The 10 best places to visit in South Korea in 2026 — Quartz

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The 10 best places to visit in South Korea in 2026 — Quartz | AIPROPX

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List slides The 10 best places to visit in South Korea in 2026 — beyond Seoul List slides Previous Start over By Cris Tolomia · Updated August 14, 2026 Add QZ to Google Seoul absorbs most of the attention that international travelers give South Korea, and it earns some of that. Gyeongbokgung Palace, Gangnam, and a subway map that reaches nearly every corner of the capital make it an easy default. But building an entire Korea trip around Seoul means skipping the geology, history, and food culture that define the rest of the peninsula. Outside the capital sit two Buddhist monuments that predate the printing press. There is a volcanic island with its own UNESCO triple designation, and a coastal wetland that shelters some of the rarest cranes on Earth.

The logistics make this an easy case to act on. South Korea's KTX high-speed rail network and dense highway system put nearly every destination on this list within two to four hours of Seoul. A few of them, including Gyeongju, Jeonju, and Busan, work as long day trips when time is tight. That accessibility is part of why 2026 is a good year to plan beyond the capital. Regional festivals such as Andong's mask dance celebration mark milestone anniversaries this year. Towns like Suncheon and Damyang also stay far less crowded than Seoul's palace district, even during peak travel months.

This list covers the best places to visit in South Korea beyond Seoul, chosen for what each one offers that nowhere else in the country does. A volcanic island built by a shield volcano. A still-inhabited clan village from the early Joseon dynasty. A coastal wetland with international protected status. A mountain range that turns crimson every October. Some of these are cities of a few hundred thousand people or more. Others are single villages or parks built around one landscape or one tradition.

None of the 10 are ranked against each other, and none require a rental car, though having one opens up smaller stops along the way. Each entry below stands on its own, with the specific sites, seasons, and practical details that make it worth building a trip around in 2026.

Busan is South Korea's second-largest city and its most complete coastal getaway, roughly two and a half hours from Seoul by KTX. It combines beach culture, a working seafood market, and an arts scene built into a former refugee settlement, all within a single subway system.

Haeundae Beach anchors the city's east side: a wide stretch of sand backed by high-rises, packed each summer with swimmers and late-night barbecue crowds. Gwangalli Beach, a short ride away, offers a quieter stretch with a view of the Gwangan Bridge lit up after dark. The two beaches sit close enough together that a swim and an evening walk fit into the same afternoon.

Gamcheon Culture Village climbs a steep hillside in the Saha district. The neighborhood took shape in the 1920s and 1930s to house workers moving into Busan. It filled further with refugees during the Korean War, and for decades it stayed one of the city's poorest areas. In 2009, artists and residents repainted the maze of narrow alleys and stacked houses as part of a public art project. The pastel rooftops earned comparisons to Santorini and the nickname the Machu Picchu of Busan. The village now functions as an open-air gallery, with murals, small museums, and hanbok-rental shops folded into the original homes.

Jagalchi Market, on the harbor near Nampo-dong, is Korea's largest seafood market. Its stalls trace back to the Japanese colonial period. The market took its current form after the Korean War, when refugee vendors began selling their catch straight off the boats. Most were women, known locally as jagalchi ajumma, and the name stuck. Live octopus, blowfish, and hagfish sit in tanks on the ground floor. Upstairs restaurants will grill or prepare whatever a customer picks out below, for a fee per portion.

Busan also hosts the Busan International Film Festival each October. Founded in 1996 as Korea's first international film festival, it is now the largest film festival in Asia. The event fills the Busan Cinema Center in Haeundae for 10 days with premieres and masterclasses. It draws a public audience that numbers in the hundreds of thousands across the full run.

Jeju Island, a volcanic island roughly an hour's flight south of Seoul, holds three separate UNESCO designations over the same landscape. It carries a Biosphere Reserve label, a Global Geopark status, and a World Natural Heritage listing, a combination locals call the UNESCO triple crown.

Hallasan, a shield volcano that forms the island's center, is South Korea's highest peak at 1,947 meters. Its crater holds Baengnokdam, a lake that fills and empties with the seasons. Two main trails, Seongpanak and Gwaneumsa, lead hikers to the summit, each roughly nine kilometers one way. Around the mountain sit 368 smaller volcanic cones known locally as oreum, more than surround any other single volcano on Earth.

The Geomunoreum Lava Tube System, part of the 2007 UNESCO World Natural Heritage listing, includes Manjanggul Cave, one of the longest lava tubes in the world open to visitors. Its passages run wide enough to walk through standing upright. Dark, ropy lava walls line the tunnel, formed as the outer surface of a flow cooled while molten rock kept m...