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South Korea

7 city guides · Asia

Cities in South Korea (7)

Asia
🇰🇷 South Korea

Busan

Busan (부산 — formerly Romanized as "Pusan" — Korea's second city and only major port: 3.4 million people on the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula, where the Korean Strait meets the South Sea) is the most dramatically situated city in South Korea: the city is built between mountains and the sea, with beaches, rocky headlands and fishing villages compressed into a dense urban landscape that somehow also contains the largest seaport in South Korea and the 6th largest in the world. Busan is the city that kept Korea alive during the Korean War: the only major city that North Korean forces never captured (it was the last line of defense behind the Nakdong River in 1950), it served as the Republic of Korea's temporary capital for the entire war (1950–1953) and received 2 million refugees from across the peninsula. The refugee culture of wartime Busan left permanent marks: Gamcheon Culture Village (the terraced hillside neighborhood of brightly painted houses built by refugees), the Gukje International Market (the wartime black market that survived to become South Korea's largest traditional market), and the raw, direct food culture of Busan — dwaeji gukbap (pork soup with rice — the cheapest and most nourishing meal a Korean War refugee could make), the raw fish of Jagalchi Market (the largest fish market in Korea), and the Busan-style gopchang (grilled intestines) that became comfort food for a displaced population.

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Daegu

Daegu (대구 — population 2.4 million, South Korea's third-largest city) is the most culturally proud and the most regionally distinct of South Korea's major cities — the "Textile City" (the most important textile production hub in Korea), the "Apple City" (the most important apple-growing region in the country before climate change shifted production northward), and the most important center of conservative Korean politics (Daegu and the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province is the most reliably right-of-center voting region in South Korea). The Daegu Yangnyeongsi traditional medicine market (the most important Oriental medicine market in the world — 350+ years of continuous trading, with 70% of Korea's traditional herbal medicine passing through this single market), Gyeongbuk Palace (the most beautifully painted Joseon-era pavilion in Daegu), the Seomun Market (one of the most important traditional markets in Korea — famous for the most diverse flat bread street food in the country), the Palgongsan Mountain (the most important Buddhist mountain in the North Gyeongsang region — home to the Gatbawi Buddha statue: the most beloved wish-granting stone Buddha in Korea), and the Daegu Chimac Festival (the most important chicken and beer festival in the world — "chimac" = chicken + maekju (beer)) make Daegu the most rewarding undervisited major city in South Korea.

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Daejeon

Daejeon (대전 — "Great Field" — population 1.5 million) is South Korea's fifth-largest city and the nation's scientific capital — the "Science City" of Korea, home to the Daedeok Innopolis (the largest science and technology research cluster in South Korea, with 1,500+ research institutes and 60,000+ researchers — the most concentrated single science research zone in Asia outside Japan's Tsukuba Science City). Founded in 1993 as the host city of the World Expo 93, Daejeon has reinvented itself as one of the most livable cities in Korea with exceptional national parks (Gyeryongsan — one of Korea's top 10 mountains, Gyejoksan Park), the most important science museum complex in Korea (Expo Science Park — National Science Museum), the most famous "0 dollar restaurant" street food market in Korea (Jungang Market's ojingeo bokkeum — stir-fried squid), and the most convenient location for day trips to Gyeryongsan and Magoksa Temple (one of the most beautifully sited mountain Buddhist temples in Korea). Daejeon is also the gateway to the Korea's largest traditional market for Hanbok (traditional Korean dress).

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Gwangju

Gwangju is the capital of South Jeolla Province in southwestern South Korea — a metropolitan city of 1.5 million that holds a distinctive place in Korean history as the site of the May 18th Gwangju Uprising (5·18 민주화운동, May 18–27, 1980 — the most significant pro-democracy uprising in South Korean history, in which citizens of Gwangju took up arms against the military junta of Chun Doo-hwan after the declaration of martial law following the assassination of President Park Chung-hee; the uprising was brutally suppressed by paratroopers (with a death toll estimated at 160–606 — still disputed) but its memory became the moral foundation of South Korea's subsequent democracy movement, leading to the 1987 democratisation). The May 18th Memorial Cemetery (북구) and the 5·18 Democracy Square in front of the former Jeollanam-do Provincial Hall (now the Asia Culture Center) are the principal sites of memory. Gwangju also hosts the Gwangju Biennale (광주비엔날레 — established 1995, one of the most important contemporary art biennales in Asia, held in even-numbered years in September–November, focused on Asian and global South art), and is surrounded by Mudeungsan National Park (무등산 — the basalt columns of the Seoseokdae and Ipdaeam formations on a 1,187m mountain). Best months: April–May and October.

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Incheon

Incheon is South Korea's third-largest city — 3 million people on the Yellow Sea coast, the port city and airport gateway of Seoul (30km west of the capital, directly connected by metro). Incheon has been Korea's primary point of contact with the outside world for 150 years: it was the first Korean port opened to foreign trade (1883, under the Chemulpo Treaty forced by Japan), the site of the American landing that turned the Korean War (General Douglas MacArthur's September 15, 1950 amphibious assault at Incheon, which cut North Korean supply lines and changed the course of the war), and the location of Incheon International Airport (consistently ranked the world's best airport for 12+ years by Skytrax). The city's most distinctive neighbourhood is its Chinatown (차이나타운 — the only officially designated Chinatown in South Korea, established in 1884 when Chinese merchants arrived after the Korean port opening; it is famous for jajangmyeon (자장면 — black bean sauce noodles, invented at the Gonghwachun Restaurant in Incheon's Chinatown in 1905, a dish so culturally important in Korea that April 14 is 'Black Day', the day single Koreans eat jajangmyeon alone)). Ganghwa Island (강화도 — 30km west, connected by bridge) has the finest collection of dolmens (megalithic tombs) in Korea (UNESCO), Goryeo-era historical significance (the island was the refuge of the Goryeo government during the Mongol invasion 1232–1270), and the Buddhist Jeondeungsa Temple. Best months: April–May and September–October.

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Jeju City

Jeju City is the capital of Jeju Island (제주도) — a volcanic island of 700,000 people 60km off the southern coast of South Korea, separated from the mainland by the Korea Strait, and known internationally as 'Korea's Hawaii'. The island is built on a basalt shield volcano (Hallasan — 한라산, 1,950m, the highest peak in South Korea, a dormant shield volcano with a crater lake (Baengnokdam) at the summit, UNESCO Biosphere Reserve). The island has been shaped entirely by volcanic activity: lava tube caves (Manjanggul — the longest lava tube in Asia at 7.4km, UNESCO), parasitic cinder cones (oreum — 360 volcanic cones distributed across the island), black basalt sea cliffs, and the explosive tuff crater of Seongsan Ilchulbong (성산일출봉 — Sunrise Peak, a UNESCO site that rises 180m from the sea like a natural amphitheatre). The island's distinct cultural identity includes the haenyeo (해녀 — the female free-divers who dive without equipment to 20m to harvest abalone, sea urchin, and conch, a tradition with 1,500 years of documented history, UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage 2016), the dol hareubang (돌하르방 — stone grandfather statues, the island's totemic symbol, carved from basalt in a stylised protective figure), and Jeju black pig (흑돼지 — a heritage pig breed with black bristles, considered the finest pork in South Korea). Best months: April–June (canola flower fields) and September–November.

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Seoul

Seoul (서울 — "capital city" in old Korean, the only national capital in the world whose name simply means "capital") is the most technologically advanced city in the world (South Korea has the highest internet speed and smartphone penetration on earth, and Seoul's metro system is considered the world's best) and simultaneously one of the most tradition-deep: the Joseon dynasty palaces (the five grand palace complexes of the 1392–1897 kingdom — Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung, Gyeonghuigung) are each surrounded by modern skyscrapers, and the Bukchon Hanok Village (a preserved neighborhood of 900 traditional wooden courtyard houses between two palaces) sits minutes from the Samsung corporate towers of Gangnam. Seoul's food culture is the most dynamic in Asia: Korean barbecue (samgyeopsal — thick-cut pork belly grilled at the table, the most convivial meal in the world), bibimbap, tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes — the most beloved street food in Korea), and the extraordinary fermentation culture of kimchi (the UNESCO-inscribed practice of fermenting vegetables in gochugaru chilli, garlic, ginger and saeujeot shrimp paste — made in 200+ varieties) are the pillars of one of the most distinctive national cuisines on earth.

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