One of the best places in Seoul to catch a glimpse of the beautiful city is Namhansanseong Fortress. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, Namhansanseong Fortress is located in the small city of Gwangju in Gyeonggi Province. It was built during the Unified Silla period to protect Hanyang, the capital in the Joseon era. Today, the fortress remains as one of the most significant heritage sites containin...

Bupyeong Pungmul Festival The Bupyeong Pungmul Festival is scheduled to take place in Bupyeong, Incheon, Oct. 13 to 17. This year’s festival will be held both online and offline. The in-person activities will be at Camp Market and the Bupyeong Art Center, and the event will also be broadcast via the festival’s official YouTube channel. The festival, established in 1997, seeks to promote tradit...

Kyoha Central Park is one of the most scenic places to enjoy the autumn breeze in Gyeonggi Province. Visitors can walk along beautiful gardens with different themes. Each garden features traditional styles of seven countries: Korea, India, France, Italy, England, Japan, and China. Greeting visitors from the entrance is the Korean garden. The garden has a number of replicas of historical architec...

Mungyeong Chasabal Festival The Mungyeong Chasabal Festival will be run as an online-offline hybrid festival from Oct. 1 to 10. The festival will be held at Mungyeongsaejae Open Set Studio in Mungyeong, North Gyeongsang Province, an area famous for traditional ceramics. Visitors can learn the different steps of making traditional ceramics. Programs include a stamp tour, exhibition hall and mor...

Unlike other flowers that bloom in spring, the buckwheat flower blooms in September. Bongpyeong-myeon in Gangwon Province is well-known for the buckwheat flower. Inspired by breathtaking views of fields covered by a carpet of buckwheat flowers, Korean novelist Lee Hyo-seok who lived in the area wrote the bestselling novel “When the Buckwheat Flowers Bloom.” Before the outbreak of COVID-19, Bong...

Bupyeong Pungmul Festival The Bupyeong Pungmul Festival is scheduled to take place in Bupyeong, Incheon, from Oct. 13 to 17. This year’s festival will be held online and offline. The festival is taking place at Camp Market and Bupyeong Art Center in Bupyeong, and will broadcast via festival’s official YouTube channel. The event, started in 1997, seeks to promote traditional culture by reproduc...

For first-timers to Korea, Incheon might simply be thought of as an airport city. For those often on business trips to Korea, the city might be associated with Songdo, a rising global business district of high-tech skyscrapers. Aside from the images commonly pictured today, however, the city of Incheon boasts vibrant historical stories along with scenic beauties preserved in the once booming old...

The KITS Awards’ grand prize in the metropolitan government category went to Gangwon Province for taking the initiative to follow strict pandemic guidelines, swiftly adapting to the emphasis on “safe travels and tourism” during the pandemic. In the local government category, Iksan, North Jeolla Province, won the grand prize. The city is making ongoing efforts to develop products to make Iksan st...

Traces of literary figures remain in the rustic alleys of Seoul

Suwon Culture Night Suwon Culture Night will take place in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, from Oct. 15-17. Held at Suwon Hwaseong Fortress and Hwaseong Temporary Palace, the areas are decorated with media art installations, titled “eight nights.” Every corner of the fortress offers a historical and cultural experience to visitors. Admission fees vary by program. Updated information can be found o...

“In collaboration with renowned Korea hip-hop musicians, this promotion video will be our first attempt in using sonic branding tourism for viewers to recognize each region through music.” Oh Choong-sub, brand marketing team director at the Korean Tourism Organization, said in a press release. Each video is less than two minutes long, and English lyrics are included in the description. The video...

Traditional Korean houses, or hanok, are tightly clustered at Bukchon Hanok Village in Seoul, providing a chance to travel back in time and enjoy the views of nearby Joseon palaces. Bukchon is near Gyeongbok Palace, Changdeok Palace and Jongmyo Shrine, and its inhabitants in the past included many influential families and aristocrats. While bordered by modern buildings, the neighborhood itself ...

The ASEAN Familiarization Tour 2021 videos are available on the official YouTube channels of the Center and ASEAN tourism agencies. By Lee Si-jin ( sj_lee@heraldcorp.com )

Ulsan Onggi Festival The Ulsan Onggi Festival will take place at Oegosan Onggi Village in Ulsan from Oct. 1 to 8. The festival seeks to promote “onggi,” a traditional Korean earthenware pot, and offers visitors a chance to learn more about the pottery through various programs and hands-on experiences, including making onggi and an onggi master exhibition. The event welcomes visitors of all age...

Among central Seoul’s gray concrete buildings, lies a 450-meter road lined with walls plastered with pictures of eccentric comic characters from stories that mesmerized Koreans for decades. Painted in vibrant colors, the walls on Zaemiro, meaning fun street, bring life to Korean comic characters that later become inspirations to many K-dramas. In the first section, visitors are welcomed b...