Cheongju travel info

Cheongju is the capital of North Chungcheong Province and the birthplace of the Jikji, printed at Heungdeok Temple in 1377. The oldest surviving book made with movable metal type is kept in the National Library of France, but the temple site where it was printed and a museum devoted to it are still in town. Standing on the Heungdeok Temple site, you look across open ground to low, rebuilt temple halls.

The city works in two parts. In town there is Suamgol, a hillside neighbourhood below Mount Uam whose old lanes are now filled with murals and cafés, and Yukgeori Market, where sundae, vegetables and dried fish pile up on the stalls. Out beyond the centre, a stone fortress wall of around four kilometres runs along the ridge at Sangdang Fortress, and Cheongnamdae looks down on Daecheong Lake. The food is plain and comes in an earthenware bowl: snail soup, sundae-gukbap and jjagle-i stew.

The KTX stops at Osong Station, which is within Cheongju but more than 40 minutes from the centre by bus. From Seoul, pick the train or the express bus according to where you're sleeping. The city is spread out, so you'll hop between sights by bus or taxi.

From Seoul (BUS)

From Daejeon, Sejong and other cities (OSG)

From Cheongju Airport (CJJ)