Jeonju

Designated a UNESCO City of Gastronomy, Jeonju is a small city of around 600,000 inhabitants located in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula. Unlike Korea’s more industrialised cities, Jeonju has preserved much of its traditional Hanok architecture and maintains a reputation as a repository of the country’s culinary history. Cultural tourism is at the heart of city life, with festivals celebrating film, music and, of course, food throughout the year.

Jeonju’s standout attraction is its large Hanok Village, an area of the city centre home to over 800 traditional Korean houses. This is the largest concentration of Hanok buildings in Korea and remains hugely popular with visitors. The narrow, winding streets are lined with small teahouses, craft shops and excellent local restaurants, and the area is frequently used as a backdrop for film and television productions. The city’s long history, once part of three significant Korean kingdoms, can be explored in its temples, museums, parks and shrines. The pick of these is probably the Gyeonggijeong Shrine, honouring King Taejo, the founder of the Joseon dynasty which ruled Korea from the 14th until the late 19th century.

As befits a city of gastronomy located in the heart of Korea’s ‘rice bowl’, Jeonju is known for a number of traditional rice dishes. Most famously is Bibimbap, rice boiled in broth and mixed with vegetables and sometimes meat, and Kongnamul-Gukbap a spicy bean sprout and rice soup, both local must-tries. Jeonju is also renowned for Makgeolli, a light fermented rice wine which is often enjoyed with an array of tapas-like snacks. These specialities can be sampled at market stalls, in local restaurants, during food festivals or on a guided food tour that uncovers the city’s hidden flavours.

Walking through Jeonju, visitors quickly sense the city’s quiet charm, the soft tiled roofs of the Hanok houses, the warm aromas of street food drifting through narrow lanes and the rhythm of a place that celebrates tradition while embracing the pleasures of everyday life.

There are no foreign lands. It is the traveller only who is foreign.
Robert Louis Stevenson