Explore
63 places across Japan and South Korea
Bukchon Hanok Village
Six hundred traditional houses on a hill between two palaces.
Ihwa Mural Village
A hillside village painted to keep it from being demolished.
Naksan Park & City Wall
Walk the old fortress wall above the rooftops.
Changdeokgung Secret Garden
A royal garden you can only enter with a guide.
Inwangsan & Seonbawi
A shamanic rock shrine on a granite mountain above the city.
Gamcheon Culture Village
A hillside of pastel houses stacked in terraces.
Huinnyeoul Culture Village
White houses on a cliff, with a path along the sea below.
Haedong Yonggungsa
A temple built onto the rocks, with waves underneath it.
Busan Cinema Center
The world’s longest cantilevered roof, covered in LEDs.
Changgyeonggung
The quietest of the five palaces, with a glass greenhouse.
Jongmyo Shrine
A hundred-metre hall of absolute plainness.
Jogyesa Temple
A working temple in the middle of the office district.
Unhyeongung
A royal residence, free and usually empty.
Seochon Village
Bukchon’s quieter, more lived-in twin.
Namsangol Hanok Village
Five noble houses moved here and rebuilt.
Seodaemun Prison History Hall
The colonial prison, kept as it was.
Hanyang City Wall Trail
Eighteen kilometres of 1396 fortress wall, walkable.
Namsan Park Trail
Walk up instead of taking the cable car.
piknic
A 1970s house on the hill, showing exhibitions.
Seoul Museum of Art
A 1928 courthouse facade with a museum behind it.
Mullae Arts Village
Metal workshops downstairs, artists’ studios upstairs.
Seonyudo Park
A water treatment plant left standing and planted.
Oil Tank Culture Park
Five buried oil tanks, opened up as venues.
Nodeul Island
An island under a bridge, turned into a music venue.
Leeum Museum of Art
Three buildings by three architects, on one hillside.
National Museum of Korea
Free, enormous, and holding the Pensive Bodhisattvas.
Gilsangsa Temple
A luxury restaurant given away to become a temple.
Seoul Forest
A hundred hectares of park with deer in it.
Ttukseom Hangang Park
Instant noodles by the river, from a machine.
Yeouido Hangang Park
The river park under the finance towers.
Bongeunsa Temple
A 794 temple facing the convention centre across the road.
Seoul Botanic Park
A glass bowl of twelve city climates.
Yangjae Citizen’s Forest
The densest autumn colour in Seoul.
Jangsu Village
A hillside village that refused to be redeveloped.
Daehangno Theatre District
A hundred and fifty small theatres in one district.
Seokchon Lake West Bank
A 2.5km loop under cherry trees, with the tower in the water.
BIFF Square
The old cinema street the film festival grew out of.
Forty-Step Stairway
Forty steps where families searched for each other.
Choryang Ibagu-gil
A story road up 168 steps behind the station.
Beomeo-sa
A 7th-century mountain temple above the city.
Dongnae Hot Springs
A spring district recorded in the 7th century.
Sajik Baseball Stadium
The loudest baseball crowd in Asia, orange bags on heads.
F1963
A wire rope factory holding a bookshop, a brewery and a gallery.
Busan Museum of Art
Contemporary art, with a Lee Ufan space attached.
Saryeoni Forest Path
Fifteen kilometres of flat path under cedar.
Bijarim Forest
Two thousand nutmeg trees, some eight hundred years old.
Camellia Hill
Six thousand camellias, flowering through the winter.
Seongeup Folk Village
A thatched village people still live in.