonging to Bulguksa temple, halfway up Tohamsan mountain in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. Its artificial grotto, assembled stone by stone from granite in the Unified Silla period, houses a seated Buddha. T…
Churches & monasteries
고창군
A band of camellia forest wraps around the hillside behind the temple. Seonunsa, on the northern slope of Dosolsan in Gochang, North Jeolla, is the head temple of the 24th district of the Jogye Order. Red camellias in early spring, a hermi…
Churches & monasteries
세종특별자치시
Biamsa, on the slopes of Unjusan in Jeonui-myeon, Sejong, is a small mountain temple, yet it produced one of the key finds in the history of Korean Buddhist sculpture. In 1960, a stone Buddhist stele found on top of the temple's three-stor…
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…
Churches & monasteries
순천시
Songgwangsa stands on the slopes of Jogyesan in Suncheon, South Jeolla Province, and is the head temple of the 21st district of the Jogye Order. Together with Tongdosa (the Buddha) and Haeinsa (the Dharma) it is one of Korea's Three Jewel…
Churches & monasteries
예산군
Sudeoksa sits on the slopes of Deoksungsan in Yesan, South Chungcheong, and its main hall, built in 1308, still stands today. It is one of the oldest wooden buildings in Korea whose construction date is documented, so it is a key stop if y…
Churches & monasteries
순천시
Walk up the stream through the woods and a semicircular stone bridge suddenly frames a pavilion like a picture in a window. Seonamsa in Suncheon is often remembered for that single view, but inside you will find wooden halls with faded pai…
Churches & monasteries
아산시
Between Asan Bay and the Sapgyocheon stream, a red-brick Gothic church rises from a low hill in Gongse-ri, Inju-myeon. Consecrated in 1922, Gongseri Catholic Church was the first Western-style church built in the Chungcheong region, and it…
Churches & monasteries
안동시
Where the Nakdong River makes a wide bend beneath the sheer cliffs of Byeongsan, Byeongsan Seowon is often called the masterpiece of Joseon-era academy architecture. Step through the gate and climb into Mandaeru, a seven-bay pavilion, and…
Churches & monasteries
양산시
Tongdosa sits on the southern slopes of Yeongchuksan in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang, and is known as the "Buddha Jewel Temple" because it enshrines relics of the historical Buddha. That is why its main hall has no Buddha statue: worshippers…
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…
Churches & monasteries
여수시
Heungguksa sits in a wooded valley halfway up Yeongchwisan in Yeosu. Its name expresses the idea that "when the nation prospers the temple prospers, and when the temple prospers so does the nation", and during the Imjin War it housed and t…
Churches & monasteries
여주시
Most Korean temples hide deep in the mountains, but Silleuksa in Yeoju leans against a rocky bluff right on the bank of the South Han River. A Goryeo-era brick pagoda overlooking the water, a marble multi-storey pagoda and the stupa of the…
Churches & monasteries
영암군
Dogapsa, on the south-western slopes of Wolchulsan in Yeongam, is said to have been founded by Doseon, Korea's great master of geomancy. Its entrance gate, Haetalmun, was built in 1473 and is a National Treasure, the oldest building in the…
Churches & monasteries
영주시
Buseoksa was founded on the slopes of Bonghwangsan in 676 by the Silla monk Uisang, and it is home to Muryangsujeon, the best-known example of Goryeo-era wooden architecture in Korea. Instead of levelling the hillside, the builders raised…
Churches & monasteries
영천시
On the eastern slopes of Palgongsan, in a quiet valley in Yeongcheon's Cheongtong-myeon, stands a timber building from the Goryeo dynasty. Yeongsanjeon, a National Treasure, was built in 1375, and inside it 526 stone arhats, each with a di…