2 days in Jeonju
Jeonju was the ancestral seat of the Joseon royal family and is still the country’s capital of food and tradition: a town of 650,000 with a living hanok village of more than 700 tiled houses at its centre. It is under two hours from Seoul by KTX. A day trip works, but the village is at its best in the evening and early morning, after the day visitors leave, so stay the night.
![Jeonju Hanok Village [Slow City]](https://tong.visitkorea.or.kr/cms/resource_photo/67/3516667_image2_1.jpg)
- KTX from Yongsan to Jeonju takes about 1 hour 40 minutes; Jeonju Station is 20–30 minutes by bus or taxi from the village. Express buses from Seoul take about 2 hours 45 minutes but drop you closer.
- Stay in a hanok. The village is full of guesthouses in traditional houses, sleeping on a heated floor; book ahead for autumn weekends.
- Weekends are busy with hanbok-wearing day-trippers. Weekdays are far calmer.
The village, the shrine and the night market
Arrive by lunch, walk the lanes in the afternoon, eat your way through Nambu Market after dark.
- 12:00
Lunch: Jeonju bibimbap
Bibimbap is Jeonju’s dish: rice cooked in beef broth, topped with a dozen seasoned vegetables, beef tartare and a raw egg yolk, served in brass. The long-established restaurants around the village are the place for it.
- 13:30in the village
Gyeonggijeon Shrine
Built in 1410 to hold the portrait of Yi Seong-gye, the founder of the Joseon dynasty, whose family came from Jeonju. The grounds are a quiet walled garden of bamboo and old trees, with a museum of royal portraits.
14:30across the roadJeondong Cathedral
A red-brick Romanesque cathedral of 1914, built on the site where Korea’s first Catholic martyrs were executed. One of the most beautiful churches in Korea, and a startling sight opposite a Joseon shrine.
- 15:30
The hanok lanes and Omokdae
Wander the back lanes away from the main street of snack stalls. Climb the short path to Omokdae for the view over the tiled roofs, and try on hanbok if you like; rental shops line the main road.
19:0010 min walkNambu Market night market
The traditional market by Pungnammun Gate turns into a night market of food stalls on Friday and Saturday evenings, and the youth mall on its upper floor has small bars and cafés. Kongnamul gukbap, bean-sprout soup, is the local breakfast here the next morning.
Murals, makgeolli and the train home
A slow morning in the village, the mural village on the hill, and a makgeolli lunch before the KTX.
09:30Jaman Mural Village
A hillside of small houses covered in murals, just across the stream from the hanok village, with cafés and a view back over the roofs.
- 11:00
Crafts and hanji
Jeonju is the home of hanji, traditional mulberry paper. The craft shops and exhibition hall in the village sell it as fans, lamps and notebooks, the best souvenir from the town.
13:00taxi 10 minA makgeolli lunch
In Jeonju’s makgeolli houses you order a kettle of rice wine and the side dishes simply keep coming, a whole table of them, with each new kettle. Go as a group and go hungry.
On in Jeonju this autumn
- Traditional performance parades through the hanok village on weekends until 31 October.
- Cultural Heritage Night Tour, 2–3 October.
- Jeonju International Hanji Fair, 8–10 October.
- Jeonju Street Puppet Festival, 10–11 October.
Day trips from Seoul2 days in GyeongjuEating in KoreaEverything in Jeonbuk
