Gyeongju UNESCO World Heritage Sites and History Small-Group Full-Day Tour with Lunch
4.8
83 Ratings
Gyeongju
Explore the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Gyeongju on this full-day tour. Visit historic places, enjoy a delicious lunch, and learn about the city's rich history with a knowledgeable guide.
Duration: 8 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Cheomseongdae Observatory - Cheomseongdae is the oldest existing astronomical observatory in Asia.

Constructed during the reign of Queen Seon-deok (632-647), it was used for observing the stars in order to forecast the weather. This stone structure is a beautiful combination of straight lines and curves, and was designated as National Treasure No.31 on December 20th, 1962.

Cheomseongdae was built in a cylinder shape with stones 30cm in diameter. 362 stones were piled up to make 27 levels. Roughly 4.16m up from the bottom there is a 1㎡ square entrance and a space to hang a ladder under it.

The inside is filled with soil up to the 12th level, and the 19th, 20th, 25th, and 26th levels all have long rocks hanging on two areas, shaped as the Chinese letter ‘井’ (jeong).

It stands 9.17m high and the base stone on each side measures 5.35m.

The Vernal Equinox, Autumnal Equinox, Winter Solstice, Summer Solstice and the 24 solar terms (also known as the astronomical solar year) were determined by the observation of stars. The pavilion stone is believed to have been used as a standard of deciding directions, north, south, east and west. The 362 stones used to build Cheomseongdae represented the 362 days in a lunar year.

What's Included
  • Convenient hotel pickup and drop-off included
  • No hidden costs with all taxes, fees, and handling charges covered
  • Stay hydrated with complimentary bottled water
  • Expertise of a professional guide for a more insightful experience
  • Skip the queues with guaranteed fast-track entry
  • Comfortable travel in an air-conditioned minivan
  • Additional pickup and drop-off at Haeundae subway station available
Additional Information

On this 8-hour intimate group excursion, your devoted guide and chauffeur will guide you through the picturesque city of Gyeongju. You will explore UNESCO World Heritage locations, Bulguk Temple and Seokguram Grotto, among other significant historical sites. This excursion comes with lunch, admission charges, and transport included.

This journey calls for a minimum of 2 participants to proceed; if this condition isn’t fulfilled, the excursion might be called off.

  • Children must be accompanied by an adult
  • Adult pricing applies to all travelers except those aged 4 or under, who go free of charge
  • Please wear comfortable shoes (high heels are not recommended)
  • Sun screen is recommended
  • Vegetarian option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
Location
Cheomseongdae Observatory
140-25 Cheomseong-ro,
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.8
(83 Ratings)
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Nomad21230878188
Mar 12, 2024
Best City Tour Ever from Steve! - Long overdue but here goes. We had Steve as our tour guide and he was absolutely the best. We weren't originally sure what to expect for this tour as I had been to Gyeongju as a child while my partner (from America) had never been to Korea before. Steve, who was completely fluent in both English and Korean, gave us such a fun tour and we are so glad we signed up last minute. For someone who did not grow up in Korea, Steve was extremely knowledgable and had a lot of interesting facts that you normally might not get from touring the city on your own even if you were educated in Korea. Steve is very easy-going, thoughtful, and makes sure that the tour he gives fits the agenda you are looking for that day. Whether you are Korean or not, speak the language or not, or knowledable in Korean history, we would absolutely recommend hiring Steve for the day and you can relax while you let him take you around. As the historic capital of Korea, he definitely had an impact on how we viewed the city by the time we left in the hopes of younger generations sticking around to keep the history alive in such a beautiful historic city.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Russell_l
Oct 12, 2023
A day out in Gyeongju - Our tour guide Steve was really engaging and brought to life the ancient history all around Gyeongju.
Review provided by Viator
Nikolet2015
Oct 9, 2023
Gyeongju - Steve was great. Two very different groups and he managed both well. We saw a ton in a day and we would not have been able to enjoy all of the sites without Steve. He had bottled water for us and all tickets were included. It was a great day!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lena_l
Oct 4, 2023
Great - It was 4 ppl very small group and the guide was very knowledgeable and gave many info. There was a driver dedicated as well who will drop you off in front of gate and pick you up so it will minimize walk. We did total of 11,000 steps on this day which was lower than expected. My husband and I enjoyed the trip!
Review provided by Viator
Linda_s
Sep 26, 2023
Well-paced, informative, and fun day in Gyeongju - My partner and I enjoyed this tour. We were only stopping in Gyeongju for 1 day and a half plus we didn't have a car, so we found this tour to be the most efficient way to see the main sites...which were truly lovely and beautiful!. Chris was a great guide; he was friendly, engaging, shared some educational info on the area, and was a safe driver.
Review provided by Viator
Bryan_t
Sep 8, 2023
Awesome - Steve was awesome. I would highly recommend to everyone. He was very attentive to our situations and was very knowledgeable.
Review provided by Viator
Luke_m
Jul 21, 2023
Interesting and informative - Very interesting city and made seeing all the sights very easy and convenient with your own driver who tells you the history as you go. The lunch as very good and filling at a local restaurant. Even gave me a lift to Busan at the end to save me getting the train.
Review provided by Viator
Sarah_d
Aug 25, 2023
Nice,Chill Time - Good time! Having someone drive was a huge help, and Chris was really friendly. Easy to talk to. He let us do our own thing, not as structured as a usual tour, but it was nice for our group.
Review provided by Viator
Ae_e
Jul 23, 2023
Efficient! - If you're travelling alone, this is a practical and efficient way to see the Bulguksa by joining a group. Lunch was nice!
Review provided by Viator
195fatins
Oct 29, 2023
A disappointingly short experience - Our tour in Gyeongju started early (we were picked up at 7:30am) but it also ended really early as well (we headed back to Busan at 3:07pm and arrived at our hotel at 4:37pm). Considering the hefty price we paid (Sgd 270 per head!!!) for this tour, I am utterly disappointed. Our tour guide, Chris, passed by Bulguksa while driving around 3pm and noted the long queue of cars heading to go in. Despite it still being rather early in the day, he simply mentioned that "the queue was too long, we probably will take 30 minutes to enter" and then drove past it and sent us home on our way. Note that they use the terms "guaranteed to skip the long lines" so this can in fact be considered false advertising. And more importantly, considering we paid so much to be able to visit all of the famous attractions in Gyeongju, I am very upset that we were unable to visit what was arguably the most famous one of them all (Bulguksa) which also happened to be the one being shown as the main photo for this tour. This is pretty much false advertising as well. Also considering the price we paid, I expected our tour to be more in depth and hands on. For most of the attractions, Chris gave us some short history about it at the start (5-10 minutes) and then waited for us near the entrance while we were left to explore the rest of the place on our own. I noticed that most of the overly positive reviews mention another tour guide "Steve" instead, so I'm not sure if it would have been the same had he been the one to be our guide for this disappointing tour. I do not think my expectations are entirely unreasonable. There were local Korean tour groups and the guides were present even within the attractions to provide explanations about the details of the place. Overall, the tour was a huge disappointment for the price we paid and I would not recommend it. You are much better off taking a group tour with a bus (see the tours available on Klook) for less than half the price of this tour or even just renting a car and driving on your own. The only benefit I can think of was the fact that the tour was rather unpopular so we had the car all to ourselves.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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up to 15 guests
1 Adult
May 2024
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