With its ancient history, Gyeongju was a place I put on my list for my first trip to South Korea. It did not disappoint! As a day trip, it was a bit of a long day, but it was lovely to see so many beautiful places and explore another side of Korea. It was one of my favorite places I visited on my trip!

A Brief History of Gyeongju

One of the main draws of Gyeongju is its incredibly rich history. It was under Silla rule, which reigned all the way from 57 BC to 935 AD, and what’s remarkable is that it served as the capital of Silla for that entire time. It did change names several times but not location, even when Silla grew from a small place to the Great Silla Kingdom in 668. You’ll notice today that a lot of the historic buildings still standing date to this time period.

The Kingdom of Silla fell in 935 after a series of peasant revolts. It then entered the Goryeo Dynasty which made it one of its capitals for a few decades before rescinding it of that title. Then it fell out of favor in the coming centuries.

Sadly, being an ancient city, a lot of its history is lost now, but there’s still much to be seen. The city is clearly dedicated recreating its heyday and I’d love to come back in a few years to see what else has been done in this field. But for now, Gyeongju’s still absolutely worth your attention.

Things to Do & See in Gyeongju

To start off our discussion of Gyeongju, I’m actually going to go a bit out of the city center to two of the area’s most renowned sites.

Up in the mountains, Bulguksa Temple is a beautiful temple that was built in the mid 8th century. It’s quite large with many halls to explore, and the dancheong decoration is superb. I think it was the most beautiful temple I visited in Korea. Don’t forget to rub the golden pig for good luck!

On the same grounds, but a bit of a trek away, is Seokguram Grotto. It also dates all the way back to the mid 8th century. The rotunda and stone carving is considered one of the most important pieces of Korean art. I remember looking at it and thinking how incredibly smooth and precise it looked, and couldn’t even imagine how long it’s been there. Photos were not allowed inside but you can view some here.

Unfortunately it was a very cloudy day when I visited but after driving so far up, I could tell we were high in the mountains. The grotto is at the side of the mountain and I bet on a clear day, the views are absolutely phenomenal. It’s amazing to think about people walking all the way up the mountain before cars to have this special artwork.

Seokguram Grotto, combined with Bulguksa Temple, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Bulguksa Temple was about a 20 minute taxi ride away from the city center (which is a half hour bus ride from the train station). From there, it’s a 10 minute taxi ride to Seokguram Grotto. There are also buses but they are more infrequent. You can also do a 1 hour hike uphill. Then to get back to the city center, it’s about a half hour.

Back in the main city, there are two main tomb areas divided by Cheomseong-ro road and a parking lot. The one north of the road is more like a park. There’s walls and gates around the tomb areas, plus they have a small pond, some walkways, some nice trees, benches, etc. There was also an art installation throughout when I visited. It is amazing to see how many tombs there are in such a small space. This area was nice to visit.

One of the big highlights is Cheonmachong Tomb which is the only tomb in Gyeongju that you can go inside. It dates to about the 5th-6th centuries and you can see the artefacts that were found inside the tomb in their exhibition, though they aren’t completely sure who was buried there. They also have information on how the tombs themselves were made and designed. I found it to be very fascinating. The Cheonmachong Tomb is not to be missed!

Look at the people for scale.

South of the road is also a nice area but it’s much bigger and more open. It feels like walking in the countryside and is quite lovely. There’s also many places with lots of trees, so it’s also like a forest with some cool ancient tombs here and there (this are is actually called the Gyrerim Forest). I may be mistaken but these tombs looked a bit bigger, and the size is enormous. It is such a cool place to see.

It’s here that you can find Wolseong Palace which was an ancient palace built in the year 101. It housed the Silla kings for hundreds of years. Unfortunately it’s now just a complete ruin of stones on the ground. They do have docent tours but the only I sign I saw was in Korean so they may not have them available in other languages.

There is the Gyeongju National Museum here but I didn’t get to visit.

You must also stop by Cheomseongdae Observatory which is a symbol of Gyeongju. It’s a stone observatory from the 7th century and is the oldest still-standing observatory in Asia. It’s also constructed of 365 for each day of the year. (I find ancient astronomy so fascinating; my mind is blown by how people were able to tell a year has 365 days without modern technology.)

Another iconic place in Gyeongju is Donggung Palace which is around Wolji Pond. The pond was dug in the mid 7th century and the palace isn’t dated, but we do know it was in use in the early 10th century. Unfortunately, like Wolseong Palace, Donggung Palace is actually very ruined, and even much more so. You can see a few stone markers on the ground but that’s it. However Wolji Pond is still extant and lovely to visit.

There are 3 reconstructed halls around the lake based on excavated findings. There’s also a very nice small scale reconstruction of what the entire palace used to look like and you can see it is humungous compared to what is there today. It’s still a nice little area to visit and people especially like to go when it’s lit up at night.

Another reconstructed area is the Woljeonggyo Bridge. This is an amazingly beautiful bridge to see. Upstairs there’s a small exhibition on how the bridge was built but I think the reconstruction in and of itself is worth stopping by for. Seeing all these reconstructions really shows how amazing Gyeongju must have been over 1000 years ago. I mean, it’s still lovely today but definitely different.

One of my favorite parts about exploring the city was seeing the Gyochon Hanok Village. It still felt like a proper old town, not just a big tourist hub, despite it being geared to tourists.

I loved visiting the 18th century home of the Choi family, which has the to-the-point name Rich Man’s House. I’m not sure who this Choi guy was exactly but the important thing is that he was rich and we get to see his beautiful home and how he and other rich folk lived back in the day, which honestly is one of my biggest draws to a place. You don’t need to be rich to visit since it’s free entry, and it’s a nice home that’s absolutely worth a stop in.

Next door is a Confucius School that’s also free to visit, but I have to say it’s a bit less exciting than the surrounding areas.

If you have more time and enjoy hiking, you may like the Namsam area or Gyeongju National Park. There are lots of relics here from ancient days.

Gyeongju is also known for its Hwangnam-ppang, or Gyeongju bread, which is a soft pastry with a good portion of red bean paste inside. It’s sold at several bakeries so shouldn’t be hard to find, and I highly recommend giving it a try!

Note that there are not that many vegan/vegetarian options in Gyeongju, so you may want to plan accordingly.

I went for a day trip and had 9 hours. The train station is about a 30 minute bus ride to the center of town, so an hour right there is in transit. I didn’t stop for lunch but did stop for dinner, so that’s another hour. Bulgaksa Temple and Seokguram Grotto were about 20-30 minutes away from the center of town, so that’s another hour in transit. I was amazingly able to see most of what I wanted to. Because most places are clustered together, it’s a very walkable space and makes seeing multiple places easy.

As someone short on time, seeing Gyeongju on a day trip was fine – just give yourself ample time. You should buy your tickets on Korail and note that they actually sell out fairly quickly, so you’ll want to get them when they become available. Of course, if you have more time, you can always stay overnight.

Note that restaurants are usually closed from 3-5:00pm so it’s something to factor in when you’re deciding when to eat.

To get around, you should download Naver Map since Google and Apple maps don’t work in Korea. Honestly, after waiting for half an hour for a bus that never came, I kind of gave up on Naver Map and ended up using Uber to call taxis. A 20 minute ride was about 23000 won (about $16 at time of writing), so it was a lot more than a bus but not terrible.

If you couldn’t tell by my absolute raving, I utterly recommend a visit to Gyeongju. I think it was my favorite place I visited in Korea and I’m glad that with my limited time I was able to go. The scenery was lovely, the history exceptional. If Gyeongju isn’t currently on your bucket list, now’s a great time to add it!

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