Discover places worth seeing — from historic sites to mountain trails.
Caves
단양군
In Yeongchun, Danyang, where the Namhangang River loops through the hills, a limestone cave opens beneath a fortress named after the Goguryeo general Ondal. Ondal Cave is a natural cave estimated to have begun forming as long as 450 millio…
Churches & monasteries
대구
Where the Nakdong River makes a wide bend in Dalseong County, south-west of Daegu, the buildings of Dodong Seowon climb a hillside one terrace at a time. The academy honours Kim Goeng-pil, one of the Five Sages of Joseon Neo-Confucianism,…
Gardens & parks
담양군
Tucked into a small valley behind Husan village in Damyang's Goseo-myeon, Myeongokheon is a garden from the Joseon dynasty. Old crape myrtles ring a square pond, so in midsummer pink petals drift onto the water while you look down on the s…
Gardens & parks
담양군
Walk through a bamboo grove and you reach a low earth-and-stone wall with a mountain stream flowing right underneath it. On either side of the water stand a small pavilion and a modest house. Soswaewon in Damyang is a garden laid out in th…
Fortresses
당진시
Myeoncheoneupseong is an early Joseon walled town that still wraps almost the whole centre of Myeoncheon in Dangjin. It was built in 1439 to hold off Japanese pirates raiding the west coast, and today you can walk the rebuilt south gate wi…
Churches & monasteries
당진시
Solmoe, meaning "a small hill thick with pines", is the birthplace of St Andrew Kim Dae-geon, the first Korean Catholic priest. Four generations of his family, from his great-grandfather to Kim himself, lived here and died as martyrs, and…
Mountains & peaks
강릉시
Daegwallyeong is an 832 m pass over the Taebaek Mountains linking Pyeongchang and Gangneung in Gangwon Province. For centuries it was the gateway between the inland Yeongseo region and the east-coast Yeongdong region. Today the top of the…
Churches & monasteries
대구
Two slender spires rise side by side over the Gyesan five-way junction in central Daegu. Gyesan-dong Cathedral, finished in 1902, was the first Western-style church in Gyeongsang Province and is one of Korea's few Gothic churches with twin…
Gardens & parks
대구
In the heart of Daegu, a few minutes' walk from Seomun Market, an earthen rampart curves around a low hill. Dalseong Park was laid out on top of Dalseong, an ancient earthen fortress whose name shares its roots with "Dalgubeol", the old na…
Churches & monasteries
대구
Donghwasa stands on the southern slopes of Palgongsan in Dohak-dong, Dong-gu, Daegu, about 22 km north-east of the city centre. It is the head temple of the 9th District of the Jogye Order, overseeing many temples across Daegu and North Gy…
Churches & monasteries
대구
On the southern slope of Palgongsan, between Donghwasa and Pagyesa, sits a quiet temple. Buinsa is small, but it is said to have housed the First Tripitaka Koreana, Korea's first complete carving of the Buddhist canon in the Goryeo period,…
Other
대구
Walk past fabric halls piled high with bolts of cloth, wander into alleys of small food stalls, and after dark the road outside fills with the lights of street stalls. Seomun Market is Daegu's largest traditional market, with more than 4,0…
Lakes
대구
In the middle of Suseong-gu in Daegu, Suseong Lake is a reservoir about 2 km around that serves as the city's favourite strolling and dating spot. It began as a colonial-era reservoir for irrigating rice paddies, but today swan-shaped peda…
Mountains & peaks
대구
Apsan, literally "the mountain in front", rises right along the southern edge of central Daegu. On the north-facing valleys of this 660 m ridge lies the city's largest urban nature park, and a cable car takes you up to an observatory in ab…
Churches & monasteries
대구
On the western slopes of Palgongsan, Pagyesa is a quiet temple wrapped in forest and streams, and a royal prayer temple with close ties to the Joseon court, above all to King Yeongjo. True to a name that means gathering the streams, a deep…
Mountains & peaks
완주군
Grey rock pinnacles stand layered like a folding screen, and a red suspension bridge hangs in the air between them. Daedunsan straddles Nonsan and Geumsan in South Chungcheong and Wanju in North Jeolla. At 878 m it is not high, but thanks…
Historic sites & memorials
경주시
In the middle of Gyeongju, huge grass-covered hills rise between the streets. They are not hills at all but the tombs of Silla kings, queens and nobles, built some 1,500 years ago. At Daereungwon you walk along paths between the mounds, an…
Coast & islands
안산시
Daebudo is the largest island in Gyeonggi Province. Because you can drive across the Sihwa Sea Wall, a day trip from Seoul is enough to explore its mudflats and coastal trails, the islet of Nueseom that you can walk to at low tide, and an…
Coast & islands
울산
Walk out of the pine forest and the coast suddenly opens up: reddish granite boulders tumbling into the sea as if poured from a giant bucket. Daewangam Park sits on the eastern tip of Ulsan's Dong District, on the cape that juts furthest i…
Other
대전광역시
Office workers on their way home, local pensioners and travellers sit side by side, trousers rolled up and feet in the water. The Yuseong Hot Spring Foot Spa is an open-air foot bath in a park at the heart of Daejeon's Yuseong spa district…
Gardens & parks
대전광역시
In the heart of Daejeon, between the Government Complex and the Gapcheon River, Hanbat Arboretum spreads out in woods and ponds and is described as Korea's largest man-made urban arboretum. It was planted on land used as car parks for the…
Historic sites & memorials
대전광역시
In the middle of an apartment district in Songchon-dong, Daejeon, a graceful scholar's pavilion sits in a lawn-covered park. Dongchundang was the study hall of Song Jun-gil, a scholar who served King Hyojong as inspector-general and minist…
Nature
대전광역시
Spanning the Geum River between Daejeon and Cheongju, Daecheong Dam supplies water to much of central Korea and created Daecheong Lake, where wooded hilltops float like islands. A look from the dam crest, the Water Culture Center and the o…
Coast & islands
옹진군
Daecheongdo lies at the far edge of the Yellow Sea, about 200 km northwest of Incheon Port. With Baengnyeongdo to the north and the North Korean coast of Hwanghae to the east, it is one of the Five West Sea Islands, and getting there takes…