Yongin: Everland, the Folk Village, and What to Eat Between Them

Yongin is a large, spread-out city south of Seoul that most travelers experience as two destinations rather than a place: Everland and the Korean Folk Village. They're about 25 minutes apart, and with an early start you can do both in a day — though most people would rather pick one and do it properly.

Everland

Korea's largest theme park, and consistently one of the most-visited in the world. The things worth knowing:

• T Express is a wooden roller coaster with one of the steepest drops of its kind anywhere. The queue is long; the single-rider line is much shorter.
• The seasonal gardens are the real reason Koreans come — tulips in spring, roses in summer, and an enormous illuminated Christmas season.
• Zootopia includes a safari bus through a mixed-species enclosure.
• Caribbean Bay, the water park, is separately ticketed and open in summer.

Go on a weekday if you possibly can. Weekend waits of two hours per ride are normal.

The Korean Folk Village

A reconstructed Joseon-era village of about 270 relocated and rebuilt traditional houses, spread over a large wooded site with a stream running through it. It's the most-used historical filming location in the country — a very large share of the sageuk dramas you've watched were shot here.

It works because it isn't static: there are farmers' band performances, tightrope walking, a traditional wedding, blacksmiths and potters working, and a market street. Allow at least three hours.

What to eat

Yongin is where Seoul goes for grilled meat at the weekend. The city is full of large restaurants with parking lots, wood smoke, and hillside views — a category Koreans call gyoae dining, "on the edge of the city."

• Charcoal grilled pork and beef. This is the district's main event. Butcher-shop restaurants where you buy by weight are common and excellent value.
• Jumeok-gogi. "Fist meat" — thick, hand-cut pork shoulder grilled over charcoal, a specialty that Gyeonggi does particularly well.
• Barbecue and smoked meat. A genuine local subculture of slow-smoked pork and rib restaurants has grown up out here, helped by the space to build a smoker.
• Hoe and sushi. The Suji and Gwanggyo new-town districts support a solid raw-fish scene at suburban prices.
• Baekban and country jeongsik. Set meals near the Folk Village aimed at families.

Park food is park food. Eat outside the gates if you have the option.

Practical tips

• Getting there: Everland — free shuttle from Gangnam Station, or the Everline light rail from Giheung Station (Bundang Line). Folk Village — bus 10-5 from Suwon Station, about 30 minutes.
• Both are cheaper booked online than at the gate, often significantly.
• Everland closes early in winter and stays open late in summer; check the day's hours before you go.
• The Folk Village performance schedule is posted at the entrance — plan your loop around it.
• Suwon is the better base than Seoul if you want both in one day; it's closer to the Folk Village and connects to Everland easily.

Each restaurant below has a video on its EatHub page, which helps a lot when deciding whether a countryside grill house justifies the taxi.