Insight Guides: South Korea

How To Use This E-Book

Getting around the e-book

This Insight Guide e-book is designed to give you inspiration for your visit to South Korea, as well as comprehensive planning advice to make sure you have the best travel experience. The guide begins with our selection of Top Attractions, as well as our Editors Choice categories of activies and experiences. Detailed features on history, people and culture paint a vivid portrait of contemporary life in South Korea. The extensive Places chapters give a complete guide to all the sights and areas worth visiting. The Travel Tips provide full information on getting around, hotels, activities from to culture to shopping to sport, plus a wealth of practical information to help you plan your trip.

In the Table of Contents and throughout this e-book you will see hyperlinked references. Just tap a hyperlink once to skip to the section you would like to read. Practical information and listings are also hyperlinked, so as long as you have an external connection to the internet, you can tap a link to go directly to the website for more information.

Maps

All key attractions and sights in South Korea are numbered and cross-referenced to high-quality maps. Wherever you see the reference [map] just tap this to go straight to the related map. You can also double-tap any map for a zoom view.

Images

Youll find hundreds of beautiful high-resolution images that capture the essence of South Korea. Simply double-tap on an image to see it full-screen.

About Insight Guides

Insight Guides have more than 40 years experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides. We produce 400 full-colour titles, in both print and digital form, covering more than 200 destinations across the globe, in a variety of formats to meet your different needs.

Insight Guides are written by local authors who use their on-the-ground experience to provide the very latest information; their local expertise is evident in the extensive historical and cultural background features. All the reviews in Insight Guides are independent; we strive to maintain an impartial view. Our reviews are carefully selected to guide to you the best places to stay and eat, so you can be confident that when we say a restaurant or hotel is special, we really mean it.

Like all Insight Guides , this e-book contains hundreds of beautiful photographs to inspire and inform your travel. We commission most of our own photography, and we strive to capture the essence of a destination using original images that you wont find anywhere else.

2013 Apa Publications (UK) Ltd

Introduction: The Shrimp Between Whales

Ancient and modern casually co-exist in this little-known East Asian land. South Korea is full of interest, yet remains happily removed from the tourist trail.

Surrounded by the less-than-gentle giants of Japan, China, and Russia, the Korean peninsula has long been the shrimp between whales, as it is described in a Korean proverb. The situation is exacerbated by the long-standing schism between North and South, a Cold War fault line that continues to divide the Korean people into rich and poor, free and oppressed.

The Silla tombs at Gyeongju.

Chris Stowers/Apa publications

Still fiercely independent after centuries of invasions and wars, South Korea combines Confucian and Buddhist traditions with the modernity that makes it one of the worlds most technologically advanced nations. The teeming, high-rise, high-energy conurbation of the capital, Seoul, is home to over 11 million people and a global leader in cutting-edge computer technology, yet is also a centuries-old city with a rich history, with the traditions of the old Joseon dynasties surviving amid the clamor. Monks and fortune-tellers wander among the fashionable young, shrines and temples sit quietly beneath towering office blocks.

Posing for the camera at Jikji-sa temple.

Chris Stowers/Apa publications

You can expect a friendly, humorous reception from the proud, spontaneous people: even in the main cities you will be regarded with a certain curiosity and hospitality. With a penchant for entertainment, including drinking, song, dance, and theater, the Koreans are boisterous and joyous hosts. The food is fantastic, too.

Thanks to K-pop and recent hits like Psys Gangnam Style, South Korea is finally on the tourist map, yet the staggering economic achievements of the past 50 years sometimes overshadow its rich cultural heritage and haunting natural beauty. The fact that there are relatively few tourists makes for a more authentic and rewarding experience for those who do travel here to explore the mountains and their lost-in-the-clouds temples, the timeless rural landscapes, ancient villages and imperial ruins.

Shopping at Seouls Namdaemun market.

Chris Stowers/Apa publications

South Koreas Top 10 Attractions

Our guide to the best of South Koreas many sights, from the megalopolis of Seoul to the forested mountains of Seoraksan, the Ten Thousand Islands off the southwest coast, atmospheric temples, folk villages and more.

Top Attraction 1

Changdeokgung Palace (Seoul) . Splendid Korean palace buildings and serene, Zen-inspired grounds highlight the grandeur of Korean royalty. Be sure to see the Secret Garden (Biwon), the gem within a gem. For more information, .

Chris Stowers/Apa publications

Top Attraction 2

Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) . The worlds most heavily fortified border almost seems part of an absurdist play, but theres no denying the barbed wire or the grim skirmishes that have occurred here. The Third Tunnel of Aggression is a must-see. For more information, .

Chris Stowers/Apa publications

Top Attraction 3

Gyeongju . The giant tumuli mounds are just one of the captivating sights in and around Koreas magnificent Silla-era capital, the museum without walls. For more information, .