Daereungwon and CheonmachongPhoto: Basile Morin / CC BY-SA 4.0
- Getting there
- Taxi ~70 min each way, 49.9 km; ₩43,000–55,000 each way on the meter, our estimate
Checked · Researched, not yet visited · travel times are our map estimates · Takumi Yamada
Some twenty great grass-covered royal tombs of Silla in the middle of Gyeongju. Cheonmachong is the one you can enter: it held a gold crown and the painted flying horse that gives it its name, shown in replica inside. The park is free, 09:00–22:00; Cheonmachong is ₩3,000. Hwangnidan-gil and Cheomseongdae are beside it, and so is lunch: the Korea Tourism Organization names the street along the tombs’ wall as Gyeongju’s ssambap alley, rice in leaf wraps with grilled fish or pork and soybean stew, usually sold for two or more. Shop hours are not published; bring won.
- Number 2 of ten on our list for Ulsan.
- On a 4–6h ashore call our verdict is "Just" — taxi there and back with an hour among the tombs and Cheomseongdae; Bulguksa is the better single choice.
- 09:00–22:00, every day — main gate last entry 21:30; back gate and Cheonmachong 09:00–21:30.
- 3 hr 20 min door to door needs a 5.5-hour call: a 2–3 hour stop cannot hold it. Pick something closer instead.
Things worth knowing
- Eat first: the ssambap street is along the wall.
- Cheonmachong is the indoor part, useful in rain.
- Taxis back to the port: agree the return with the driver who brought you, or book a car for the day through the ship.
Daereungwon and Cheonmachong and your ship
Both pins on one map, so the distance is a fact rather than a feeling.
Where the 3 hr 20 min goes
The hour before all-aboard is not in this bar; it is already set aside. The minutes are our estimates from timetables and maps, not timed on the ground.
If your ship is late, cut the 1 hr 10 min in the middle. Never cut the hour at the end.
Questions
Is Daereungwon free?
The park is free. Cheonmachong, the tomb you can enter, is ₩3,000 for adults, ₩2,000 for youths and ₩1,000 for children.
What are the opening hours?
The main gate is open 09:00–22:00 with last entry at 21:30; the back gate and Cheonmachong 09:00–21:30. Open every day.
Routes that already include it
Finished days timed from map routing, our estimates, with this stop in them.
Gyeongju in a day: Bulguksa, the museum, Daereungwon and CheomseongdaeNeeds a 9.5-hour call · ~7.5h door to doorA full expedition day, if you skip the line’s coach
The museum and the inside of a royal tombA wet day · ~5.5h door to doorRain; the museum and the inside of a royal tomb are under coverWhat to put beside it
Each of these still lands you back aboard with the hour to spare.
See · ~3hBulguksa
The head temple of Silla Buddhism on the slopes of Tohamsan, a World Heritage site with Seokguram grotto above it.
See the detail
See · ~3hGyeongju National Museum
The real gold crowns from the Silla tombs, and outside the Bell of King Seongdeok, cast in 771.
See the detail
See · ~3hCheomseongdae
The stone observatory of the 7th century, a bottle-shaped tower of granite in the open fields beside the tombs.
See the detail