Pohang travel guide: Homigot sunrise, Jukdo Market and Guryongpo

Three Pohangs: the city shore, the Homigot peninsula and the northern hills

Pohang is a large municipality, and its sights fall into three areas that are not within walking distance of each other. The city shore in Buk-gu has Jukdo Market, the Pohang Canal, Yeongildae Beach and Hwanho Park with Space Walk. It is compact enough for buses, taxis and walking. The Homigot peninsula in Nam-gu runs out to Homigot, the eastern tip, and down the coast to Guryongpo. The northern hills of Songna-myeon hold Naeyeonsan and Bogyeongsa Temple, with Oeosa Temple in the south-west of the city.

So decide where to sleep by what you want from the trip. Yeongildae Beach in Duho-dong is the most pleasant base: VisitKorea notes several lodging facilities and seafood restaurants near the beach, the ferry terminal for Ulleungdo is on the same seafront road, and Space Walk is in the park behind it. From Pohang Station, VisitKorea gives about 15 minutes to the beach on express bus 9000, or about 12 minutes by taxi. The centre around Jukdo Market has business hotels, such as the BENIKEA Hotel Pohang on Jungang-ro that VisitKorea lists, and puts you a short walk from the market and the canal. Guryongpo, on the peninsula, has accommodation by its beach, according to VisitKorea, and suits travellers who want to be on the coast for sunrise without a dark drive from the city.

Getting around: VisitKorea notes that cards from Seoul and other regions, such as T-money, work on local transport in the cities on the Donghae Line. The peninsula is where a car or taxi makes the difference. VisitKorea also mentions Pohang's tourist taxi service, which you book in advance for a route of your choice (the booking site is in Korean only).

• One night: Jukdo Market in the afternoon, Space Walk in the late afternoon, Yeongildae after dark, Ulleungdo ferry in the morning.
• Two nights: add a full day on the Homigot peninsula, with sunrise at Homigot and lunch in Guryongpo.
• Three nights or a car: add Naeyeonsan's waterfalls and Bogyeongsa Temple, or the Homibando coastal trail.

Jukdo Market, the canal and Yeongildae Beach

Jukdo Market began more than 50 years ago as street stalls in a reed-filled wetland near the inner harbour, according to VisitKorea, and was officially established in 1969. It is now the largest traditional market on Korea's east coast, with about 1,500 shops, and lies about 500 metres east of the city's central intersection. The heart of it for visitors is Jukdo Fish Market, where more than 200 hoe (raw fish) restaurants are packed around the seafood auction area. You pick seafood from the stalls and have it prepared on the spot for a small fee. When we checked on 3 October 2026, VisitKorea listed the market as open from 08:00 to 22:00 all year. Other alleys deal in dried seafood, produce, kitchenware, quilts and hanbok.

From the market it is a short way to the Pohang Canal, a 1.3-kilometre channel completed in January 2014 between Songdo-dong and Jungdo-dong. VisitKorea describes it as the restoration of an old waterway, with paths on both banks and boat rides along it.

Yeongildae Beach, 1,750 metres long, is the largest beach on the east coast according to VisitKorea. Its landmark is the two-storey Yeongildae pavilion, which VisitKorea calls the first pavilion in Korea built on the sea, reached by a bridge from the sand. Come at dusk, when the lights of the POSCO steelworks come on across the bay. Further along Haean-ro in Yeonam-dong, the Pohang Marine Skywalk runs 463 metres over the sea at an average height of 7 metres, with glass sections in the deck. VisitKorea listed it as free and open from 09:00 to 18:00, and suggests phoning ahead for details.

Space Walk in Hwanho Park

Behind Yeongildae Beach, Hwanho Park is Pohang's largest park, with the Pohang Museum of Steel Art, fountains and views over the steelworks and the sea, according to VisitKorea. Its landmark is Space Walk, a walkable steel sculpture whose track loops 333 metres through the air; VisitKorea presents it as a symbol of Pohang as a city of steel and light. There are 717 steps, and from the top you look over the city, the bay and the steelworks.

When we checked on 3 October 2026, VisitKorea listed Space Walk as open from 10:00 to 20:00 on weekdays and 10:00 to 21:00 at weekends from April to October, and 10:00 to 17:00 on weekdays and 10:00 to 18:00 at weekends from November to March. It is closed on the first Monday of every month, or the next working day if that Monday is a public holiday. The track is open to the weather and climbs steeply, so wear shoes with grip and skip it in strong wind.

Pohang's biggest event, the Pohang International Fire & Light Festival, sends fireworks over Yeongil Bay. VisitKorea's tip is to watch from Yeongildae or Songdo beaches, where it is less crowded, and then walk over to the festival grounds at Hyeongsangang Sports Park. Dates change from year to year, and VisitKorea's sources disagree on the 2026 dates, so check the Pohang Cultural Foundation's festival site before you plan around it.

Homigot: the tiger's tail and the first sunrise

Koreans often picture the peninsula as a tiger, and Homigot is its tail: the easternmost point of the Korean mainland. VisitKorea says the mapmaker Kim Jeong-ho visited seven times to confirm this when he drew his Daedongyeojido map. At Homigot Sunrise Square stands the bronze Hands of Harmony (Sangsaeng-ui Son), put up in December 1999 for the new millennium: a left hand on land and a right hand rising from the sea — the classic sunrise photograph. VisitKorea lists the square as open 24 hours and free.

Next to the square, Homigot Lighthouse was the tallest lighthouse in Korea when it was lit on 20 December 1908. VisitKorea describes an octagonal six-storey tower 26.4 metres high, built of brick without steel reinforcement, with pear-blossom carvings on each ceiling and 108 steps inside. The National Lighthouse Museum beside it covers the history and architecture of lighthouses and has hands-on activities for children. When we checked, VisitKorea listed it as free, open 09:00–18:00 and closed on Mondays.

For New Year, the Homigot Sunrise Festival runs through the night: VisitKorea's listing for 2025–26 ran from 14:00 on 31 December to 09:00 on 1 January, with concerts, fireworks, a sunrise event and free tteokguk (rice-cake soup). It is free, but plan for crowds on the peninsula road.

Guryongpo: Japanese House Street, the port and moriguksu

Guryongpo became a proper port when a pier and breakwater were built in 1923, under Japanese rule. Japanese settlers had come after the Joseon–Japan trade treaty of 1883, and VisitKorea notes that they came to dominate the East Sea fishery while Korean fishing rights were restricted. The city has kept 47 of their wooden houses as Guryongpo Japanese House Street (VisitKorea also calls it the Modern Culture and History Street), as a record of that painful period. The street was the main filming location of the 2019 drama *When the Camellia Blooms*, and the view of the fishing village from the stone steps up to the park has won a Korea Landscape Award.

Step inside the Guryongpo Modern History Museum, a two-storey wooden house built in the 1920s by Hashimoto Zenkichi (spelled Jenkichi in VisitKorea's listing), bought by the city in 2010 and restored. It shows Japanese furniture such as a butsudan (household altar) and kotatsu, and a recreated kitchen and toilet. When we checked, VisitKorea listed it as free, open 10:00–17:30 and closed on Mondays.

Then walk down to the harbour. VisitKorea calls Guryongpo the country's largest producer of snow crab, and many shops sell gwamegi, the half-dried saury it is famous for. Guryongpo Market spreads out along Changjucheon Stream on fifth-day market days, which VisitKorea lists as dates ending in 3 and 8. The crescent-shaped Guryongpo Beach, 400 metres long, is another sunrise spot, with the Guryongpo columnar joints nearby.

Walking the Homibando coast

The Homibando Peninsula Coastal Trail follows 58 kilometres of Pohang's shoreline from Donghae-myeon via Guryongpo and Homigot to Janggi-myeon. VisitKorea describes it as four courses past cliffs and rock formations. Course 3, Guryongso-gil, takes about two hours from Janggun Rock to Guryongso, past colonies of golden rain trees and black jetbead. Course 4, Homi-gil, is the shortest and ends at Homigot Sunrise Square, so it makes a good walk to or from the bronze hands.

Plan transport before you start, because the trail is linear and the peninsula is spread out. A taxi to the start and a bus or taxi back from Homigot or Guryongpo is the simplest plan; confirm local bus times locally, as we could not verify them from official pages.

Naeyeonsan, Bogyeongsa and Oeosa

In Songna-myeon, in the north of Pohang, Naeyeonsan (710 metres) is known for twelve waterfalls along a 14-kilometre valley, with rock walls 50 to 100 metres high such as Sinseondae and Haksodae, according to VisitKorea. On the southern side of the mountain, Bogyeongsa Temple was founded in 603 in the Silla period. Legend says it stands on a site that protects the nation because a sacred eight-sided mirror was buried beneath the main hall. VisitKorea listed the temple grounds as free and open 06:00–18:00, with a templestay programme charged separately.

In Ocheon-eup, Nam-gu, Oeosa Temple sits on Unjesan Mountain. It dates from the 7th century and is linked with the monk Wonhyo. Its name, roughly 'My Fish Temple', comes from a legend in which Wonhyo and another monk compete to bring fish back to life in the stream. Its main hall, Daeungjeon, was rebuilt in 1741.

Both temples are easiest by car or taxi. If you only have time for one, choose Naeyeonsan if you want a hike and Oeosa for a short, quiet visit.

Getting there, and the ferry to Ulleungdo

VisitKorea lists Pohang among the KTX high-speed destinations from Seoul, and gives about 35 minutes by KTX or SRT from Dongdaegu Station in Daegu. Since 30 December 2025, the Donghae Line KTX-Eum has run the east coast from Bujeon in Busan to Gangneung, stopping at Pohang. VisitKorea's route diagram puts Gyeongju about 22 minutes south and Yeongdeok about 20 minutes north. With only three trains in each direction a day, book through Korail or the Korail Talk app, especially at weekends and in summer.

Pohang Gyeongju Airport (KPO), in Donghae-myeon, Nam-gu, is a domestic airport with flights to Gimpo and Jeju. VisitKorea puts it 30 to 40 minutes by city bus from downtown Pohang. International travellers can fly into Daegu International Airport, take city bus 101 or 401 or a taxi to Dongdaegu Station (about 15 minutes, according to VisitKorea), and then the KTX or SRT to Pohang.

For Ulleungdo, Daezer Ferry's El Dorado Express leaves from Pohang Ferry Terminal at 44 Haean-ro, Buk-gu, on the same seafront road as Yeongildae Beach. Daezer's site gives 2 hours 50 minutes for the crossing to Ulleungdo, and offers combined KTX-and-ferry booking and posts notices for a shuttle bus between Pohang Station and the terminal. VisitKorea also names Yeongilman Port, in Heunghae-eup, as a starting point for sailings to Ulleungdo, so check which terminal is on your ticket. Sailings depend on the sea, so leave a spare day either side if you can.