Gyeongju
UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Gyeongju Historic Areas (2000) And Seokguram Grotto And Bulguksa Temple (1995); Capital Of Silla For Nearly A Thousand Years · Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang
A small city in North Gyeongsang that was the capital of the Silla kingdom for nearly a thousand years, from the first century BC to 935, and at its height in the seventh to ninth centuries ruled most of the peninsula. It is often called a museum without walls: in the middle of town, grassy royal burial mounds rise like hills among the houses at Daereungwon, where the Cheonmachong tomb can be entered, and nearby stand the Cheomseongdae star-gazing tower, the reflecting Wolji Pond of Donggung Palace and the Gyeongju National Museum with its great bronze bell. Up on Tohamsan, the temple of Bulguksa and the granite Buddha of Seokguram grotto are among the finest Buddhist works in Asia. The Gyeongju Historic Areas and Seokguram with Bulguksa are both UNESCO sites, and the Joseon clan village of Yangdong is a third. Visitors cycle between the tombs and ruins, stay in hanok guesthouses, drink coffee in the cafes of Hwangnidan-gil and eat the town's red-bean bread. In 2025 Gyeongju hosted the APEC leaders' meeting.
Daereungwon Tomb Complex, Hwangnam-dong, Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, 38170, South Korea
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the tomb park and Cheonmachong open from about 9 am to 10 pm, Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond from about 9 am to 10 pm with last entry about 30 to 60 minutes before closing, and Bulguksa and Seokguram from about 7 or 9 am to about 5 or 6 pm by season. The Gyeongju National Museum is open daily with long hours and closes on some holidays. Traps: last buses up to Seokguram and back from Yangdong leave in the afternoon; hotels full in blossom week; the Monday or holiday closing of smaller museums.