KR · Curated travel guide
Changdeokgung, Jongmyo, Hwaseong Fortress and 7 more โ what each one is, and why it is worth the detour.
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Chosen from everything Wikidata knows about South Korea and ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions describe them, which is about as close to "famous" as open data gets. 5 are on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
World Heritage
Palace in Seoul, South Korea
Once a royal palace, in Seoul, and today one of Korea's best-preserved palaces, recognised both by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and by South Korea as a Historic Site.
Photo: ๋ฌธํ์ฌ์ฒญ, KOGL Type 1
World Heritage
Confucian shrine in Seoul, South Korea
In Korean ์ข ๋ฌ, a Confucian royal ancestral shrine in Seoul's Jongno District, South Korea, first built in the Joseon period (1392โ1897) to hold memorial services for kings and queens who had died.
Photo: Joรฃo Trindade, CC BY 2.0
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World Heritage
Fortress in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea
Also called Suwon Hwaseong, a Korean fortress around the centre of Suwon, capital of South Korea's Gyeonggi Province. King Jeongjo of Joseon built it in 1794โ1796 to house and honour the remains of his natural father, Crown Prince Sado.
Photo: Lance Vanlewen, CC BY-SA 4.0
World Heritage
Historic site in South Korea
In Korean ์กฐ์ ์๋ฆ, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed in 2009, of 40 tombs of the House of Yi, which ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910, spread over 18 sites around the Korean Peninsula.
Photo: The user's homepage, CC BY 2.0
Volcano on Jeju Island, South Korea
In Korean ํ๋ผ์ฐ, a shield volcano making up much of South Korea's Jeju Island. Its summit, 1,947 m (6,388 ft) high, is the country's highest point.
Photo: ๋ฉํ์ค๋ฆฌ, CC BY-SA 3.0
Palace in Seoul, South Korea
A former royal palace in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1395, it was the Joseon dynasty's first royal palace, and today ranks among the country's most important tourist sights.
Photo: ์์ธ๊ด๊ด ์์นด์ด๋ธ, KOGL Type 1
World Heritage
Fortress in Gyeonggi, South Korea
A historic Korean fortress city in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, running for 12 km along the top of Namhansan mountain.
Photo: Khitai (a flickr user), CC BY-SA 2.0
Presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea
In Korean ์ฒญ์๋, and also called the Blue House, the executive office and residence of South Korea's president, in Seoul's Jongno District right behind the former Gyeongbokgung palace. It has been the centre of presidential administration and state receptions since 1948, apart from three years under President Yoon Suk Yeol, from 2022 to 2025, when the public could visit it as a museum and city park.
Photo: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0
Buddhist temple in Gyeongju, South Korea
A hermitage belonging to the Bulguksa temple complex in Gyeongju, South Korea. Both stand on Tohamsan mountain, about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) apart.
Photo: by eimoberg, CC BY 2.0
Buddhist temple in Gyeongju, South Korea
In Korean ๋ถ๊ตญ์ฌ: a temple of Buddhism standing on Tohamsan mountain, at Jinhyeon-dong in the city of Gyeongju, in South Korea's North Gyeongsang Province.
Photo: Bernard Gagnon, CC0
Officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), an East Asian country forming the southern half of the Korean Peninsula, bordering North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Sea of Japan to its east and the Yellow Sea to its west. It claims to be the only legitimate government of the whole peninsula and the islands near it.
Officially The Republic of Korea. Known locally as Republic of Korea.
Based on the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0: the facts are Wikipedia's, the wording is this site's.
This guide lists 10: Changdeokgung, Jongmyo, Hwaseong Fortress and Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty and others. Changdeokgung, Jongmyo, Hwaseong Fortress, Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty and Namhansanseong are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
By machine, from open data, with no human ranking them and nobody able to pay for a place on the list. Everything Wikidata records in South Korea that is a building, a landform, a protected area or a tourist attraction, has coordinates, a photograph and an English Wikipedia article, is ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions wrote about it. Provinces, cities, airports, stations and stretches of sea shared with the neighbours are filtered out.
5 of the 10 in this guide: Changdeokgung, Jongmyo, Hwaseong Fortress, Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty and Namhansanseong. That is not the full count for South Korea, only the listed sites that made this guide.
Korean. The currency is KRW.
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