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Long reads on Gunsan: its modern architecture and the history of its alleys, routes across the islands, food by the hour and how the foreign press sees the city. Each column lists its places with their visit information.
From the 1908 customs house to the old banks, we trace the styles and the walking route of 5 modern buildings around Haemangno.
Behind the fine proportions of red brick and granite lies the chilling history of an open port, where rice from the Honam Plain flowed out to sea.
5 places · Honam Customs Museum · Former Japanese 18th Bank Gunsan Branch · Gunsan Modern Architecture Museum · Modern History Museum
Columns by topic
Honam Customs Museum · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
From the 1908 customs house to the old banks, we trace the styles and the walking route of 5 modern buildings around Haemangno.
“Behind the fine proportions of red brick and granite lies the chilling history of an open port, where rice from the Honam Plain flowed out to sea.”
Dongguksa Temple · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
From the Japanese-style house in Sinheung-dong to Mallaengi Village and Dongguksa Temple, we walk through the history of the alleys at the foot of Wolmyeongsan Mountain.
“The wide Japanese gardens on the flat land and the narrow hillside alleys stand only a few steps apart, showing two faces of the same era.”
Honam Customs Museum · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
From Chowon Photo Studio to Binhaewon and Gyeongam-dong Railroad Village, we look at the 5 Gunsan filming locations behind memorable scenes in Korean film.
“Gunsan became the backdrop of so many films not for flashy sights, but because every alley and building still holds a texture of time that has not been erased.”
Gunsan Impi Station Building · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We follow the history of the railroad village on the Paper Korea spur line, opened in 1944, and the Impi Station Building, a small station built in 1936.
“As wildflowers grow over the sleepers where the whistle has gone quiet, the cold steel rails that once carried raw materials and grain have become the warmest alley, where people's footsteps overlap.”
Former Joseon Food Corporation Gunsan Branch Office · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
From the inner harbor's floating pier and the food corporation branch office to the memorial hall of the March 5 independence movement, the first south of the Hangang River, we trace Gunsan's modern history.
“If the floating pier on the inner harbor was a shipping machine that never stopped through high and low tides, the red-brick tower on Guam-dong Hill was a flame of resistance that burned against that time.”
Five-story Stone Pagoda in Balsan-ri, Gunsan · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We trace the modern history tied to the Goryeo stone lantern and five-story stone pagoda in Balsan-ri, Gaejeong-myeon, the former Japanese farm warehouse and Lee Yeong-chun House.
“Goryeo's stone pagoda and lantern, dragged in as garden ornaments for a Japanese farm owner, now stand before a school yard and a vault-like warehouse. They bear witness at once to imperial greed and a thousand years of time.”
Jacheondae Pavilion · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We link ancient and medieval heritage: Jacheondae Pavilion of Silla's Goun Choe Chi-won, Okgu Hyanggyo, the Joseon wooden Buddha halls of Sangjusa Temple and Daeungjeon Hall of Buljusa Temple, and Oseongsan Mountain.
“Widen your gaze a little from the red-brick open port, and a pavilion where a Silla writer read and hip-and-gable roofs shaped by Joseon carpenters stand guard on quiet mountainsides.”
Columns by topic
Dongguksa Temple · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We lay out a solid Gunsan route that works without limits on Monday, when the main museums and exhibition halls are closed.
“On Monday, when the exhibition halls close their doors, Gunsan changes from a city of ticketed museums into an everyday city you walk through.”
Gogunsan Bridge · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
From Sinsido Island to Munyeodo Island, Seonyudo Island, Jangjado Island and Daejangdo Island, we break down a multi-level Gogunsan Islands course that you cross by car and climb on foot.
“Car wheels may cross the suspension bridge over the sea in a flash, but the most overwhelming view of the Gogunsan Islands opens only to those who stand on foot atop a rock peak 142 m above sea level.”
Former Japanese 18th Bank Gunsan Branch · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We lay out an indoor course on the museum combined ticket, plus hands-on centers, that stays comfortable even on days of rain or strong wind.
“On a day when raindrops fall from the eaves, step through the door of a red-brick exhibition hall. The bad weather outside then becomes a backdrop that brings the port of a hundred years ago into sharp focus.”
Jangjado Island · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
A car-free travel plan that links a walkable 1 km radius in the old downtown with city bus No. 99 across Gogunsan Bridge.
“The moment you let go of the wheel, the low eaves of the old downtown and the horizon beyond Gogunsan Bridge, missed while hunting for parking, finally come into view.”
Eunpa Lake Park Mulbit Bridge · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We introduce night walking courses at Eunpa Lake Park and the inner harbor that run from the 17:00 museum closing until 23:00.
“Move your eyes from the red brick and gray granite of the day to the dark water, and the lights reflected in the lake and the harbor draw Gunsan's second face.”
Teddy Bear Museum · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We picked barrier-free family destinations in Gunsan with stroller and wheelchair rental and no step at the main entrance.
“A good family destination is not one built for the fastest pace. It is a place where the path opens to the slowest steps and the height of a wheel.”
Sinsido National Recreational Forest · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We compare stays by area: a lodging with Korean-style rooms on Dongguksa Temple Road, a hotel near Eunpa Lake, Sinsido National Recreational Forest and beach lodgings on Seonyudo Island.
“Depending on which neighborhood you rest your pillow in, the first scene of Gunsan you meet when you open the window the next morning may be a bamboo grove or the calm waves of the West Sea.”
We compare 7 old downtown guesthouses, let whole or by the room, in Japanese-style wooden houses of the 1920s–30s and in old inns.
“Wake up in a hundred-year-old house with creaking wooden stairs and open the window: the modern era you saw only behind museum glass flows past the eaves of your own room.”
We guide you to 9 reservation-only experiences, from certified rural education farms and traditional Korean confection and barley rice cake making to pottery and woodworking workshops.
“Making rice cakes from white waxy barley grown in the fields and turning West Sea clay on a wheel make a place something you remember through your fingertips, not a scene you pass by.”
Seonyu Sky Sunline · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 3 (no changes allowed)
We sum up 6 leisure sports spots in Gunsan, from the Seonyu Sky Sunline zip line and a cruise ship to campgrounds on Munyeodo Island and Gwallido Island, paragliding and horseback riding.
“The moment you ride a single line from a 12-story observation tower and cut across the emerald sea of Seonyudo Island, the Gogunsan Islands is no longer a picture postcard but wind hitting your whole body.”
Ongnyeo Intersection Green Barley Field · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We point out the right times to travel in each season. They run from green barley fields in spring and the Seonyudo Island beaches and craft beer festival in summer to the Time Travel Festival and the Spicy Noodle Soup Festival in autumn.
“When the April wind sways the green ears of barley and the October night air lights the lanterns of the Time Travel Village, the seasons become a compass for reading Gunsan in full.”
Columns by topic
Iseongdang · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
A Gunsan food route planned by time of day, from bean sprout soup with rice and beef and radish soup to red bean bread, spicy seafood noodle soup and starch-sauce noodles.
“The way to truly meet Gunsan's old restaurants is not to memorize well-known names. It is to arrive at the hour the fire is lit under each restaurant's pot.”
Hongyun Bakery · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 3 (no changes allowed)
From Iseongdang's rice-flour red bean bread to cafes in a disused rice warehouse and a Japanese-style wooden house, we map Gunsan's dessert landscape.
“To taste bread and coffee in Gunsan is to witness a moment when baking skills more than a hundred years old and the worn buildings of a port city are baked again with today's sensibility.”
Binhaewon · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 3 (no changes allowed)
We compare the lineage and opening hours of 6 Gunsan Chinese restaurants, from Bokseongnu, Binhaewon and Jirinseong to bean sprout spicy noodle soup for hangovers.
“Opening the door of a Gunsan Chinese restaurant means meeting a fire flavor made over a hundred years, as the woks of ethnic Chinese who crossed the West Sea from the Shandong Peninsula met the port's seafood.”
Gyegok Garden · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 3 (no changes allowed)
We list Gunsan's spots for soy-marinated crab, marinated king prawns and grilled tongue sole set meals across Gaejeong-myeon, Jochon-dong, the old downtown and Seonyudo Island.
“A plate of soy-marinated crab or grilled tongue sole on a Gunsan table holds the time of the tidal flats, shaped as the fresh water of the Geumgang estuary mixes with the salt water of the West Sea.”
Gunsan Public Market · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We sum up the specialties of 6 markets, from Gunsan Public Market and the Comprehensive Seafood Center to the Station Front Market, Sinyeong Market and the local food direct store.
“Walk Gunsan's market alleys, and bundles of half-dried tongue sole raised by the West Sea tidal flats and the scent of pickled oriental melon aged in sake lees tell you all about the household life of a port city.”
We cover 8 local restaurants, from long-running soba shops in Wolmyeong-dong and Jangmi-dong to white waxy barley bibimbap and barley bousse, a 400-seat leaf-wrap rice restaurant and seafood knife-cut noodle soup.
“Dip buckwheat noodles in tsuyu with slush ice floating on top, add sharp wasabi and grated radish, and you understand at once why Gunsan people line up outside soba shops even in midwinter.”
Columns by topic
Gogunsan Islands · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We look at how foreign media such as CNN Travel, Lonely Planet and the US military newspaper Stars and Stripes recorded Gunsan's islands, museum and bakery, alongside their original sentences.
“When a weekend drive and a neighborhood bakery we know well are translated into sentences in an unfamiliar language, the uniqueness Gunsan holds on the world stage comes into sharp focus.”
March 1st Movement 100th Anniversary Memorial Hall · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
A Geumgang River and West Sea course that starts at the Chae Man-sik Literary Museum and the March 1st Movement memorial hall and runs to the coastal deck of the Bieung Mapaji Trail.
“In Chae Man-sik's sentences, the muddy waves of the Geumgang estuary became a portrait of an era. For travelers walking the riverside today, they become the widest horizon opening to the West Sea.”
Bangchukdo Island · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We record the 1908 lighthouse on Eocheongdo Island and the sea routes to Bangchukdo Island, Maldo Island and Yeondo Island, reachable only by passenger ship beyond the bridges to the mainland.
“Real island time begins only where the bridges end. As the ferry's horn fades, the West Sea shows its deepest blue.”
Wolmyeong Park · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We guide you through Gunsan's Gubul Trails 1 and 2, the waterside trail of Cheongamsan Mountain, and a Wolmyeong Lake trek that takes in the 1915 No. 1 Reservoir embankment.
“On a path that winds and bends this way and that, travelers finally set down the noise of the port and hear the mist spreading over the lake and the breathing of the giant willows.”
Geumgangho Tourist Area · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 3 (no changes allowed)
We follow the Geumgang ecology belt from the Geumgang Future Experience Center, with its 11th-floor observation deck, to the Napo Sipjatteul Migratory Bird Observatory and the 200,000 m² Ecological Wetland Park.
“At dusk, when tens of thousands of Baikal teal rise at once over the Geumgang River and sweep across the sky like a black wave, the border between river and sea drawn by humans is erased in an instant.”
Marie Bookstore · Source: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1
We link a cultural walking route from Marie Bookstore, an independent bookstore on Guyeong 5-gil, to Idang Art Museum in the revived 1969 Yeonghwa Building and on to Mailbox Street.
“When old buildings breathe as galleries and bookstores for artists living today rather than staying stuffed relics, the city can finally be read in the present tense, not the past.”
