Tongyeong-Si: Art, mountain scenery and maritime experiences

Tongyeong-Si offers a variety of reasons to stay: murals and digital light trails, short hikes on Mireuksan, and maritime activities. When looking for a holiday apartment, it helps to decide first what you want to focus on. Should your stay be centred mainly on art and culture, nature experiences or activities on the water? Tongyeong’s different sides make this choice particularly easy to picture.

Murals and digital stories

Dongpirang is a hillside village shaped by art, revitalised in 2007 when its walls were painted with murals. From there, you can look out over the sea and Gangguan Harbour. Those interested in public art can find a tangible connection to Tongyeong’s culture in Dongpirang.

You can experience a different kind of visual world at DPIRANG, a digital theme park in Tongyeong’s Nammangsan Park. Its media show tells the story of vanished murals from Dongpirang and Seopirang and brings them back to life. This brings together two distinct motifs in Tongyeong: murals on the walls of a hillside village and a digital story that draws on murals. DPIRANG has 15 illuminated paths, each with a different theme, with a total length of 1.3 kilometres. The themes change along the paths; the stated length refers to their combined length.

Mireuksan: short hikes and far-reaching views

If you prefer spending time outdoors, consider Mireuksan. The mountain is known for its lush forests, valleys with clear water, unusually shaped rocks and rock caves. Well-maintained trails are suitable for short hikes. This makes Mireuksan a good choice if you want to explore nature without making longer hikes the sole focus of your stay. The landscape offers a variety of impressions, from forests and water to distinctive rocks and caves. From Mireuksan, views extend across the Korean archipelago.

Mireukdo also has its own connection to nature: the island is part of Hallyeohaesang National Park. When planning, you can therefore decide whether to focus on a short hike on Mireuksan, its landforms and views, or Mireukdo’s place within the national park.

Water, cable car and distinctive local features

The Mireukdo Special Tourism Zone offers yacht services and water sports such as windsurfing, kayaking and water skiing. It is therefore an option for travellers who want their stay in Tongyeong to include maritime leisure activities. The Tongyeong Cable Car is 1,975 metres long and offers a pet-friendly ride, allowing visitors to bring their pets. If you are travelling with a pet, this option is a practical consideration when planning your activities.

Another distinctive feature of Tongyeong is its underwater tunnel, considered the first undersea tunnel in Asia. It is 483 metres long and 5 metres wide. These dimensions give a clear sense of the structure’s scale and make it a notable point of interest for anyone interested in remarkable structures as well as scenery and culture.

Culture, history and regional cuisine

The Tongyeong Hansan Battle Festival includes a reenactment of the Battle of Hansan. The festival also features traditional cultural experiences for visitors of all ages and maritime leisure sports activities. In this way, the festival combines a historical battle reenactment with cultural and maritime themes. A digital display board at Gangguan presents Tongyeong’s culture in 3D, adding another form of representation to the artistic and digital experiences.

Cuisine is another discovery to make in the associated municipality. Yonggung Ttukbaegi uses only selected fresh seafood and offers a variety of seafood stews. They are prepared to order to preserve the ingredients’ natural flavours. If you are including regional cuisine in your travel plans, this dish offers a distinct culinary focus alongside the area’s art, nature and water-based activities.

Discover more destinations: Yangsan-Si, Daegu, Miryang, Hadong-gun, Hapcheon-Gun, Sacheon-si, Changnyeong and Jinju.

For the broader travel overview: Gyeongsangnam-Do.