Iksan Outing Course for Everyone

If you're planning a 1-night, 2-day trip to Iksan, here's a suggested itinerary to consider. Explore the National Iksan Museum and the Wanggungri Historic Site to learn about the history of the Baekje Kingdom, visit the Yongan Ecological Wetland to experience Iksan's natural beauty, and visit the Iksan Prison Set, offering a unique and novel experience. Let's make the most of your trip!

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Jewelry Museum

This place, established to promote Iksan City, famous for Baekje cultural relics and jewelry production, is a world-class jewelry museum located within the Wanggung Jewelry Theme Tourist Site. Nearby, the Fossil Exhibition Hall and 'Jewel Palace,' a precious metal exhibition and sales store, have opened, where you can see countless jewelry products.

Bonhyang (a place name, possibly meaning "hometown" or "origin")

When you think of Iksan, Seodong and Princess Seonhwa come to mind, and when you think of Seodong, yam comes to mind. Iksan Bonhyang, which offers fusion Korean set meals using this yam that everyone from children to adults can enjoy, is located right next to the Wanggung Jewel Theme Tourist Site. The Seodong Seonhwa Set Meal includes yam yakbap (sweet rice), yam pizza, fried ginseng, chicken cold noodles, braised kodari (dried pollack), salad, bulgogi, bamboo shoot rolls, freshwater shrimp soup, perilla seed soup, oyster sauce japchae, and various side dishes. Tteokgalbi, lobster, pizza, yukjeon, mountain ginseng, and yam yakbap can also be enjoyed as individual menu items. This is a good Korean set meal restaurant to visit when you want to share a healthy and delicious full table with your loved ones. With a menu composition that anyone can enjoy, a diverse range of dishes is prepared to appeal to all.

Agape Garden

Agape Garden is the 4th private garden in Jeollabuk-do, with 1,416 trees of 17 species registered, including metasequoia, Japanese white pine, and laceleaf maple. In 1970, the late Father Seo Jeong-su established Agape Jeongyangwon, a welfare facility for the elderly, and created a nature-friendly tree garden for the healthy and happy later years of the elderly at the facility. The garden itself, well-tended like an arboretum as an evergreen forest, was opened to citizens to provide rest and emotional cultivation, registered as a private garden in March 2021, and after improvement work, was reborn as a citizen rest space. Each season, beautiful flowers such as daffodils, tulips, magnolias, and poppies continue in a feast of blooms, and the walking path lined with towering metasequoia like a fence is impressive; walking along the forest path connected by ornamental trees such as juniper, pine, five-needle pine, laceleaf maple, and zinnia, you can feel a deep nostalgia as the fresh air of nature blends with the surrounding scenery.

Iksan Wanggung-ri Site

The Wanggung-ri Ruins are located in Wanggung-myeon, Iksan-si, Jeollabuk-do. The Wanggung-ri Ruins are understood as a royal palace that was the center of politics, economy, and culture during the late Baekje period's management of Iksan, along with Sabi (Buyeo), connected by a corridor.
The Baekje Royal Palace was built on a low hill at the end of a ridge originating from Yonghwasan Mountain. According to findings confirmed through full-scale excavation surveys since 1989, it was built as a royal palace in the late Baekje period and used for a certain period, after which the important buildings of the palace were demolished and a temple with a pagoda, main hall, and lecture hall was established, making it a complex site.
The royal palace of the Wanggung-ri Site is the first Baekje royal palace where the outer wall and internal structure have been confirmed, making it the only site where the systematically and planned structure of a Baekje royal palace can be identified. Around the outer perimeter of the palace, a 3m-wide wall encloses a rectangular area measuring 245m east-west and 490m north-south. In the southern half of the palace, buildings for important state rituals and ceremonies, buildings where the king handled state affairs, and buildings for the life of the king and his family were divided and arranged by building four east-west stone platforms. The northern half contains a garden and rear garden as a space for the king's rest, and on the northwest side of the palace is a workshop site where gold and glass, the most precious items of the Baekje period, were produced. Placing spaces for rituals, ceremonies, governance, and daily life in the southern part of the palace and the rear garden in the north is also confirmed in ancient Chinese and Japanese royal palaces, confirming the cultural exchange among ancient East Asian countries at the time. After being used as a royal palace for a certain period, it was converted into a temple and maintained until the late Unified Silla period, and during the Goryeo period, remains have been identified in part of the southeastern side of the temple grounds.
[Source: Baekje Royal Palace Museum]

Iksan National Museum

The excavation survey of the Mireuksa Temple Site in Iksan was conducted by the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage over a long period from 1980 to 1996. In the process, the scale of the temple and the layout of the temple complex during the Baekje period were confirmed, and about 19,000 cultural artifacts from the founding period to the Joseon Dynasty were recovered.
After that, in order to efficiently preserve, exhibit, and use as educational materials the cultural heritage excavated from the Mireuksa Temple Site, Jeollabuk-do took the lead in opening the Mireuksa Temple Site Relics Exhibition Hall in 1997.
Meanwhile, in January 2009, a large amount of sarira reliquaries were excavated during the dismantling and repair work of the Mireuksa Temple Site Stone Pagoda (National Treasure), and in July 2015, the Mireuksa Temple Site and Wanggung-ri Site were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Accordingly, the need for systematic management and utilization of cultural heritage excavated in the Iksan area, including the Mireuksa Temple Site, grew, and at the end of December 2015, the existing provincial exhibition hall was converted to national status.
Located southwest of the Mireuksa Temple Site, the Iksan National Museum is an on-site museum located within a historical site and offers various exhibitions and educational programs. It also strives to ensure visitors can view comfortably by continuously carrying out exhibition improvement projects, and seeks to meet visitors' convenience based on the disclosure and sharing of its collection.
Source: Iksan National Museum

Wonjo Mireuksan Tofu Restaurant (specializing in Mireuksan tofu)

A traditional sundubu (soft tofu) restaurant near the Mireuksaji Stone Pagoda in Iksan, it is a four-season favorite visited not only by family travelers but also by many locals. Along with various basic side dishes that change with the seasons, you can taste domestic fresh tofu or sundubu produced on the same day. In particular, the sundubu contains clams, boasting a refreshing and spicy flavor. The seafood pajeon packed with seafood and the chewy acorn jelly salad are also good to eat together. Injeolmi (rice cake) is served with the meal, so you can enjoy it while the tofu is being prepared.

Mireuksa Temple Site, Iksan

The founding of Mireuksa Temple, the largest temple of Baekje, is recorded in the Samguk Yusa. After marrying Princess Seonhwa of Silla, King Mu (the 30th king of Baekje, 600-641), originally named Madong, was on his way to visit the Jimyeong Beopsa of Sajasa Temple on Yonghwasan (present-day Mireuksan) together with Princess Seonhwa. At that moment, the Mireuk Triad suddenly appeared from a pond, and this led to the founding of Mireuksa Temple. It is said that for the Triad, a main hall (Geumdang), a pagoda, and a cloister (Hwarang) were built. On the other hand, there is also a view that the founding of Mireuksa Temple had not only the faith of King Mu and Princess Seonhwa but also a political purpose. In other words, it is speculated that Mireuksa Temple was built in Geumma, which was the center of the Mahan forces, in order to expand Baekje's national power. It is presumed that in building Mireuksa Temple, the largest temple of Baekje, the various cultural levels of Baekje at the time, including architecture and crafts, were displayed at their highest level, and as can be seen from the record in the Samguk Yusa that King Jinpyeong of Silla sent Baekgong to help, the technologies of the three kingdoms at the time would have been concentrated. It is clear that Mireuksa Temple was the center of Maitreya faith in Baekje Buddhism, contrasting with Hwangnyongsa Temple, the largest temple of Silla, which was the center of Hwaeom thought. Unlike Hwangnyongsa Temple, which has a one-pagoda, three-main-hall style, Mireuksa Temple has a three-pagoda, three-main-hall style temple layout. Hwangnyongsa Temple embodies Hwaeom thought with the king at its apex, while Mireuksa Temple embodies Maitreya thought in its temple layout. Mireuksa Temple is based on Maitreya faith, which aims to lead even ordinary common people to the Yonghwa world.
* Another relic of the Mireuksa Temple Site, the Mireuksa Temple Site Stone Pagoda and Dangganjiju (flagpole supports) *
There are two relics at the Mireuksa Temple Site that add to the sights. One is the Stone Pagoda at the Mireuksa Temple Site, and the other is the Flagpole Supports at the Mireuksa Temple Site. The Stone Pagoda at the Mireuksa Temple Site is a national treasure, currently 14.24 m tall, and is the oldest and largest stone pagoda in Korea. Most of the pagoda has collapsed, leaving only up to the 6th story of one corner on the northeast side, but it is presumed to have originally been 9 stories. Through a survey by the Mahan-Baekje Culture Research Institute of Wonkwang University in 1974–1975, it was revealed that the east pagoda was not a wooden pagoda but a stone pagoda, indicating the so-called east-west twin pagoda arrangement. The east pagoda was later confirmed through excavation to have 9 stories and was restored in 1993 to 9 stories (height 27.67 m). The reason this stone pagoda is regarded as the finest stone pagoda in Korea is that its style faithfully reproduces in stone, instead of wood, the各部分 style of wooden pagodas that were prevalent before. Flagpole supports refer to the pillars, i.e., the supports, erected on the left and right of a flagpole to support it. The Flagpole Supports at the Mireuksa Temple Site are a treasure, 395 cm tall, and are presumed to have been erected before the mid-period of Unified Silla. To the south of the Stone Pagoda at the Mireuksa Temple Site, two supports face each other from east to west at a distance of about 90 m.

Western Life Hotel

Western Life Hotel is built on a site of over 7,000 pyeong with 2 basement floors and 12 above-ground floors, operating modern and sophisticated hotel rooms, banquet halls, and two large convention halls, and features a large parking facility for about 500 vehicles for hotel guests.
Located in Iksan, the city of 2,000 years of history where culture and history coexist, the capital of Baekje, and the mecca of jewelry, this is a high-class business hotel that provides friendly and heartfelt service as Iksan's first and finest hotel.

Yongan Ecological Wetland

The Geumgang Yongan District Ecological Stream is a large-scale ecological wetland of 670,000㎡ created along the Geumgang River in the Nanpo-ri area of Yongan-myeon as part of the Four Major Rivers Project. With neatly laid wooden decks, visitors can enjoy walking and cycling trips, and it features the Green Frog Plaza, Beetle Plaza, Dragonfly Plaza, Butterfly Plaza, a bird observatory, an outdoor learning area, a plant observation garden, observation decks, and a reed experience center. The Geumgang ecological wetland becomes a resting place for lotus flowers in summer, cosmos and silver grass in autumn, and migratory birds in winter, and next to the Yongan Ecological Wetland is a 550,000-pyeong pilot silver grass field, the largest in the country, where the Geumgang Silver Grass Festival is held in autumn. It is a true healing travel destination where you can enjoy comfortable rest in verdant nature.

Iksan Prison Set

It is the only prison film set in Korea, built on the site of the closed Seongdang Elementary School Namsung Branch in Wacho-ri, Seongdang-myeon. About 200 films and dramas have been filmed here, including the movies Holiday, Iris, The Witch of Legend, Miracle in Cell No. 7, and Inside Men. Upon entering the set, movie posters from past filming are displayed, as if proving the saying 'a magic box where movies are born.' In addition, the natural grass laid on the playground is in the spotlight as a resting space for tourists.

Jinmi Sikdang

[Selected as a 2018 'Centennial Store' by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups]
1931, starting from the Hwangdeung Market in Iksan and continuing to the present, Jinmi Restaurant is a Hwangdeung bibimbap specialty restaurant. The representative menus are yukhoe bibimbap, made by mixing one bowl at a time with rice cooked in a broth with deep flavor, adding directly made and aged soy sauce, and topping with raw beef received only for the day, and seonji-guk (blood soup) with minimized seasoning and high flavor without a fishy taste. Also, sundae-gukbap and sundae are menus that many people look for. It is a restaurant designated as a 'Good Store,' a local food restaurant, and an Iksan City 'Family Heritage Restaurant,' introduced in various media, and visited by people from all over the country.