Although I’m about a month late to posting this, I wanted to share about my first overnight solo trip in Korea! I traveled to Gyeongju for a two night, three day trip in late February. I really wanted to visit Gyeongju because it’s the only historical national park within Korea. Gyeongju’s 85 square miles are divided into eight sections throughout Gyeongju city and the surrounding mountains. The most famous relics in Gyeongju are dated all the way back to the Silla dynasty (57 BCE- 668 CE) which makes walking through Gyeongju feel like walking through a history museum.
I decided to stay in Gyeongju for about three whole days since the more I researched, the more I kept finding to see. Looking back on my trip, I think I made the right decision. Three days was the perfect amount of time to see everything and even more than I had originally planned.
I left from Gwangju on Tuesday at 9:45 a.m. and took a three and a half hour bus to Gyeongju. The bus ticket was 25,500 won ($20.61) one way. Gyeongju is located almost directly due east of Gwangju and is almost on the eastern coast of Korea. As we were driving into the city around 1:00 p.m., I immediately noticed the giant burial mounds that Gyeongju is famous for. Everywhere I looked, I could see some! It was very surreal to know that those were from the Silla Dynasty.
After departing from the bus terminal I found a place to eat lunch and plan out my next moves. One of my other first impressions of Gyeongju was how windy it was. Jeju was extremely windy, but it was manageable because it was warm. However, when I was in Gyeongju it was below freezing (like 15-25 degrees Fahrenheit) the entire time and so windy! Luckily, it was sunny which helped a bit.
Gyeongju isn’t a big city with a population of around 264,000 so everything was very centrally located. It was super convenient for me when planning out my itinerary. They also had a cute little downtown/shopping area with restaurants, tourist shops, and cafes. I spent a lot of time there looking for food or a cafe to escape the cold.
Although I arrived midday, I wanted to see as much as I could to ensure I had time for everything on my list. The first place on my agenda was the Daereungwon Tomb Complex. The complex was located right next to the downtown area. The ticket cost 3,000 won ($2.43). The complex consists of 23 tombs of Silla royalty or upper class. The most famous of these tombs is Hwangnamdaechong and Cheonmachong. Hwangnamdaedong is the largest of the tombs housing a king and queen. Within the tombs are thousands of items buried along with them to aid them in the afterlife including gold, jewelry, and crowns. If you want to learn more about these artifacts click here.
Cheonmachong is also well-known as visitors are allowed to enter it. It was evacuated in 1973 and then reconstructed so visitors could experience what the archeologists did during the excavation. Upon entering, I could see where the king’s body would have laid. There was a gold crown and other accessories placed where they were found during the excavation along with other items found during it. There were also videos and 3D animations of how the mounds were constructed.
I walked around the complex for about an hour just in disbelief of what I was seeing. It was amazing to think about the age of these tombs and the life of people in the Silla Dynasty.
My next stop was the Cheomseongdae Observatory. This is the oldest astronomy tower in Asia and is believed to have been built somewhere between (632-647). It’s not that tall as it’s only 9 meters (30 feet) in height. What struck me as interesting was that there was no entrance at the bottom of the tower; to reach the top, they would climb a ladder to the middle part of the tower and then climb up another ladder within the tower.
I realized that the observatory was in the middle of a park of some sort which had more tombs so I decided to walk around that for a while. I ended up going to see the Woljeonggyo Bridge which was about a ten minute walk from the observatory. This bridge is the longest wooden bridge in Korea. It was originally built during the Silla dynasty but was burnt down during the Joseon period. However, they rebuilt the bridge in 2018 based on historical research to make it as similar to the original as possible. It was a beautiful bridge with many intricate details painted on.
From the bridge I walked to Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond. During the Silla era this was the secondary palace for the prince which was used to host important events and visitors. They created an artificial pond, Wolji Pond, and the pictures I’d seen beforehand looked very pretty. It especially looked beautiful at night because they had lights surrounding the pond. However, when I arrived the palace and pond were under construction and the entire pond was drained. Very disappointing. But luckily, that was the only disappointment of the whole trip:)
At that point, I was pretty cold so I decided to check into my hostel and rest for a bit. My hostel was only about a 15 minute walk from the downtown area so it was an ideal location. I was staying in a four person girls dormitory. I ended up heading back downtown for dinner a few hours later. I found a cute Italian restaurant in a hanok and then enjoyed some cake at a nearby cafe.
When I got back to my hostel there was another girl who’d come and was sharing my room. She was Korean and was super nice! We ended up talking for a long time and then decided to sightsee together the next day. I was glad to have a travel buddy:)
Day 2 was another busy day full of activities. Me and my new friend got up early in order to
catch the first bus to Seokguram. We left around 8 a.m. and the bus took around 40 minutes to get there. Seokguram is a grotto built in the years 742-765 of the Silla Dynasty. After paying the entrance fee of 6,000 won ($4.90) we walked about a half a mile to the grotto. Along the path were colorful lanterns leading the way to the grotto. I wasn’t sure what to expect inside the grotto but it exceeded all of my expectations. The grotto was within a cave that had been divided into a rectangular front room that led into a circular main room. Inside the main room was a huge statue of Buddha that was 3.5 m (11.4 ft) surrounded by engravings of other Buddhist gods and goddesses on the walls. All of it was made of white granite which was stunning. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to take pictures inside the grotto, but if you’d like to see pictures and learn more I recommend you look at their website.
After Seokguram, we took a bus to Bulguksa Temple. Originally built around 514-540, it burnt down during the 1500s and was later rebuilt in the 1900s. It currently holds seven national treasures and was designated as a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site in 1995. The fee for the temple was 6,000 won ($4.90). It was probably one of the largest temples I’ve visited thus far. My friend told me she’d actually been there before on a field trip during school and was able to tell me some more things about the temple. For instance, the two pagodas in the main courtyard of the temple are featured on one of the Korean coins. We wandered around the temple for a bit longer and then grabbed lunch at a restaurant nearby.
From there we went to Bomun Lake, a man-made lake about 30 minutes away by bus. We walked around the lake a while before stopping and resting at a cafe. The cafe had great views of the lake and it was nice to sit down for a while since we’d been so busy all morning.
Following the cafe, we took a taxi back into the city and departed ways since she needed to catch her train to the next city on her trip. I’m very grateful to have met such a lovely person to spend the day with and it made my trip a lot more interesting:)
The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Gyeongju National Museum. This museum was great because there was no admission fee and so many different galleries. I spent the next two hours there exploring the museum. I especially liked learning more about the history of the Silla Dynasty and seeing more artifacts recovered from the burial tombs in Gyeongju.
The rest of my night was spent getting dinner and hanging out at a cafe.
I started my final day in Gyeongju early, leaving the hostel around 8 a.m. I was planning on going on a hike at Namsan Mountain so I wanted to give myself plenty of time to get there and hike as long as I wanted. However, once I got to the bus stop, the bus I needed to take said no arrival time… Buses in Gyeongju didn’t come by too often so I was worried I’d be stuck at the bus stop for a long time in the cold, windy weather and I decided to walk instead. It took about an hour to get there, but it was flat and had sidewalks the entire way
which made it an easy walk. The bus I needed to take did pass me as I was walking though so I’m not sure if I made the right choice. It was easy to find the starting point and after looking at the map I began my hike. A little ways up the trail I looked down at my wrist to check the time and realized that my watch had fallen off! I’d only had the watch for a few days and freaked out because I’d walked all the way there so it could’ve fallen off anywhere. I backtracked down the road a ways, but when I didn’t find it I went back to the ranger station at the beginning of the trail to see if someone had turned it in…And they had! Wow! I got so lucky and I’m grateful to whoever thought to turn my watch into the station.
The watch debacle added a bit of a detour onto my schedule so I decided to try to do a shorter hike than I’d planned. I think overall my hike was only around 3 miles, but it was so interesting because as I hiked I discovered various statues and engravings of Buddha along the way. The majority of them had been built during the Silla Dynasty. It truly felt as if I were walking in an outdoor museum. It was nice too because the statues gave me some time to rest and catch my breath as I was hiking.
At one point I passed a temple and I could hear a monk chanting from within the temple. I paused to listen for a while and noticed a dog laying on a rock enjoying the view; what a nice life!
I reached the peak and it was slightly disappointing as there wasn’t much of a view. The peak was only 468 meters (1535 feet). From there, I took a shorter trail in order to get back quicker. I didn’t see anyone on the entire trail down, but I did find more Buddha statues and engravings. All in all, it was a great hike and I wish I’d had more time to explore the mountain and all its historical surprises!
My hike left me pretty worn out so after catching a bus back into town, I ate lunch and then went to a cafe to wait for my bus at 4:40.
I really enjoyed my trip to Gyeongju; it was the perfect destination for my first overnight solo trip because of the central location of all the tourist sights as well as the small size of the city. I would highly recommend a trip to Gyeongju!
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