Iksan (익산) is in North Jeolla, and it is a city with large farming plains and several remnants of Baekje dynasty.
Understand
Main road through Iksan
Get in
35°56′35″N 126°57′14″E
Map of IksanIksan is a major rail junction in South Korea. Honam and Jeolla KTX stop at 1 Iksan Station..
Get around
Many of the Iksan's tourist destinations are sparsely separated from the city center and buses have few schedules. So using a taxi or renting a car can be a better option. During the weekends or holidays, there is a city tour bus that starts at Iksan Station(Timetable(in Korean), 4000 for adults).
See
Mireuksa Temple Stone West Pagoda after restoration
- [dead link]Jewelry Museum.
- 1 Mireuksa Temple Site (미륵사지) (Take a bus 41, 41-1, 60, 60-1, 60-3 from Iksan station.). This UNESCO Heritage Site was the largest Buddhist temple in Baekje, and was established in 6th century by King Mu of the Baekje. The temple is believed to be destroyed during the late Joseon Dynasty, but west and east pagoda and cornerstones still exist. West pagoda is the largest stone pagoda in East Asia, and shows the transition of materials from wood to stone. Pagoda was very unstable even after Japanese made a concrete support, so it went through restoration and was opened to public in 2019. Restoration took 18 years, because rushed reconstruction of east pagoda caused many controversies. Free..
- National Iksan Museum (Right next to Mireuksa Temple site.). 09:00 ~ 18:00 on weekdays, 09:00 ~ 19:00 on weekends. closed on Mon,. This museum was previously known as Mireuksaji Museum, and newly reopened as national museum in 2020. It stores many treasures from Mireuksaji Temple and Baekje artifacts from Iksan and Gunsan region. Free.
- [dead link]Wanggung-ri Relics Museum.
- Prison filming location, 154-4, Wacho-ri, Seongdang-myeon, Iksan-si. If you have ever watched a prison scene in a Korean film or drama, then chances are it was filmed here, in the country's only purpose built prison set.
- 2 Garam Literature Museum (가람문학관), Garam 1-gil 76, Yeosan-myeon, Iksan-si, North Jeolla-do, ☏ 82 63-832-1891. Mar-Oct: 09:00-18:00, Nov-Feb 09:00-17:00. Closed every Monday. Garam Byung-gi Lee (Garam is his pen-name) is a scholar of Koran literature who established theory of Modern Korean Sijo (traditional three-verse Korean poem). This literature museum is founded to commemorate his achievement related Korean literature. (updated Sep 2019)