Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
At the heart of the province, much like the center of a doughnut, is the separately ad-
ministered Seoul metropolitan area. Incheon, a coastal city just east of Seoul that serves
as the capital's main port, is also self-governing but is included in this chapter due to its
location and tight links with other parts of the province. Gyeonggi-do's capital and most
populous city, Suwon, as well as popular Seoul bedroom communities such as Seongnam
and Anyang, are located along an arc running just 20-30 kilometers (12-18 miles) south of
Seoul proper.
The stretch of Gyeonggi-do lying just north of the capital, against the inter-Korean bor-
der, was left largely undeveloped for years over worries it would be the first place to be hit
in the event of a North Korean attack, and was home only to a few fearless farmers and U.S.
and South Korean military installations. But as those concerns have subsided, the region
has undergone a period of rapid growth, with more families and young professionals piling
into conveniently located communities that were once almost exclusively military towns,
such as Uijeongbu and Dongducheon.
Gyeonggi-do's climate is virtually identical to Seoul's, although higher elevations tend to
receive and retain more snow than the capital in the winter (December-March)—an import-
ant trait for the many skiing enthusiasts who take to the province's slopes.
Most residents of Gyeonggi-do will of course have the option of traveling to Seoul regularly
to get a cultural fix, but the province has more than a few assets of its own. Interestingly,
while Incheon and Suwon host a few reasonable galleries and museums, a lot of Gyeonggi-
do's biggest cultural jewels are outside major cities. They include the Nam June Paik Art
Center in Yongin, south of Seoul, established by the envelope-pushing multimedia artist
himself near Gyeonggi's excellent provincial museum. Yongin is also home to the stun-
ning Ho-Am Art Museum, which boasts an unrivaled collection of mainly Buddhist work
amassed by the founder of the Samsung group, and the Korean Folk Village, a reasonably
authentic approximation of traditional agricultural life. The Bucheon Philharmonic Orches-
tra, based in an undistinguished Seoul satellite town of the same name, is widely viewed
as the country's finest. Each summer Bucheon also stages PIFAN, a festival of fantasy and
science-fiction films that draws enthusiasts from the world over. Gyeonggi also includes
entire communities dedicated to the arts (Hyeri Artists' Village) and literature (Paju Book
City).
