From making Gochujang to picking tangerines on Jeju island: 11 things to do in South Korea

Has your love for K-dramas and K-pop finally encouraged you to book a flight to South Korea? When the government of South Korea declared 2023-2024 as the Visit Korea Year, the country’s tourism board selected 100 places for K-culture fans to visit. These can be easily found on the Visit Korea website.

But, if you are still finalising your itinerary, we have curated a list of unique places and experiences that fans of the global Korean wave, called Hallyu, will love.

1. Visit the Eurwangni Beach in Incheon: Just 6.5 kilometers away from the Incheon airport is Eurwang-dong.

It houses some of the country’s best seaside restaurants.

Designated as a National Tourist Site in 1986, the Eurwangni Beach is well-known among for its white sand and mesmerising sunsets.

The beachside restaurants serve freshly grilled seafood. According to tour guides the beach area is a popular filming location and some of these restaurants and the beach have also been featured in K-dramas like ‘My Love from the Stars’.

2. Pray for peace at the Aegibong Ecopark: If you have watched the romantic comedy Crash Landing on You, featuring the celebrity K-drama couple Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin, then this place will remind you of Yoon Se-ri’s (played by Son Ye-jin) paragliding mishap that landed her in North Korea, where she met the love of her life Captain Ri Jeong-hyeok (played by Hyun Bin).

Located in the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) in Gimpo-si, is the Aegibong Ecopark.

According to Visit Korea’s official website, the mountain is where North and South Korea engaged in a fierce battle at the end of the Korean War. After the battle, Korea was divided into two nations. From the peak, an open view of North Korean territory unfolds below, and visitors can see South Korean territory as far as Songhaksan Mountain in Chungcheongnam-do. Since the peak is still a restricted area, visitors must present their passports to enter.

At the other end of the park is the Peace Eco Exhibition hall, where people often come to pray for peace and unification. From the second floor of the exhibition hall, you can view the river, Jo-gang. The name Jo-gang means a ‘large river’ or ‘Grandfather River’, because three tributaries of Han-gang, Imjin-gang, and Yeseong-gang meet here. The Jo-gang Observation Deck, inside the eco-park, offers a view of GaePunggun County in North Korea’s DMZ, just 1.4km away.

Large telescopes installed at the observatory allow visitors to see people working in what looks like a small North Korean village.

On the way to the observatory, you also cross the Bell of Peace. It was made with the remains of cartridge cases left behind after the Korean War.

3. Learn how to make rice cakes and gochujang: K-culture lovers will be familiar with tteokbokki, a dish made using rice cakes. In Gimpo-si, you can learn how to make these rice cakes at a workshop called ‘Byeokkot Nongbu’, meaning ‘rice flower farmer’.

Experienced farmers and staff will explain how rice cakes are made by beating glutinous rice into a thick paste, kneading, and cutting it into uniformly sized pieces.

You can also make your own set of rice cake desserts and pack them for a snack on the way to your next destination.

You can also ask for a workshop to learn how to make gochujang, or a fermented red chili paste popularly used in Korean cooking.

At these workshops, you will use 100 per cent Gochugaru, or Korea’s popular, coarsely ground chilli powder, freshly harvested in neighbouring farms.

Visit the world’s largest café: Coffee lovers, did you know that the largest café in the world is in Korea? The café called Positive Space 566 was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records in April 2023. It is in Gimpo City and will fall on your way if you are travelling from Incheon International Airport to Seoul. The café has 2,190 indoor seats and is spread over six floors, dividing the cafe into different concept zones or seating areas. With luxurious furnishings and some elaborate décor, the café includes meeting rooms, seating areas for large groups, party spaces, an event hall, and a terrace. There is also an art centre on the fifth floor, where visitors can enjoy exhibitions.

5. Detox at Korea’s largest herbal botanical garden: Pocheon’s Herb Island is the largest herbal botanical garden in Korea. The garden is green all year round with over 250 different varieties of herbs and plants. Located in Pocheon, an inland city in the far northeastern region of Gyeonggi province, Herb Island serves as a healing space and eco-education facility for children.

It has a museum and a healing center with a spa. Here you can enjoy a detox herbal bath, a foot spa, or a foot bath with natural herbal oils such as lavender, peppermint, and herbs. You can also see the extraction machines that are used to extract these oils.

Herb Island is also a great spot to see pink muhly grass, a popular tourist attraction in South Korea. Also known as Korean silver grass, is a type of ornamental grass native to Asia. It is known for its delicate pink plumes, which bloom in autumn.

According to Visit Korea’s official website, every summer, Herb Island is covered with lavender often called the ‘queen of fragrance’. Lavender, the native habitat of which is along the Mediterranean coast, contains volatile essential oils in every part of the plant. Its scent is believed to help relieve headaches and promote calmness.

Head to the restaurant for a detoxifying multi-course lunch, with herbal vegetarian dishes and banchan or Korean side dishes.

6. Walk along the Han River in Seoul Often featured in Korean dramas, the Han River or Hangang is a major river in South Korea. It is the fourth longest river on the Korean peninsula, with some of its tributaries and drainage basin in North Korea. The Han River and its surrounding area have played an important role in Korean history. The Three Kingdoms of Korea strove to take control of this land, where the river was used as a trade route to China, via the Yellow Sea. Today, it serves as a water source for over 12 million South Koreans. The walkways along the river are perfect for an evening stroll with your companion or even alone.

The Korean Tourism Organisation opened HiKR Ground as the ultimate interactive Hallyu playground, in 2022. Located in Cheonggyecheon-ro, Jung-gu in Seoul, it is free for visitors.

The immersive tourism space has K-Pop and K-Drama zones and is designed for younger visitors to understand and enjoy Korean culture. Walk in and you might find people dancing to their favorite BTS song or creating their own K-pop videos.

It also has a wellness tourism floor, where visitors can find out everything about Korea’s medical and wellness tourism, find the right Korean tea for you, or measure how stress is affecting your brain activity.

Many prominent gaming contests are held in the HiKR Ground exhibition halls and the space also showcases traditional and modern art for the creatively inclined.

The building also houses a dessert café, where visitors queue up for hours to buy doughnuts, which recently went viral on social media.

8. Visit the Blue House Cheong Wa Dae or the Blue House served as the office and residence for Korean Presidents from 1948 to 2022. On May 10, 2022, following the relocation of the presidential office to the defence ministry building in Yongsan District, Cheong Wa Dae was opened to the public for the first time in 74 years. Now, it has become a popular tourist spot. Visitors can tour Cheong Wa Dae by making an appointment online or through an on-site application. Admission is free. The most prominent and signature feature of the Presidential Residence of Cheong Wa Dae is its blue tiles on the roof of the Main Office. Approximately 150,000 in number, each tile was baked individually to make them strong enough to last for hundreds of years, tour guides will tell you.

The main building was built in September 1991 to be used for the president's office. There is the Oval Office and it is the place where the Cabinet meeting is held. In the past, meetings of senior aides were also held here.

Next to it is a room to receive important foreign delegates visiting the Blue House.

There are three entrance gates to Cheong Wa Dae – the Yeongbinmun Gate in the west, the main gate in the center, and the Chunchumun or the Spring and Autumn Gate in the east. Apart from the main office building, which was used for the office of the President and reception of foreign guests, the Cheong Wa Dae compound also includes Yongbingwan or the State Guest House, where large-scale conferences and official events for foreign state guests were held; The Presidential Residence, where the president and his family lived; Sangchunjae, a venue for ceremonial events and informal meetings with foreign delegates visiting the Blue House; Nokjiwon Garden, which houses over 120 species of trees and commemorative plantings by past presidents; Chunchugwan or the Spring and Autumn Hall, which was used as a press conference venue for the President; Mugunghwa Garden, a public rest park; and the Chilgung Shrine.

9. Stroll along the Fortress Wall of Seoul: The Fortress Wall of Seoul runs 18.6 kilometers around the center of the city of Seoul. The series of walls made of stone, wood, and other materials, were built in 1396 to protect the city of Seoul against invaders and mark the boundaries of the city during the Joseon period. Here you might also see Korean women dressed in Hanboks (traditional Korean clothes) entering the old buildings or walking along the fortress walls. Some pose for a pretty Instagram shot. According to a tour guide, they do so as a sign of respect when visiting historical buildings and some palaces even offer free entry to Korean visitors wearing Hanboks.

The streets around the Fortress Wall area are lined with plenty of trees. During autumn months, these streets are a sight to behold, with the tree leaves turning different shades of sunset.

10. Pick tangerines on Jeju Island.

Jeju Island is often called Korea's Hawaii. A hotspot for family vacations away from city life, a destination for weddings and honeymoon trips, and a filming location for music video shoots, the island is a top getaway spot in South Korea. From its summery island beaches to the statuesque Hallasan Mountain, South Koreans love everything about Jeju.

So, it isn’t surprising that the Jeju tangerine, or gamgyul, is lauded across Jeju Island and South Korea at large, as a citrus fruit miracle. A perfect blend of sweet and tart, it is common for Korean families to order massive boxes of tangerines from Jeju Island each winter. Supermarkets stock bags of tangerines on sale during gyul season, which is usually around wintertime, at very affordable rates. Jeju island has plenty of tangerine groves and visitors often visit these groves or farms for a small fee of around 5,000 won (Dh14) to pick tangerines with their own hands and take them home. One such farm, located on the outskirts of Hallasan Mountain, is the Hueree Natural Park. The park also offers other seasonal programs: Apricot Flower Festival, Plum Harvest, and Orange Mandarin Harvest.

Visitors are allowed to roam freely through rows of Jeju tangerine trees. For no extra cost, you can borrow the farm’s gloves, clippers, and baskets. All Jeju tangerine farms usually have a small gift shop selling Jeju Island chocolates and citrus teas. Cafes at these farms often sell sweet tangerine juice, freshly squeezed right in front of you. According to visitjeju.net, due to Jeju Island’s mild winter climate, tangerines are believed to have been grown on the island as far back as the Three Kingdoms Period (from 57BC to AD668). According to ancient Japanese records—Higo Kunishi (History of Higo), Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters), Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan)—there were over 14 species of native tangerine trees on Jeju Island. Several were brought to Japan and improved, and in fact, most of the Mandarin oranges currently on the market are descendants of these improved varieties.

11. Experience the speed of gravity: Experience zero gravity

Apart from beautiful beaches, and popular attractions such as the Hallasan National Park, Osulloc Tea Museum, and Jeju Stone Park, Jeju Island also houses the country’s first smart racing theme park. Creatively named after the acceleration of gravity (9.81m/s²), Jeju 9.81 Park is a non-motorised racing theme park where speed racing is allowed with the help of gravity.

As you race down the tracks, you will see stunning views of the Jeju Sea and Hallasan Mountain. There are different tracks for beginners, amateurs, and experienced, to choose from based on the preferred level of difficulty.