Seoul Temples Top 8: Millennia-Old Sanctuaries and Mountain Hermitages, All Reachable by Subway

In Seoul, temples do not sit at the bottom of a sightseeing checklist. You’ll be waiting at a pedestrian crossing in the middle of Teheran-ro, glance sideways, and see a tiled roof. You’ll climb a lane through the villa neighbourhoods of Seongbuk-dong and find a temple courtyard with no front gate at all. The city has not pushed the temples out so much as it has grown up around them.

All eight below are reachable by subway or city bus. Half of them require no change of shoes; the other half need a walk of 30 minutes to an hour. The order follows accessibility and distance from the city centre, and I’ve put a Naver Map button under each entry — save them before you go.

Why does Seoul have so many temples?

The Joseon dynasty suppressed Buddhism for five centuries but never erased it entirely. The traces left by Muhak Daesa, the monk whom King Taejo (Yi Seong-gye) appointed as his royal preceptor, the votive temples secretly funded by Joseon’s royal women, the hermitages pushed past the city walls and into the mountain foothills — they all survive on Seoul’s map today.

Layered over that are the stories of the 20th century. In 1938, a temple newly built in the heart of Jongno became the headquarters of Korean Buddhism (Jogyesa). In the 1990s, one of Seoul’s most famous gourmet restaurants was turned over in its entirety to become a temple (Gilsangsa). In 1991, a seon centre for American disciples opened on the slopes of the northern hills (Hwagyesa). Seoul’s temples tend to hold thousand-year-old sanctuaries and traces of modern history inside a single courtyard.

So which eight temples in Seoul are worth visiting?

I picked them based on how accessible they are, the story each one tells, how they look across the seasons, and the kind of route a visitor can actually cover. Four of them have such distinct personalities that they deserve a card introduction first.

🛕 Seoul's 8 Temples at a Glance (by Transport & Time Required, August 2026)

1. Bongeunsa — A Courtyard Left Between Glass Walls

Walk up the stairs from Bongeunsa Station (Line 9) and the first thing you see is COEX’s glass facade; across the street stands the one-pillar gate. That one contrast pretty much tells you what Bongeunsa is about. Walk a hundred metres past the gate and the traffic noise drops noticeably, replaced by the scent of incense.

At the highest point of the grounds stands a 23 m Maitreya Buddha, completed in 1996 — the largest stone Buddha in Korea. It is impressive in photos, but the place you’ll linger longer is the small building behind it: Panjeon. Built in 1855, it is Bongeunsa’s oldest structure, housing some 3,500 woodblocks of the Avatamsaka Sutra. The two characters on the signboard — ‘Panjeon’ — were the last thing Kim Jeong-hui (pen name Chusa) ever wrote, three days before his death. The strokes tremble and the balance is off, and that is exactly why you keep looking.

The land where COEX now stands was once Seunggwapyeong, the examination ground where the Joseon state tested Buddhist monks. So the exam hall became an exhibition hall.

531 Bongeunsa-ro, Gangnam-gu · Line 9 Bongeunsa Station Exit 1, 1 min walk · Free admission · Temple Life programme for foreign visitors

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2. Jogyesa — A Single Lacebark Pine in the Middle of Downtown

Five minutes on foot from Insa-dong, ten from Gwanghwamun. Jogyesa is Seoul’s easiest temple to reach, and it also happens to be the chief temple of the Jogye Order, the largest Buddhist order in Korea. The courtyard sits wedged among Jongno’s commercial buildings, and at lunchtime it’s common to see office workers from nearby sitting on the benches here instead of grabbing a coffee.

The lacebark pine standing at one edge of the courtyard was designated a Natural Monument in 1962. It stands 10 metres tall, with a chest-height girth of 1.64 metres. Its bark is mottled with white patches, so unusual that first-time visitors sometimes mistake it for a dead tree — but that is simply how the species looks.

The best time to come is the few weeks around Buddha’s Birthday. Lotus lanterns layer thickly from the courtyard in front of Daeungjeon all the way to the sky above the alley, and on the weekend before, the Yeondeunghoe (Lotus Lantern Festival) parade winds from Dongdaemun to Jogyesa. This is a 1,200-year-old tradition, inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020. If your Seoul itinerary falls in this window, keep one evening free.

55 Ujeongguk-ro, Jongno-gu · Line 3 Anguk Station Exit 6, 5 min walk · Line 1 Jonggak Station Exit 2, 7 min walk · Free admission

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3. Gilsangsa — How a Gourmet Restaurant Became a Temple

Climb the slope of Seongbuk-dong and you’ll come to a courtyard left open, without a boundary wall. Until the late 1980s, this site was Daewongak, one of Seoul’s finest gourmet restaurants. Its owner was Kim Yeong-han — the woman the poet Baek Seok loved and called ‘Jaya,’ widely believed to be the ‘Natasha’ of his famous poem ‘Natasha, the White Donkey, and I.’

In 1987, after reading the Buddhist monk Beopjeong’s essay collection Non-Possession, Kim sought him out and offered to give away the entire 7,000-pyeong property and some 40 buildings with no strings attached. The monk declined for years; Gilsangsa finally opened its doors in 1997. Her remark has become famous: a hundred billion won in assets, she said, was worth less than a single line of Baek Seok’s poetry.

That is why Gilsangsa’s buildings do not feel like a temple. The old detached pavilions scattered along the stream became monks’ quarters and practice spaces as they were, and the rooms where banquet trays once went around now hold nothing but the sound of water. The ‘House of Silence’ beside the stream is exactly what the name says — a space where you sit without speaking. Late October to early November, when the leaves turn, is the most beautiful time, and accordingly the busiest.

68 Seonjam-ro 5-gil, Seongbuk-gu · Line 4 Hansung Univ. Station Exit 6, village bus Seongbuk 02 · Free admission

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4. Bongwonsa — The Lotus Temple to Visit in Summer

This temple sits on the slopes of Ansan, just behind Sinchon. A twenty-minute walk from the university district, and in those twenty minutes the world goes quiet. It is the headquarters of the Taego Order of Korean Buddhism, and its founding traces all the way back to the reign of Queen Jinseong of Silla.

What made Bongwonsa’s name is the Yeongsanjae. This is a large-scale Buddhist ritual that re-enacts the scene of the Buddha preaching the Lotus Sutra on Vulture Peak through chant, dance and ceremony — designated a National Intangible Heritage in 1973 and inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009. Bongwonsa holds this ritual every year on 6 June, Memorial Day. It is rare in Korea to find a place where you can watch a full day of beompae (Buddhist chant) and barachum (cymbal dance) for free.

In summer, the temple’s front courtyard fills with potted lotus flowers. Go on a July or August morning and you might catch the moment they open.

120 Bongwonsa-gil, Seodaemun-gu · Line 2 Sinchon Station + bus or 20 min walk · Free admission · Yeongsanjae every 6 June

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A Little Deeper Into the Mountains

From here on, your shoes matter. The four temples below all lie in the foothills of Bukhansan, and the walking times stretch from 15 minutes to 50. In return, you see things that city temples cannot offer.

5. Hwagyesa — The Temple Where You Hear English First

A temple on the eastern slopes of Bukhansan, reached by bus from Suyu Station. It was founded in 1522, and the dancheong (traditional polychrome) on its Daeungjeon hall is unusually vivid — but the reason Hwagyesa is special lies elsewhere.

In 1991, the Seon master Seungsan opened an international seon centre here. He was the monk who brought Korean Seon Buddhism to America and Europe, and he built a place inside the temple for his Western disciples to practise. Since then, Hwagyesa has been a temple where hearing English in the courtyard raises no eyebrows. The International Seon Culture Centre still houses about ten foreign practitioners in residence, and the templestay can host up to 40 individuals or groups of 80.

This is the easiest temple to bring a foreign friend to. You can ask questions in English, and the answers come back in English.

117 Hwagyesa-gil, Gangbuk-gu · Line 4 Suyu Station, bus 1120 or 1119 · Free admission · English-language templestay available

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6. Jingwansa — The Sound of a Stream and a Table

From Gupabal Station, take a bus and then walk about 15 minutes along a stream. That 15 minutes is half the experience of Jingwansa. In summer, the sound of water follows you the whole way; in autumn, the path becomes a tunnel of colour.

Along with Buramsa to the east, Sammaksa to the south and Seunggasa to the north, Jingwansa was once counted among the four great temples of the Seoul region. Today it is a bhikkhuni temple, better known for its temple cuisine. The temple’s own research institute for mountain monastery food draws chefs from overseas who come to learn the cooking of Korea’s mountain temples — a cuisine that strips away oil and strong seasoning and leaves only the taste of the ingredients themselves. The first bite may seem plain; the second, it begins to register differently.

One more thing. In 2009, during repair work on the Chilseonggak shrine, an old Taegeukgi — the Korean national flag — was found folded between the pillars. It had been hidden there for nearly 90 years, together with anti-Japanese newspapers from the colonial period, and is thought to date from soon after the March First Independence Movement of 1919. It was the first Taegeukgi ever discovered inside a temple. A reproduction is on display now.

73 Jingwan-gil, Eunpyeong-gu · Line 3 Gupabal Station Exit 1, bus 7211 or 7723 · Free admission · Temple cuisine experience requires separate booking

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7. Seunggasa — The Face Above the 108 Stairs

The hardest of the eight, and the one that stays with you the longest. From the Gugi-dong trailhead, it’s an uphill walk of 40 to 50 minutes.

The temple was founded in 756, and its name carries an affection for an Indian monk — Seungga — who was revered as a living Buddha in Chang’an of Tang China. When you reach the Daeungjeon hall it feels like the end, but it is not. Beyond it, a staircase continues, and the number of steps is exactly 108 — meant to be climbed once for each of the 108 afflictions in Buddhist thought.

At the top of those 108 stairs, carved into a granite cliff face, is a seated Buddha. It stands about five metres tall, likely dates from the early Goryeo period in the 10th century, and is a designated Treasure. When you lift your head with your breath still ragged from the climb, the face meets you straight on, and you get the sense that the stairs were made 108 for exactly that moment. A separate stone statue of the monk Seungga, also a designated Treasure, is enshrined in a stone grotto hall further below.

137 Bibong-gil, Jongno-gu · Line 3 Gyeongbokgung Station, bus 7212 or 1020, get off at Gugi-dong and walk 40–50 min · Free admission · Hiking shoes essential

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8. Doseonsa — The Largest Temple in Bukhansan

Three kilometres from BukhansanUi Station, the northern terminus of the Ui-Sinseol Line — about a 40-minute walk. Tradition holds that it was founded by the great monk Doseon Guksa at the end of the Silla period, and it is the largest temple in Bukhansan by scale.

The area in front of the enormous rock-carved Buddha in the Seokbuljeon hall is always crowded. During the college entrance exam season, mothers come to pray and form queues; on Buddha’s Birthday there is barely room to stand. Doseonsa feels less like a tourist site and more like a living place of prayer, and that intensity is itself the thing to see.

504 Samyang-ro 173-gil, Gangbuk-gu · Ui-Sinseol Line BukhansanUi Station, 40 min walk or 8 min taxi · Free admission

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What should you actually do at a temple?

The most common mistake: walking a lap around the courtyard, taking a few photos, and leaving. That takes ten minutes. Do any one of the three things below instead, and the whole visit changes character.

How do you book a templestay?

Reservations are handled through a single site — templestay.com, run by the Cultural Corps of Korean Buddhism. You do not need to call a temple directly. In Seoul, Bongeunsa, Hwagyesa, Jingwansa, Jogyesa and others run programmes.

There are broadly two types. Rest-oriented stays: you sleep at the temple and rest, with no fixed schedule. Experience-oriented stays: a programme of dawn service, baru gongyang (formal monastic meal), 108 prostrations and lotus lantern making, among other things. If it’s your first time, the experience type leaves you with more. There are also same-day programmes (a few hours, branded as Temple Life) — pick these if an overnight stay feels like too much.

How to combine them into a day?

I do not recommend rushing through several temples in one go. Seen quickly, they all start to look the same; seen slowly, each one is different.

Half-day downtown route — Start at Jogyesa, walk through Insa-dong to Anguk Station, then take the subway to Bongeunsa Station (30 minutes). If you sit in Bongeunsa’s courtyard in the late afternoon, the sunset catches COEX’s glass wall. No stairs — good with parents.

Seongbuk-dong half-day — Visit only Gilsangsa, then walk down through Seongbuk-dong’s lanes and finish at Choe Sun-u’s old house or Suyeonsanbang, a tea house in the old residence of the novelist Yi Tae-jun. Best in autumn foliage season.

Bukhansan full day — From Gupabal Station: Jingwansa, then back along the stream path and over to Eunpyeong Hanok Village. If you still have the energy, tack on Seunggasa, but to fit both into one day you’ll need an early start.