Table of Contents

A day in Gyeongju

After a 4–5-hour drive from Sokcho, we checked into a hanok village and had about 4–5 hours before sunset. We visited Daereungwon Tomb Complex, walked to Donggung Palace but found it closed, and stopped at Cheomseongdae Observatory before returning for dinner.

Explore the other parts

• Seoul
• Sokcho and Seoraksan national park
• Jeonju — upcoming
• Gongju — upcoming
• Incheon — upcoming

Driving from Sokcho to Gyeongju

After exploring Sokcho and Seoraksan, we continued our South Korea road trip to Gyeongju. The first half of the next day was completely taken up by the drive from Sokcho to Gyeongju, which took us about 4–5 hours. As always, the drive was easy and relatively uneventful. We made a short stop somewhere in the middle for a snack and a coffee, but I don’t recall much about it, as it was just a usual Twosome Place.

Earlier in the trip, on the second day, we woke up pretty early to avoid traffic jams and set off for Sokcho. As usual, it took me a couple of hours to get used to a new car and adjust to driving on the other side of the road. Korean roads are exceptionally well organized, and the navigation system built directly into the car was equally impressive (usually, I use either Google Maps or Waze).

First impressions of Gyeongju

During my research, I read that Gyeongju is the only truly Korean place, so I had reasonably high expectations. I expected to see a movie-like Korean village, Korean restaurants, parks, etc. Everything Korean! In my imagination, it would be something similar to Kyoto. We even booked a traditional Korean wooden house to stay in overnight.

The reality was slightly different! Firstly, as our hotel was in a traditional wooden house, we stayed in the heart of the traditional, historical area (a hanok village). It wasn’t easy to drive and park there, but it was really nice to see historical buildings around us. The historical area looks nice in the photos, but we almost immediately understood that the majority of the buildings are pretty modern (including our hotel).

Once we checked in, we decided to make use of the time before sunset (we only had about 4–5 hours), so we went straight to a nearby historical site.

Daereungwon Tomb Complex / Tumuli Park

Our first stop was a nearby tomb complex located inside a nice park. Possibly because it was winter or because we arrived at the wrong time, I wasn’t impressed by the park. It’s nice and quiet, with tombs around (which is a bit weird), but nothing more than that.

After that, we decided to check out Donggung Palace, but after a long walk we realized that the palace was already closed. We decided not to return the next day so that we could see other parts of Korea.

Cheomseongdae Observatory

Lastly, we decided to check out another local highlight: Cheomseongdae Observatory, an ancient Korean observatory. The place was on the way back to our hotel, so we went straight to the building. Again, I would say the impression was very different from how the place was advertised. The observatory is located in a nice, large park where locals definitely love to spend their time.

There are a lot of big, open fields where kids fly kites and dogs have fun and roam around.

The observatory is an unusually shaped tower surrounded by a small fence. After taking a couple of pictures, we went straight to a hanok village.

As usual, dinner and drinks afterward were nice, but the majority of places closed pretty early, so we went back home. The traditional old house showed its character, as one of the appliances didn’t work (I’ve already forgotten which one), so we had to ask our host for help.

The overall impression was mixed, so I noted to myself that half a day in Gyeongju is enough and that I had no plans to return, unlike our next destination—Jeonju!