Gyeongju

Unlike Seoul or Busan, where glass skyscrapers tower over pockets of Joseon-era palaces, the entire basin of Gyeongju feels like a living open-air sanctuary where giant emerald-green burial mounds rise directly beside tiled roofs and persimmon orchards. Founded in 57 BCE as Seorabeol, the capital of the Silla Kingdom, Gyeongju unified the Korean Peninsula in 668 CE and flourished during the Unified Silla golden age into one of the four great metropolitan capitals of the 8th-century Silk Road world, trading via Tang China with Persia and the Roman Near East. Because the capital shifted north to Gaeseong in 935 CE when the Goryeo Dynasty succeeded Silla, Gyeongju escaped the developmental erasure of later centuries. Today, the city holds four separate UNESCO World Heritage inscriptions: Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple (inscribed 1995, Ref, 736), the Gyeongju Historic Areas across five royal and sacred belts (inscribed 2000, Ref, 976), Yangdong Historic Village (inscribed 2010, Ref, 1324), and Oksanseowon Confucian Academy (inscribed 2019, Ref, 1498).

Ride the high-speed KTX or SRT bullet train to Gyeongju Station (formerly Singyeongju Station): 2 hours 10 minutes from Seoul (49,300 KRW as of November 2026) or 33 minutes from Busan (11,000 KRW), then take express city bus 50, 61, or 700 into the historic centre.

Stay inside a timber-and-clay traditional house in Hwangnam-dong / Hwangnidan-gil to walk everywhere in the Wolseong and Daereungwon tomb belt, or choose an international lakeside hotel in the Bomun Tourist Complex halfway to Bulguksa Temple.

Step inside the excavated Cheonmachong Tomb in Daereungwon and walk to the 7th-century Cheomseongdae Observatory, photograph the golden night reflections at Donggung Palace, Wolji Pond, and Woljeonggyo Bridge, climb to Bulguksa Temple and Seokguram Grotto on Mount Toham, marvel at the 5th-century gold crowns inside the Gyeongju National Museum, and hike Mount Namsan.

Dine on a 20-dish royal Ssambap (leaf-wrap rice feast) near Daereungwon, order sizzling Hanwoo Galbisal (Korean premium beef short-rib fingers), and snack on warm, red-bean-filled Hwangnam Bread (Hwangnam-ppang), baked at the original family shop since 1939, together with flaky barley pancakes (Chalbori-ppang).

Gyeongju is the cradle of Korean Buddhist art, astronomical science, and goldsmithing. Its excavated royal tumuli have yielded solid gold crowns adorned with comma-shaped jade gogok and cobalt-blue Roman glass vessels that prove Silla's maritime and overland links across Eurasia.