Why this ride
A 405 km round trip from Gyeongju - roughly 6 h 29 in the saddle. The stops in between: Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream, Gaya Tumuli, Marisan Tumuli and Songhak-dong Tumuli. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Hwangnyongsa Belt and Songhak-dong Tumuli
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 405 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 29
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Hwangnyongsa Belt
Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla kingdom for nearly a thousand years, and it is often called a museum without walls, because the tombs, temple sites and palace ruins lie scattered through a modern provincial city. Hwangnyongsa was once the greatest temple in the kingdom, begun in 553, and its nine-storey wooden pagoda, built in the seventh century after the monk Jajang came back from China, was one of the tallest wooden buildings in East Asia. The temple was burned down when the Mongols invaded in 1238, and what is left is a wide field of foundation stones, where the outline of the great hall and the pagoda base can still be made out.
Read the complete Hwangnyongsa Belt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Hwangnyongsa Belt is where the day begins. Next is Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream.
2. Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream
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.
Read the complete Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream comes up about 37 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gaya Tumuli.
3. Gaya Tumuli
Right in the middle of Gimhae, a busy city just west of Busan, a low ridge of grassy mounds rises between apartment blocks and roads. These are the Daeseong-dong tumuli, the burial ground of the rulers of Geumgwan Gaya, one of the small kingdoms of the Gaya confederacy that flourished in the south of the Korean peninsula from the first centuries AD until it was absorbed by Silla in the sixth century. In 2023 a group of Gaya burial sites, including these, was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Read the complete Gaya Tumuli write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 100 km into the recorded legs you reach Gaya Tumuli. Next is Marisan Tumuli.
4. Marisan Tumuli
In Haman county, in the south of Korea, a long ridge rises above the town of Gaya, and along its crest lies a line of large burial mounds, grassy domes that seem to ripple across the hills. These are the Malisan, or Marisan, tumuli, the royal tombs of Ara Gaya, one of the states of the Gaya confederacy that flourished in the south of the Korean peninsula from roughly the first to the sixth century. In 2023, they were listed by UNESCO together with other Gaya tumuli across the region.
Read the complete Marisan Tumuli write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Marisan Tumuli, about halfway. Next is Songhak-dong Tumuli.
5. Songhak-dong Tumuli
The little port town of Goseong, on the south coast of Korea, is best known to many Koreans for dinosaur footprints, but the green mounds on a ridge above the sea tell an older story. The Songhak-dong tumuli are burial mounds of the Gaya confederacy, a group of small city-states that flourished in the south of the Korean peninsula alongside the better-known kingdoms of Baekje, Goguryeo and Silla, and that were gradually absorbed by Silla in the sixth century. Goseong was the centre of one of these states, usually called Sogaya, and the big round mounds here, laid out in a line above the bay, were the graves of its rulers.
Read the complete Songhak-dong Tumuli write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Songhak-dong Tumuli sits at 204 km, about halfway. Next is back through Marisan Tumuli.
6. back through Marisan Tumuli
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Marisan Tumuli write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Marisan Tumuli comes up about 249 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Gaya Tumuli.
7. back through Gaya Tumuli
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gaya Tumuli write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 306 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Gaya Tumuli. Next is back through Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream.
8. back through Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream, late in the day. Next is Hwangnyongsa Belt.
9. Hwangnyongsa Belt
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hwangnyongsa Belt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 405 km.
Leg by leg
Hwangnyongsa Belt to Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream
Hwangnyongsa Belt → Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream to Gaya Tumuli
Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream → Gaya Tumuli is 63 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Gaya Tumuli to Marisan Tumuli
Gaya Tumuli → Marisan Tumuli is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Marisan Tumuli to Songhak-dong Tumuli
Marisan Tumuli → Songhak-dong Tumuli is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Songhak-dong Tumuli to back through Marisan Tumuli
Songhak-dong Tumuli → back through Marisan Tumuli is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Marisan Tumuli to back through Gaya Tumuli
back through Marisan Tumuli → back through Gaya Tumuli is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Gaya Tumuli to back through Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream
back through Gaya Tumuli → back through Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream is 62 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream to Hwangnyongsa Belt
back through Petroglyphs along the Bangucheon Stream → Hwangnyongsa Belt is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.