Our two day itinerary for Gyeongju, South Korea.

When I first found out that I was going to Busan, South Korea, on a fully funded government scholarship for two months in the summer of 2024, I had an inkling of what I wanted to do during my free travel weekends. We were told we had three, but then one of them was taken away.

Unfortunately, the travel weekend that was taken away I had been planning to go to Gyeongju. But all things were made right when my program announced we were going one weekend to Gyeongju.

There, we had program activities. I think in the future I would love to spend three days in the city and just wander, as we were on the program’s time and schedule, and I did not get to see a lot of the historical sights.

But here’s what we did during our time in Gyeongju! It’s only an hour away from Busan by bus, so it’s such a convenient location if you’re already in the southern part of South Korea already.

The Gyeongju National Museum is free, and full of incredible history.

We unfortunately only had an hour at the Gyeongju National Museum, but if you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend swinging by. Each of the different museum complex buildings is designed in the old Silla style, so the architecture alone is stunning to look at.

As the heading above mentioned, this is a national museum in Korea, which means it is free to enter. For any of those looking to visit Korea for the first time, any museum that has a national designated status means that it is free. Only private museums are the ones you pay for.

That said, we spent all of our time in the Silla history building, the one right in the middle when you enter the museum grounds. There were quite a few artifacts present in the building, with one of my favorite ones being an entire Silla crown that was excavated from the ground.

I was sad not to be able to see the Silla and Joseon art building, but it made me more determined to go back to the city and enjoy it on my own time. In the museum gift shop, I purchased a little pin on the Silla crown on display, then some postcards of art I did not see.

The Golgulsa Buddhist Temple Stay experience certainly was an interesting time.

The main component of our trip to Gyeongju was a temple stay at Golgulsa, which is famous for its form of martial arts. Known as Seonmudo, this form of martial arts is a place and haven for those looking for a different kind of Buddhist practice.

We arrived after our time in the museum and quickly changed into the Buddhist temple clothes. It was a thick pair of trousers and an orange vest you had to wear over a modest t-shirt. Our program was all lumped together, which meant 21 girls were staying in the same room with bunk beds.

There was a little opening ceremony and demonstration, then in the afternoon we began the 108 bows. I did about 90 bows, and man my body hurt. I also played soccer with my friends outside of the temple, as there were some little goals set up right by its doors on a grassy field.

We did stretches and exercises as well, then headed to a vegetarian meal. We were then given time to explore, as this temple hosts one of the only cave temple structures of the Buddha in Korea. I did not make it there, as my body hurt so bad from the bows.

The next morning, we were woken up at 5 AM for the morning prayer and exercises. We did that for about an hour and half, ate breakfast, then I passed out in my bed until the next activity.

The seaside is gorgeous, but painful.

We went on a bus to the seashore of Gyeongju, which was incredibly beautiful to look at. With our straw hats, which were reminiscent of Luffy from One Piece, we had some time to wander the little coastal shore.

When that time was up, we ventured back to the bus, then went to a different beach. There, we ended up during more stretches and martial arts, but man it was also one of the most painful things I’ve ever done.

The rocks were burning hot under the Korean summer sun, and we were being instructed to put our hands on them. Right after, we were asked if we wanted to swim.

I took off my shoes and hiked the temple trousers up, then ventured into the water. Barefoot those rocks were some of the worst things I’ve experienced, and the sea was full of sharp rocks.

Man, that was beautiful to see, but I would never swim or stretch on those beaches again.

After that we checked out of the temple and went back to Busan. As I mentioned before, I would love to go back to Gyeongju to explore more!

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