Gyeongju, Ancient Cultural Capital of Korea

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Overview

Cheomseongdau Observatory, Gyeongju Photo - Gyeongju, South Korea

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Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla kingdom of ancient Korea, 1000 years ago. The city itself dates to the first century BC. It is now a small city at the center of a region that is full of archaeological wonders, traditional marketplaces, historical temples, and friendly Korean people. The region seems to be filled with UNESCO recognized cultural sites.Gyeongju represents the ancient culture of Korea very well. Gyeongju is to Korea what Cuzco is to Peru. It hasn't been the main city for a long time, but it is far more interesting to explore than the current capital.Gyeongju has a modern resort area on the edge of town, surrounding Lake Bomun. There are several large internat...Read More

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Hilton Hotel Gyeongju

Hotel

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The Hilton is along the shores of Lake Bomun in the resort area outside of Gyeongju. It is a full service hotel, with all the amenities that you would expect from Hilton. It has conference and banquet facilities.The staff was very helpful, with any request we asked of them.It's a nice location right across the street from a bus stop, with several other restaurants (and hotels) a short walk down the street.We mostly ate breakfast in the hotel, and they have a wonderful breakfast buffet. You can get western style breakfast foods, for instance, with an omelet station and pastries similar to what you might find in America; but there is also a huge variety of Asian and Kore...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on March 1, 2006

Hilton Hotel Gyeongju
370, Shinpyung-dong
Gyeongju, South Korea 780-290
+82-54-7457788

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Daereungwon and Cheonmachong

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Attraction

Daereungwon (Tumuli Park), Gyeongju Photo - Gyeongju, South Korea

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Daereungwon, or Tumuli park, contains 23 royal Silla tombs. The Silla kingdom in the south end of the Korean peninsula flourished from roughly 668 to 935 AD. The tombs are very large, grass-covered mounds (see photo) on the south edge of Gyeongju. Several of the mounds/tombs have been excavated and you can enter them. The most famous tomb is the Cheonmachong, or flying-horse tomb. The famous painting of the flying horse, the Cheonmado, demonstrating the refined art of the Silla era, was found in this tomb along with gold artifacts and relics. We ran into some school field trips that were touring the tombs at the same time as we did, and so we had a bit of a wait to enter the main Cheonmac...Read More

Daereungwon, or Tumuli park, contains 23 royal Silla tombs. The Silla kingdom in the south end of the Korean peninsula flourished from roughly 668 to 935 AD. The tombs are very large, grass-covered mounds (see photo) on the south edge of Gyeongju. Several of the mounds/tombs have been excavated and you can enter them. The most famous tomb is the Cheonmachong, or flying-horse tomb. The famous painting of the flying horse, the Cheonmado, demonstrating the refined art of the Silla era, was found in this tomb along with gold artifacts and relics.

We ran into some school field trips that were touring the tombs at the same time as we did, and so we had a bit of a wait to enter the main Cheonmachong tomb. It was well worth it to actually go inside the burial mound and see the layered structure of it all.

But the most memorable part of seeing the Tumuli park was the reaction of the students from these class field trips. I was walking around there with a colleague and we could barely move, because almost every student wanted to come say "Hi," probably to practice their classroom English with a native speaker and shake our hands, or take our picture. It really made me feel like a big hero walking around the park there—I think I had a big smile for about 3 days because of it. We could tell from this reaction that not a lot of Americans made it to this corner of Korea. These were more late elementary school age kids here, but I got the same treatment from older high-school aged kids later in the week at Bulguksa Temple. Their teachers were very nice about it all, telling us the kids wanted to practice their English.

It's about a 6- to 7-block walk from the main train station to the north entrance of the park. The tombs aren't open all the time the park is open, so check the hours when you get your tickets. There's a big tourist souvenir shop out of the south entrance of the park. The Cheomseongdae ancient astronomical observatory and other archaeological and historical sites are also off the south and east end of Tumuli park.

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Member Rating 5 out of 5 on February 28, 2006

Daereungwon and Cheonmachong
Tumuli Park
Gyeongju, South Korea

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World Culture Expo

Attraction

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The World Culture Expo was a short distance from the Lake Bomun resorts, outside of Gyeongju. The expo was set up as sort of a miniature World's Fair.It had a mix of quite a few different things: high tech exhibits, a 3D movie incorporating its 2003 theme of the flying horse (a painting found in one of the ancient royal tombs in Gyeongju), various other performances during the day, and a traditional Korean folklore market. The folklore market was our favorite—sort of a living history market with costumed soldiers from the middle ages, and market stalls with traditional foods or crafts and methods of preparation. The year we were there, some of the larger exhibits included Eros and Civilization...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on February 28, 2006

World Culture Expo
Gyeongju World Culture Expo Park
Gyeongju, South Korea

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Seongdongsijang Market

Attraction

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This traditional market is primarily a food market. It is located straight out from the main Gyeongju train station, one block down. You can wander around the market taking in all the strange foods and odd, strong smelling sea creatures on sale for someones supper. Gyeongju is close to the sea, but not right on the ocean, so there is a lot of seafood eaten and sold here.

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on February 28, 2006

Seongdongsijang Market
Downtown Gyeongju
Gyeongju, South Korea

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Bulguksa

Attraction | "Bulguksa Temple"

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Bulguksa is a Buddhist temple complex halfway up a mountain ridge, outside of Gyeongju. It's about a 45-minute ride on the public bus #10 to get there from Gyeongju. Count on spending a whole afternoon getting here, touring Bulguksa, and combining a tour of Seokguram.It is an excellent way to spend the day, as Bulguksa is one of the most famous Buddhist temples in Korea.The temple was completed in the year 751, and has splendid examples of architecture from the era. There are several ancient pagodas and shrines to tour through. Several different aspects of Buddha are represented through statues of him in subtly different poses in the various shrines, such as the resplendent Buddha and the ...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on February 28, 2006

Bulguksa

Gyeongju, South Korea

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Seokguram Grotto

Attraction | "Seokguram Buddhist Grotto"

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Seokguram is a Buddhist shrine atop Mt. Tohamsan. The grotto is a shrine with a superb statue of Buddha inside, looking out to the east towards the sea. The statue represents the truth incarnation of Buddha, and is considered one of the best examples of workmanship of the Silla era in Korea. In the relatively small shrine/grotto, before you reach the Buddha statue, there are statues of eight other guardian deities, and many other statues as well.There is also a working Buddhist monastery at the site. It is a very serene setting, even with all the tourists walking through.After you get off the bus in the mountain-top parking lot, you buy your admission ticket (cheap) and take a ple...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on March 1, 2006

Seokguram Grotto

Gyeongju, South Korea

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Haeinsa Temple

Attraction

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My family visited Haeinsa Temple as part of a guided day tour from Gyeongju. Haeinsa is worth visiting for its collection of woodblocks, which is unique in the world. The collection contains of 81,000 print-making woodblocks used in printing canons of Buddhist laws, teaching, and commentaries. These woodblocks were carved over the years 1236 to 1251. Haeinsa Temple has stored these important artifacts since the year 1399.

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on March 1, 2006

Haeinsa Temple
Gyeongsangnam-do Province
Gyeongju, South Korea

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