Underrated Travel Destinations in Korea Part II
- Aye Mon
- Sep 6, 2020
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 6, 2020
So part I of this series had a theme - places great for day trips from Seoul.
As for part II, it’s going to be...the rest of the places I’ve yet to cover. :p
Like I said, if you haven’t explored beyond Seoul, Busan and Jeju in your Korea vacation, you’re being waaaay too mainstream. Seriously, go seek out some paths less travelled (by international tourists - you’re gonna see plenty of Koreans enjoying some good ’ol domestic travel that Singaporeans never get to do, sobbles). Allow me to enlighten you on some places you could hit up.
Suncheon & Yeosu
One of my favourite weekend trips was the one to Suncheon and Yeosu! The itinerary overview looked something like:
Day Zero (Fri): Take train from Seoul to Suncheon at night; stay over at random sauna :p
Day One (Sat): Travel around Suncheon!
Suncheon Drama Set
Check into Airbnb after 2pm (and we stayed here for one night)
Suncheonman Bay (walking distance from Airbnb :D)
Naganeupseong Folk village
Day Two (Sun): Travel around Yeosu!
Take train to Yeosu (Airbnb host kindly drove us to the train station :”))
Odongdo Island
Angel Mural Alley
Expo Ocean Park
Day One: Suncheon
Suncheon Drama Set
In summary, this place is like a retro Korean drama set theme park! Feels really nostalgic, and has many beautiful spots for photography. We went first thing in the morning so it was quite empty and quiet, making it an even lovelier place.
Suncheonman Bay National Garden & Wetland Reserve
An absolutely gorgeous garden with great scenery and amazing flora and fauna - definitely great for a family day out or a romantic date too. I’m quite easy really - I saw the unique little green hills and I was SOLD - just knew I had to visit. I only wished that I had better photography skills to capture shots that did their beauty justice. :")
It ain't a Korean tourist attraction if it ain't got cute photo backdrops for couples, remember ;) here's us going around being cute with our handy selfie stick! <3
And in fact this place is HUGE. We did not manage to cover everything since we had plans to cover another destination after this one, but I think you could easily spend half a day or more if you covered all ground!
Naganeupseong Folk Village
A pity that this place was closing really soon as we got there, so we did not get to cover a lot of ground. Just caught a quick sunset and walked around for a bit to see some of the cute little huts in the village. :)
And also interacted with very random statues...
Even witnessed an epic traditional sword-wielding performance!...with a selfie stick. 🙃
Famished after a whole day of walking, we concluded the day with dinner at a restaurant right next to the village where we feasted like royalty!
(And thereafter had big time motion sickness as I took the bus back…)
Day Two: Yeosu
On Sunday, we started the morning by filling up on some sandwiches made by our host! He even gave us a book that he wrote about travelling the world :o he is such a cool dude. He then drove us to the train station as well. :”) Will seriously remember this host forever. #besthostonAirbnb
Odongdo Island
After a 50-min train ride, we reached Yeosu and headed to our first stop - Odongdo Island! /0/ Here you will be blessed with lovely views of the rocky beaches, and can even take a stroll through the forest, including the cooling bamboo tunnel. There's also a lovely little lighthouse, but unfortunately I didn't manage to catch photos of that.
Angel Mural Alley
We ran a random search on places we could go to, and happened to find that there was the Angel Mural Alley nearby - what luck! It was pretty nice, though not as big as Gamcheon Mural Village in Busan; perhaps more similar in size to the Ihwa Mural Village in Seoul. :D
Expo Ocean Park
This was a very random place. An expo so I guess without any event there ain't no hype or buzz to it, just feels huge and empty. Can skip but lemme drop a photo or two anyway.
Perhaps you can consider dropping by the Hanhwa Aqua Planet Yeosu which might offer more entertainment than the rest of this place.
Yeosu has plenty of other lovely islands to explore as well! But it was just a day trip so we only managed to hit Odongdo Island, one of the more famous locations. :)
Other fun things you can consider doing in Yeosu:
Yeosu Ocean Railbike (to work those legs)
Yeosu Marine Cable Car (for some pretty views)
Hyangiram Hermitage (temple)
Gyeongju (day trip from Busan)
Did a quick day trip from Busan for this destination. I like that the landmarks in Gyeongju are all within close proximity, so you can conveniently just walk everywhere, in whichever order that you prefer. One downside was that, everything is pretty much out in the open and oh boy - visiting in the peak of summer may not have been the wisest choice....
Here are some of the places we covered!
Bulguksa Temple
Yangdong Folk Village
Another folk village with cute little huts and traditional houses. Enjoyed some lovely rice cake and ice cream at one of the food houses too~
I wanted to try pounding the rice cake too but only the kids were lining up so... 😅
Daereungwon Tomb Complex
You might be wondering - what a serene looking garden. Doesn’t look too graveyardy at all to warrant this name, does it? Actually, these cute little hills are actually tombs of kings and noble hoomans from the Silla kingdom. :o
Cheomseongdae Observatory
A cool ass astronomical observatory :D
Traditional-themed Starbucks Outlet
Having walked around under the sweltering heat all day, we found refuge in this lovely traditional-themed
Starbucks cafe, which for some reason, had like the best Iced Hojicha Latte I've ever had. :") Guess everything just tastes better overseas. Do drop by if you can! The traditional-style interior is really cute.
As the sun set, we headed towards the beauty of the night...Anapji Pond!
Donggung Palace and Wolji/Anapji Pond
The pond may look rather ordinary in the day, but it’s absolutely gorgeous at night! Highly recommend heading there after sundown.
Bonus: Yongma Land
(Ok technically it's in Seoul but a wee bit far from the city area)
I’m sure this little gem has crept its way into your Instagram feeds some way or another so it ain't too new to you (ok yes maybe it has become a bit more mainstream these days eh 🙂). We headed to this abandoned theme park on a weekday afternoon, by taking the train to Mangu Station and walking over. Surprise surprise, it may be an abandoned theme park but it still has an entrance fee of 6000won. xD Guessing it’s a maintenance fee of sorts, since the park was decently clean while still keeping a vintage sort of look.
We easily spent a few hours in there, as there were lots of different rides for us to take photos with. :) Amusement parks without the crowds and rides can be pretty fun too eh!
Not forgetting the famous carousel shots~~
This is honestly one of the most memorable spots we've visited in Korea. Truly enjoyed the atmosphere that was filled with a sort of serene nostalgia that made us cosy being there - really miss that. :")
Brb, hunting down more cute places to explore in the world. Till next time! ;)
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