Mudeungsan Provincial Park

Overlooking Gwangju, Mudeungsan Provincial Park is a gorgeous green mountain range with a spider's web of well-signed trails leading to the peak, Cheonwangbong (1187m).

About 1km (a 30-minute walk) from the bus stop stop (fork right to Saeinbong) is Uijae Misulgwan, a surprisingly chic art gallery.

Walk up from the gallery to the famous Choonsul tea plantation that Uijae established. It's a steep 15-minute walk up, but turn left and then right to join the well-trodden main track up to Tokkideung (460m), a popular picnic spot with views of dramatic scree slopes, which takes half an hour. Otherwise walk downhill and the track comes out at the fork, a five-minute walk before the museum (20 minutes).

Alternatively, a 10-minute walk on from the art gallery takes you to Jeungsimsa, a temple with a Shilla-era iron Buddha backed by red-and-gold artwork that is housed in an insignificant-looking shrine behind the main hall. The tiny shrine perched on a rock next to it is dedicated to the Shamanist Mountain God. From the temple you can continue on to Saeinbong (1.3km) or further afield.

The park is alive with Gwangjuites at weekends, and restaurant shacks that cling to the hillsides or overlook cascading streams sell pork, chicken and mountain vegetable meals.

Buses 15, 27, 52, 555, 771 and 1001 go to the Jeungsimsa entrance to Mudeungsan Park, east of Gwangju. Bus 555 (around ₩900, 30 minutes, every 15 minutes) can be picked up outside Exit 3 of Nongseong subway station (a 10-minute walk south of the bus terminal) or along Geumnamno.