Soswaewon Garden담양 소쇄원

At a glance

Soswaewon is a designated Scenic Site that keeps the original form of a Korean private garden. It was begun in the 1530s by the scholar Yang San-bo, a student of Jo Gwang-jo, and finished by his son and grandson. A stream from the hill to the north slips under the long eastern wall and runs through the middle of the garden, past the three surviving buildings, Daebongdae, Gwangpunggak and Jewoldang. Look for the flat boulder, the small waterfall, two ponds fed by a hollowed-out log, the sunny Aeyangdan wall and the single-log bridge across the stream. The buildings burned during the Japanese invasion of 1597 and were rebuilt by the family, whose descendants have now cared for the garden for 15 generations.

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Soswaewon Garden · 1 tours & tickets

1. GetYourGuideSeonamsa Temple & Damyang private tour from JeonjuAn 8-hour private tour from Jeonju to UNESCO-listed Seonamsa Temple, then Damyang's Soswaewon garden, Juknokwon bamboo forest and Gwanbangjerim, with admissions included.Book

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Map

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Tips

• 01
  Take it slowly: the garden is small, about 4,600 m², and the pleasure is in the details, from the log-fed ponds to the stream running under the wall.
• 02
  In early autumn, look for red spider lilies among the garden plants, which also include bamboo, plum, pine and camellia.

Nearby

5·18 Democracy SquareThe fountain square in front of the old South Jeolla Provincial Office, the heart of Gwangju's May 1980 democratic uprising.Asia Culture CenterGwangju's national center for Asian arts, opened in 2015 beside the site of the 1980 uprising, with exhibitions, performances and open plazas.Muwol VillageA quiet farming village in Damyang with stone-wall lanes, a pine-wood trail, hanok stays and hands-on country experiences.Yangnim-dong Penguin VillageA Gwangju lane village where residents hung old clocks, pots and frames on the walls, now home to craft studios in a 1970s–80s streetscape.