Visit the serene Gaya Tomb and walk the Hamchang Art Road to see mural art in a quiet village in South Korea. Completely devoid of tourists!
Hamchang is a very small village in Gyeongsangbuk-do. You can find it at about an hour north of Daegu and an hour south of Chungju and Jecheon. It is a perfect stop when you are traveling between Seoul or Chuncheon and Daegu or another city in the southern part of South Korea. I visited Hamchang on my second big trip to South Korea when driving from Suanbo to Daegu. Nearby you can also stop at Mungyeong to see Gomosanseong Fortress and Tokkibiri Road.
Gaya Tomb
Gaya Tomb is the site that impressed me the most in Hamchang. It is quiet and serene and feels like a forgotten and invisible site only you can see. The locals built their houses right next to it, so it feels like Gaya Tomb appears out of nowhere when you turn the corner while following the Hamchang Art Road.
The tomb is presumed to be of King Taejo of the Goryeong Gaya, one of the six mini kingdoms of the Gaya confederacy established around 42 AD. Eventually, Hamchang was assimilated by the neighboring Silla kingdom and renamed Goryeong in the 8th century.
According to local records, Governor Kim Su of Gyeongsang-do and Magistrate Yi Guk-pil of Hamchang found the tombstone buried in front of the tomb and concluded from that that it was a royal tomb of Goryeong Gaya. Later on, a king of the Joseon Dynasty had the stone marker and stone animals placed at the site.
So the tomb turned out to be a very pleasant surprise and I was sorry I had to leave the small site to return to the ‘real world’ and continue my walk on Hamchang Art Road.
Hamchang Art Road
Hamchang Art Road is a two-hour walk through town designed to promote tourism. Hamchang is still not a well-known place to visit though and I only found out about it from The Soul of Seoul blog. I’m adding my experience to the internet to spread the word further!
Let’s not spread the word too far though, so that Hamchang can keep its small-town charm. When I visited Hamchang, I only crossed paths with two other tourists. So if you are looking for a site devoid of tourists, then this one is perfect.
You can start your walk anywhere you want. If you come by train, then Hamchang train station is a good place to start. If you come by car, then you can easily park your car anywhere at Hamchangjungang-ro. As I visited Hamchang after Mungyeong, I first had a cup of tea at 커피에 반하다. From either place you can simply follow the white line on the road.
At first I thought someone had spilled paint on the road by carrying a broken paint tin. But later on it became clear that this was Hamchang’s way to guide my walking tour.
The Art Road passes small houses, walls with mural art and artistic objects. At first I was not very impressed, as the art was only sporadic, but later on I simply enjoyed the walk through a small town still devoid of those white flats you see everywhere in South Korea.
If you head west you’ll soon see the Gaya Tomb described above. After that you walk through small streets with very beautiful recently built houses and also some older houses that aren’t maintained very well. There are some creative signs or drawings to spot here.
After crossing the ‘big’ road you reach the market area where you can find more mural art. Take the stairs to the church from there to see some creative use of mosaic and tiles. Then you’re back at Hamchangjungang-ro.
How to get to Hamchang
By public transport
Take the bus and / or train to Hamchang Station (함창역). From Daegu, it takes about two hours to get there.
By car
You can reach Hamchang in less than an hour from Daegu. Hamchang Art Road and Mungyeong are perfect stops when traveling between the Chungju / Jecheon area and Daegu.
You can park somewhere around 115-72 Guhyang-ri, which is in front of the coffee shop I stopped at.
