Gunsan: Hotel, walking tour and retro tour
- ukasyashakena
- Jun 7, 2021
- 4 min read
OVERVIEW
Gunsan is a beautiful city, loaded with long interesting historical journey. Lies in North Jeolla Province, Gunsan is a city rich in various natural resources such as rice and crops once upon a time during the Japanese colonial era. Geographically Gunsan is a coastal city located on the west coast of Korea. Gunsan is a maritime city, hence, the existence of the port facilitates the trade activities of agricultural materials, especially rice. Due to that, the Japanese colonizers were very interested in migrating and settling in Gunsan.
HOW TO GO
From Seoul, I'd recommend to take express bus. The bus took time for about 2 hours 30mins from Seoul Central City Bus Terminal to Gunsan Intercity Bus Terminal. The cost for general bus or 일반고속 is 13,800 Korean won for one-way trip.
There is two part of Gunsan which are the inland and the Island; the Gogunsan Island. Since it'll be long I decided to separate it into two parts as follow:
PART 1: First, I'll cover Gunsan City. PART 2: Continue with the Gogunsan Island.
WHERE TO STAY
RAMADA HOTEL GUNSAN
Ramada Hotel in Gunsan located within walking distance to the famous Eunpa Lake. This would be the perfect option to stay and rest of you're coming with family especially with little kids. Around this hotel, there are numbers of beautiful cafes and various selection of restaurants. Buffet style breakfast is provided! and it is wide variety of menu ranging from Korean menu to western breakfast.
JAPANESE-STYLE GUESTHOUSES
If you're looking for slightly affordable accommodation, I'd suggest staying at Gunsan Modern History street. You can search on Naver or Google by typing "Guesthouse in Gunsan" or "군산 게하".
I recommend to stay in neighborhood like Sinheung-dong, Yonghwa-dong, Wolmyeong-dong or Jukseong-dong. The reason is all of these neighborhood are within walking distance to must visit places in Gunsan. Thus, to save time and money it is very much recommend to stay at these neighbourhoods.
Most of guesthouse in Sinheung-dong have Japanese style architecture. It'll be another experience to stay in this type of guesthouse. On top of that, the price are usually affordable which starting from 25,000 Korean won per person for a night. One of the example is as shown in the picture above. The guesthouse is called "Soseol Yoheng" or 소설여행. Reservation also can be made online at their website http://noveltour.modoo.at/
WHAT TO SEE
Due to the large number of Japanese immigrants who settled in Gunsan, during the outbreak of war in 1950 Gunsan was not destroyed. Therefore, the effect is that nowadays there are still many buildings that have Japanese-style architecture in Gunsan. Therefore, if you come to Gunsan one day, Here are six places you can visit!
#1 Gunsan Old Customs
Jeolla province used to be the capital of Korea. Hence, this custom office was an important office to make sure trading in the past runs smoothly. A little tips, if you're walk through the gate next to the building, there are new custom building on the left and library cafe, gift shop on your right.
Address: 전북 군산시 해망로 244-7
#2 Gunsan Modern History Museum
Not a typical museum! Every floor describes Gunsan’s historical timeline perfectly. My favorite hall was on the Third floor; Perfect replicate of Classrooms, university, shoe store, rice shipping, train station during the Japanese Occupation.
Address: 전북 군산시 해망로 240 Adults 2,000 won
#3 Hirotsu House
The house was located at Sinheun-dong were used to be a residential area for the wealthy during the Japanese colonial era. The two-story house was made of timber and retains the identity of Japanese architecture. Closed every Monday.
Address: 전북 군산시 구영1길 17
#4 Yeomirang
Yeomirang is one of the guesthouse located in Gunsan Modern History Street. Not only a Guesthouse but also operating a cafe. Thus, it explain even if you're not staying in the property, on normal days public still can access to the area. Here, you can roaming at their beautiful garden and cafe.
Address: 전북 군산시 구영6길 13
#5 Chowon Photo studio
This place is Chowon Photo Studio. To be exact it is the shooting location of the popular “Christmas in August” (1998) which follows the love story of a terminally ill photographer and a parking agent. I still remember crying a bucket while watching it haha
Address: 전북 군산시 팔마로 211
#6 Bonus! Gyeongam-dong railway town
Here you can rent the Korean old school uniforms, walk through the street and take cute photos! You also can seat and make Dalgona. The alley has various shops that sell old-school Korean sweet treats. The whole street is filled with nostalgic old-school Korean things!
Address: 전북 군산시 경촌4길 14
What I love the most about Gunsan is the city itself is easy to explore. If you're coming from intercity bus terminal, just make a stop at the Gyeongdam Railway Town first. A lot of downtown buses running. After that, simply take bus at the nearest bus stop to Gunsan Modern Museum and start your walking tour to the rest of places from there :)
Happy exploring!
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