Daegu

Along the embankment beside Bangcheon Market in Daebong-dong, where the singer Kim Kwang-seok was born, murals of his face and lyrics run for about 350m. A speaker by the small stage halfway along plays his songs all day.

Counted among Joseon's three great markets, it still does its biggest trade in fabric and hanbok. After the daytime stalls close, night market carts fill the central aisle, but the days they set up vary by season, so check before going.

Three red-brick houses built by American missionaries in the early 20th century crown the hill named in the song Dongmu Saenggak. Students slipped down its 90 steps towards Gyesan Cathedral during the 1919 protests, so they are called the 3·1 Movement Road.

An herbal medicine market said to date from King Hyojong's reign still trades on the same street, and the smell of simmering remedies arrives first. The Oriental Medicine Museum recreates an old herb dealer's room; in May the street holds a festival.

A Silla-era temple on the southern slope of Palgongsan. A huge seated Medicine Buddha, erected in 1992 as a prayer for reunification, fills a broad yard inside the grounds. The bus from the city ends just below the temple entrance, so the walk up is short.

On the summit of Gwanbong in Palgongsan, a stone Buddha wears a flat slab on its head like a hat. Believed to grant one wish, it draws many parents praying before the college entrance exam. The climb is nearly an hour of stone stairs, hard on weak knees.

A tower on the hill in Duryu Park whose observation floor takes in the whole basin. The E-World amusement park lies at its foot, and even tower-only visitors enter through the E-World gate. Many come after sunset rather than by day, for the lit-up city.

A viewing deck halfway up Apsan, south of the centre, a few minutes by cable car. It looks down on downtown at a slant from the south, so night shots come out wider than from 83 Tower. The lane by the cable car ticket office is a row of makchang grills.

Dammed as an irrigation reservoir under Japanese rule, it is now ringed by a path of just over 2km beside a row of cafes, with duck pedal boats for hire. In the warmer months a musical fountain plays after sunset, the hour the bank is busiest.

A Confucian academy on a Dalseong hillside above the Nakdong, inscribed in 2019 among the Seowon of Korea. Tradition credits the scholar Jeong Gu with the great ginkgo at the gate; when it turns gold in early November, the tree upstages the academy.

Completed in 1902 in Gothic style, it is counted the first Western-style building in the Yeongnam region. Its twin spires date from the 1918 enlargement. The 90 steps down from Cheongna Hill end right here, so most modern-alley walks cross this forecourt.

Home in his last years to Yi Sang-hwa, who wrote Does Spring Come to Stolen Fields?, in the lane behind Gyesan Cathedral. Next door is the house of Seo Sang-don, who led the national debt repayment drive. Both are free and take ten minutes.

The downtown strip from Daegu Station to Banwoldang, a car-free street packed with clothes shops, restaurants and karaoke rooms. For years young locals arranged to meet outside the Daegu Department Store here. On weekend nights buskers set up along its length.

Palgongsan became Korea's 23rd national park in 2023, and a cable car climbs from below Donghwasa temple to Sillimbong. The top deck shows the Daegu basin and ridge after ridge. At late-October colour time the ticket queue can top an hour.

An old Nakdong River landing in Hwawon where cargo came by boat and where, in 1900, a missionary's piano reportedly first reached Korean soil. A revived tavern row sells gukbap and makgeolli, and cruise boats ply the river. The deck fills at dusk.

On Biseulsan in Dalseong, azaleas turn the summit ridge pink, with a festival when they bloom in late April. Electric shuttles run from the recreation forest to near Daegyeonsa, cutting the climb. Bloom-weekend shuttle seats are gone by late morning.

In Dunsan-dong under Palgongsan, the Gyeongju Choe head family and kin have shared this village for nearly 400 years. Tiled houses, led by the Baekbul head house, line stone-walled lanes. The airport is close, yet bar the planes it is hushed.

Built beside the Daegu Art Museum to show the Seoul Kansong collection, it opened in September 2024. The opening show put out National Treasures such as the Hunminjeongeum Haerye, and bookings ran weeks behind. Works rotate, so a repeat visit differs.

The 1932 Daegu branch of the Joseon Industrial Bank, now a museum beside Gyeongsang Gamyeong Park. Models and photos show city streets and daily life after the ports opened; admission costs nothing. The stone columns out front are unchanged from bank days.