Jeonju Hanok Village in the Fall

Jeonju was the best.

Honestly, it's getting harder to write these posts about my daytrips because each city is just as amazing as the one before. How many ways can I say, "This place is AMAZING," before it starts to sound redundant?

With that being said, this place was...AMAZING!

Full disclosure, I only visited one area in Jeonju - but I wouldn't change it for the world.

Jeonju Hanok Village.

You see that gorgeous yellow tree to the right? That is a 600 year old Ginko tree. Yeah, SIX HUNDRED years old. What an amzing legacy.

Also, let's talk for a second about how beautiful Ginko trees are. Just look at them! They are an explosion of neon yellow color at their peak, and they are all over Korea. I have become low-key obsessed with this tree.

Right. Back to Jeonju.

So, Jeonju Hanok Village is renowned for its 'atmophere' in the fall. I'm not really sure the best way to desribe it, but while it is open and beautiful year-round, it is always recommended to go and see it in the fall. Something about the fusion of beautiful fall colors and traditional Korean architechture just can't be beat, I suppose.

Turns out, they were right.

There are over 800 traditional Hanok houses in Jeonju Hanok Village. While the rest of the city has been industrialized, the Hanok village retains its historical charms and traditions.

The Hanok Village is full of shops, resturants, and private homes. But the most amazing thing of all is the overwhelming number of places where you can rent a hanbok. Hanboks are the traditional clothes of Korea, for both men and women - although the styles for men and women are obviously different.

At least 50% of the people we saw during our trip were dressed up in hanboks, and they were very busy taking incredible photos amongst the village architechture and the fall foliage. If there is one thing that Korea has mastered, it is the art of turning EVERYTHING into a photo-op.

There was also an incredible amount of delicious street food available in the Hanok Village.

The color on these strawberries was visible from 100 feet, so obviously I had to try one. Now, if you are anything like me, you might be thinking, 'These are clearly strawberries covered in some sort of sryup - hence the shine and the cup.'

Well, big surprise of the day was that this was, in fact, a FROZEN treat. The strawberries were covered in a decently thick layer of hard, candy coating and then flash frozen. As it started to melt, I did learn that they become incredibly sticky.

I didn't manage to finish the whole thing, but it was good while it lasted.

As we neared the outskirts of the Hanok Village, we were suddenly struck by the sound of rythmic drumming. Which, of course, always warrants further exploration. So we headed out of the Hanok Village and saw this:

Korea never fails to disappoint.

And, yes, I too was unable to look away from what appears to be just a giant, multi-colored pom-pom on their head.

I have no idea what this was or what is was for, but they stayed on the bank of the river and performed for the better part or two hours.

We followed the band for a little while down by the river, which is where we stumbled upon this architechtural beauty,

For real, does it get more picture perfect than this? Tuns out this is called the Namcheongyo Bridge and it serves at the gateway of Jeonju Hanok Village.

So, we decided to part ways from the band and walk along the river for a while in order to take in the beautiful scenery. For all of its overcrowding and pollution in the major cities, Korea also has some STUNNING natural athestic to balance it all out.

Here are some of the best scenic photos we took around the river.

After we finished exploring by the river we decided to walk a few minutes down the street in order to visit the Pungnammun Gate. It is the only remaining gate among the four main gates of the Jeonjuseong fortess.

Currently, no visitors are allowed within the stone walls surrounding the gate, so this is about as close as you can get.

But, it's still quite impressive.

Final impression of Jeonju is that it was the most "tourist friendly" town I have visited so far. What I mean by this is that many smaller towns in Korea don't go out of their way to provide easy information to foreign tourists visiting the area. It can often be quite challenging trying to figure out exactly where all those "tourist attractions" you saw online are actually located within the town.

But when we arrived at the Jeonju Hanok Village, there was a tourist information center that had a very detailed map of the town and the Hanok Village - all in English. They were food recommendations, a list of top attractions to see, dates of major festivals throughout the year, and much more.

It was an extremely useful informational guide, and I commend Jeonju for having the foresight to provide them to foreign tourists. It definetly made exploring and finding our way around the city much less challenging.

Total left-field question, but do you guys remember the State Farm TV commerical from like 10 years ago where the old man has a dollar on a fishing pole and he says, "Oh, you gotta be quicker than that."?

That is 100% the attitude when it comes to getting pictures like the one above. It's like waiting for an opening in a double-dutch jump roping event. You can't hesitate - you just have to go for it.

What you can't see in this photo are the multitudes of other domestic and foreign tourists also waiting to take their picture with this...boulder.

If you visit Korea, and you want a picture with something, you're going to have to fight for it.

That being said, Jeonju was an absolutely brilliant place to visit.

10/10 would do it again.