Mokpo

A rocky peak right in the city; half an hour up puts you on the ridge above the port and the islands. Nojeokbong at the entrance is the rock Yi Sun-sin is said to have draped in straw to fake a rice store. The Tears of Mokpo song stone sits lower down.

Built in 2019 and 3.23km long, it runs from the north port over the Yudalsan ridge and across the water to Gohado. Glass-floored cabins have their own queue. You can get off at the Yudalsan stop, walk the mountain and board again.

A long island facing Yudalsan where Yi Sun-sin regrouped his navy after the Battle of Myeongnyang; a memorial stone marks it. A timber deck hangs over the sea along the southern cliffs. It is downhill from the cable car stop, so coming back is the hard part.

The hull of the Sinan ship, a 14th-century Yuan trading vessel found off Sinan in 1976, was raised in pieces and reassembled here. The one ship fills an entire hall. Most of the ceramics it carried went to other museums, so this is the place to see the ship.

Building 1 is the former Japanese consulate of 1900, looking down over the old town from its rise. Building 2 below was the Mokpo branch of the Oriental Development Company, and tells the story of colonial extraction. They are 10 minutes apart on foot.

Two rocks carved by sea and wind look like people in conical straw hats, hence the name. A floating walkway lets you view them from the water side. At low tide the eroded hollows at their base show too, so go when the water is out.

On the slope behind the harbour, residents' own poems and drawings hang on the walls. Yeonhui's Supermarket at the bottom is the shop from the film 1987 and still wears that sign. The steps are narrow and steep, and slippery in rain.

A fountain moored in the bay off Peace Square sprays in time to music and lights. Shows run only after dark and stop for the cold of winter. The seawall steps in front of the square are the closest seats.

A memorial to the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize of President Kim Dae-jung, born on Haui island off Mokpo, inside Samhakdo Park. Replicas of the medal and diploma are shown with his letters from prison. With the park path around it, allow an hour.

On Bakjido and Banwoldo in Sinan, the roofs, bridges and paths are all painted purple. Wear one purple item and you pay nothing to get in. Driving out from Mokpo is over an hour; on the islands you walk or hire a bike.

A bridge of a little over 7km linking Aphae-do and Amtae-do in Sinan, opened in 2019. Its name plays on cheonsa, angel, and 1004, Sinan's nickname for its thousand-plus islands. Since it opened, cars from Mokpo reach Jaeun-do and Purple Island with no ferry.

Laid out on Jeungdo in Sinan in 1953, it is the largest single continuous salt farm in Korea. Its old stone salt warehouse is now a salt museum. Come in the late afternoon harvest and you see workers raking the white crystals into heaps.

In the Gatbawi culture complex, a dinosaur skeleton cast fills the main hall, followed by south-coast sea life specimens. The literature and ceramics museums share the site, so one visit covers them. Families with children make weekends by day fairly loud.