Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Churches & monasteries
구미시
Halfway up Naengsan in Haepyeong-myeon, Gumi, Dorisa is said to have been founded by Ado, the Goguryeo monk who first brought Buddhism to Silla. Its small grounds hold a lot of stories: the legend behind its name, a stone pagoda that looks…
Historic sites & memorials
구미시
On 14 November 1917, a boy was born in a small thatched farmhouse in Sangmo-dong, Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. He was Park Chung-hee, who would serve as South Korea's president from 1963 to 1979. He lived here while attending primary s…
Historic sites & memorials
서울특별시
In Suyu-dong in Seoul's Gangbuk district, with the peaks of Bukhansan rising behind it, lie the victims of the April Revolution of 1960. This national cemetery honours the students and citizens who took to the streets against the rigged el…
Historic sites & memorials
광주
The May 18th National Cemetery is the resting place of those who died in, or took part in, the May 18 Democratic Uprising in Gwangju in 1980. On a gentle hillside in Unjeong-dong, Buk-gu, the graves lead up to a memorial tower, a hall of p…
Museums
경주시
If you want to understand Silla before visiting Gyeongju's tombs and temple sites, start here. Gyeongju National Museum holds the largest collection of artefacts from Silla (57 BC–AD 935), a kingdom that lasted almost a thousand years with…
Museums
서울특별시
If a walk through Gyeongbokgung leaves you wondering what the kings actually used, the answer is in the building next door. The National Palace Museum of Korea gathers the treasures of the Joseon royal court and the Korean Empire. It stand…
Museums
광주
In 1975 a fisherman's net off Jeungdo Island in Sinan, South Jeolla, brought up a piece of Chinese porcelain. Underwater excavations began the following year and revealed a large trading ship that sank in 1323, along with tens of thousands…
Museums
김해시
Built of black brick, Gimhae National Museum looks from a distance like a huge block of iron. The dark walls, evoking iron ore and charcoal, are a nod to Gaya, the confederacy known as "the kingdom of iron". The museum opened on 29 July 19…
Museums
나주시
Across the fields of Bannam-myeon in Naju rise great burial mounds of the rulers who held this land during the Three Kingdoms period. Naju National Museum stands close to these Bannam tomb clusters, and it is the place to see the huge jar-…
Museums
대구
Daegu National Museum tells the story of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province from the Old Stone Age to the Joseon dynasty through objects found in the region. You can see Silla and Gaya metalwork, early Buddhist sculpture from northern Gye…
Historic sites & memorials
대전광역시
Daejeon National Cemetery is the resting place of people who gave their lives for, or served, the nation: around 150,000 are interred on grounds of about 3.3 km² (one million pyeong, a traditional Korean unit). Independence activists, fall…
Museums
서울특별시
The National Folk Museum of Korea stands in the north-east corner of the Gyeongbokgung Palace grounds, on Samcheong-ro in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Instead of royal treasures it shows the everyday objects and customs of ordinary Koreans, so in one…
Museums
부여군
Buyeo, ancient Sabi, was the last capital of the Baekje kingdom, and its national museum gathers the heritage of Sabi-period Baekje and the prehistory of western South Chungcheong. It is home to the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje, co…
Gardens & parks
서천군
Near the mouth of the Geumgang River in Seocheon, the National Institute of Ecology is both a research body and Korea's largest ecology exhibition. Its centrepiece is the Ecorium, a set of glasshouses recreating five of the world's climate…
Historic sites & memorials
서울특별시
Seoul National Cemetery spreads over a hillside in Dongjak, just south of the Han River. Independence activists, fallen soldiers and four former presidents are buried here. Paths and a stream run between seemingly endless rows of white hea…
Gardens & parks
세종특별자치시
Sejong National Arboretum sits right next to the Government Complex in the middle of Korea's administrative capital, and was the country's first national arboretum in an urban setting. It opened in October 2020, with themed gardens and gla…
Gardens & parks
포천시
Not far from Seoul, on the border of Pocheon and Namyangju, lies a forest that has escaped the axe for more than 500 years. Gwangneung Forest, home of the Korea National Arboretum, survived because the Joseon court strictly protected the w…
Museums
광주
In the middle of downtown Gwangju, on the site of the former South Jeolla Provincial Office where the May 1980 uprising played out, stands a vast cultural complex. The Asia Culture Center (ACC) puts most of its facilities underground under…
Museums
전주시
In Jeonju, ancestral home of the Joseon royal family, Jeonju National Museum tells the story of North Jeolla from prehistory to modern times. It opened on 26 October 1990 and displays around 2,000 of its 40,000-odd objects. Many come with…
Museums
제주시
Jeju was once home to its own kingdom, Tamna. Jeju National Museum is an archaeology and history museum built around the story of this island state, covering Jeju's history and culture from prehistory to the Joseon period. Opened on 15 Jun…
Museums
대전광역시
In Daejeon, the science city that grew up around the Daedeok research district, one of the biggest draws is the National Science Museum. Dinosaur skeletons, an engine from Korea's Nuri rocket and the history of Korean science share one lar…
Museums
서울특별시
The National Museum of Korea is the country's flagship museum of history and art, covering everything from prehistory to the Korean Empire under one roof. Its collection runs to more than 310,000 objects, with about 15,000 on display at an…
Museums
청주시
Cheongju National Museum is worth a look for its building alone. It was designed by Kim Swoo-geun, the architect who shaped modern Korean architecture, and opened on 30 October 1987, its galleries stepping down a wooded valley on the easte…
Museums
춘천시
Step into the darkened gallery and hundreds of small stone faces look back at you. Smiling, sleepy or tilting their heads, these arhat figures are what made Chuncheon National Museum famous across Korea. Opened on 30 October 2002, the muse…