My trip to South Korea with my high school friend, Mon, involved 11 days of touring Seoul (with day trips to Paju, Anyang, and Gapyeong), Danyang, Busan, and Jeju. On our fourth day in Seoul, we managed to make room for a trip to Gyeonggi-do specifically at Heyri Art Village in Paju and Anyang Art Park in Anyang. Hence, a day of art appreciation.
Read my post here to view our complete itinerary with a list of directions, expenses, and tips.
HEYRI ART VILLAGE
Heyri Art Village is South Korea’s largest art village that exhibits a vast amount of aesthetic pleasure from writers, painters, actors, architects, and musicians. Residences, workrooms, art galleries, and museums also occupy the area.
- Location: 70-21, Heyrimaeul-gil, Tanhyeon-myeon, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do
- Operating Hours: 24/7
- Admission Fees: Free
- Visit their website here.
Museum of Modern History of Korea
We chose to visit the Museum of Modern History of Korea among the museums scattered all over the village. This is one of my favorite museums I have ever been to because of its realistic charm. It is composed of three floors that showcase the Hall for Landscape, Culture Hall, and History Hall. Time travel through the museum’s restorations of landscape, politics, culture, life, and entertainment during the 60s and 70s to better understand the modern and present Korea.
- Location: #1652-10, Beophung-ri, Tanhyun-myon, Paju-si, Gyeonggi-do
- Operating Hours (Closed on Mondays): 9:00-18:00
- Admission Fees: Adult KRW 7,000/ Children and Student KRW 5,000
- Visit their website here.
ANYANG ART PARK
Anyang Art Park boasts an outstanding collection of architecture, sculpture, and landscape that fit perfectly well with the natural environment. In comparison to Heyri Art Village, Anyang Art Park is more laid-back. The former also attracts the youth while the latter draws the elderly. As a matter of fact, I observed that grandfathers and grandmothers in hiking or workout clothes frequent the park due to its outdoor gym and the mountains nearby. This is truly admirable because it proves that promoting healthy lifestyle is oblivious to age which I admit is a rare find in the Philippines, the country where I come from.
- Location: 131, Yesulgongwon-ro, Manan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do
- Operating Hours: 24/7
- Admission Fees: Free
Art is indeed a breath of fresh air in this restless life, and Heyri Art Village and Anyang Art Park can attest to that. Sometimes, all we need is a day intended solely for art so we can take time to pause and appreciate the things that make the world even more beautiful.
Read the other posts in my South Korea blog series to know what to do, see, and eat in each destination.
Iris in Wanderland 
Hello! We’ve gone here yesterday but didn’t see the Stairs attraction in your photos. Is it way up in the mountain? We would be going to Anyang again and hope to see it that time. Thank you.
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Hi Rachel. I’m very sorry for the late reply. To get to the stairs, you have to go through the blue tunnel which is shown above. It was also difficult for us to find the art installations because they’re too spread out.
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Hi this information very useful for me, i will go to South Korea next week. How can you go mobile in Paju, any public transportation that easy to get or you rented a car?
and did you stayed in Paju? I want to go to Paju like heyri and provence, but i want to see jsa and dmz too. I think may be it will be nice if i stay overnight in Paju. Need your suggestion about these. Thank you in advance
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Thank you! I’m glad you found it helpful. How to get to Heyri: Hapjeong Station (Seoul Subway Line 2), Exit 2. Take Bus 2200. (07:00-23:20, every 15 minutes). Get off at the Heyri stop. Sorry but we didn’t stay in Paju :(. You may visit my other blog post to know how to get to all the places we visited in Korea: https://irisinwanderland.com/2015/10/25/south-korea-11d10n-travel-guide/
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Hi, can I check how did you go from Heyri Art Village to Anyang Art Park? 🙂
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From Heyri, we rode the bus going back to Hapjeong Station. Take Exit 2 of Gwanak Station on Subway Line 1. Take bus 1, 51, 5624, 5625, 5626, 5530 or 5713. Get off at the Anyang Art Park intersection and walk for five minutes. 🙂
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Thanks so much for this post! I’m heading to South Korea in March / April and this has been so helpful. Glad you had such a fantastic time!
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Thank you and glad I could help :). Have fun on your trip to South Korea!
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