Temple-Stay Korea: Haeinsa and the Southern Mountains

Gayasan (South Gyeongsang) and Gyeongju (North Gyeongsang) · South Korea

Moderate6 daysAsia~£700 est.

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Overview

The moktak wooden clapper starts at 3.30am, and by the time you shuffle into the main hall the monks are already chanting. Korea's official Templestay programme opens working monasteries to visitors, and this six-day route pairs the two best: Haeinsa, deep in Gayasan's forests, home of the Tripitaka Koreana — 81,258 wooden printing blocks of the Buddhist canon, carved in the thirteenth century and stored in a hall so perfectly ventilated it has never needed restoration — and Golgulsa near Gyeongju, where the monks practise sunmudo, a meditative martial art you train in twice daily. Expect 108 prostrations (harder than any summit day), barugongyang formal meals eaten in silence to the last grain of rice, tea with a monk who will answer anything, and free afternoons hiking the Gayasan ridge above the temple roofs. Book both stays on the English Templestay site (templestay.com) a few weeks ahead; you sleep on a heated ondol floor in loaned uniform, and meals are vegetarian. Access via Daegu for Haeinsa, Gyeongju for Golgulsa. Six days runs about £600–£750 including trains, temple fees and two Gyeongju guesthouse nights among the Silla royal tombs.