On a cliff face above a quiet stream in the hills west of Ulsan, prehistoric people carved hundreds of images into the rock: whales, turtles, deer, tigers, boats full of men, hunters with spears and nets. The whales are the most striking, with species that can still be identified, such as right whales and humpbacks, and scenes that seem to show whaling from boats, making the Bangudae petroglyphs one of the oldest records of whaling anywhere. A little upstream, the Cheonjeon-ri petroglyphs, with geometric patterns, animals and later inscriptions from the Silla period, add another layer. In 2025, the Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
There is a complication. A dam built downstream in the 1960s raises the water level for part of the year, submerging the Bangudae carvings and causing erosion, and the debate over how to protect them has gone on for decades. You view the main panel from an observation point across the stream, so bring binoculars. A museum nearby displays replicas and explains the carvings.
Ulsan is now a huge industrial city, home to shipyards, car factories and petrochemical plants, but it also has a whaling past of its own. At Jangsaengpo, a former whaling village on the coast, a whale museum tells the story. The countryside west of the city is green and hilly, with rice paddies, orchards and forests, and Gyeongju, the ancient capital of the Silla kingdom, with its royal tombs, temples and museums, is a short ride north.
Riding in Korea means staying off the expressways, which are closed to motorcycles, and using the national and local roads, which are busy around Ulsan but quieter in the hills. The roads west toward the Yeongnam Alps, a range of mountains over a thousand metres high, are winding and scenic, with climbs, hairpins and views. Ulsan has fuel, food and accommodation everywhere. Try bulgogi, grilled marinated beef, or a bowl of eonyang bulgogi, a local variation, thin patties of grilled beef, famous in the nearby town of Eonyang.