Suncheon
From Korea
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Suncheon (순천 - 順天) is an agricultural and industrial city of around 250,00 people. It's located in the southeastern corner of Jeollanam-do (전라남도 - 全羅南道), just over an hour south-east of Gwangju (광주 - 光州). Forty minutes south of Suncheon is the port city of Yeosu (여수 - 麗水).
It's dubbed as The City of Beautiful People. Suncheon is a good place to stay whilst further exploring the Namdo (남도) region of Korea, famed for its great coastline and islands, mountains, and rustic countryside.
[edit] Transportation
[edit] Getting there
[edit] By air
Suncheon/Yeosu airport, located between Suncheon and neighbouring Yeosu, provides domestic services to Korean cities.
[edit] By rail
Suncheon rail station is located on the Jeolla Line. It runs services south to Yeosu; north onto Jeonju and Seoul; east to Gwangju; and west onto Busan. It takes approximately 4 and a half to 5 hours to reach Seoul by train.
[edit] By bus
Suncheon is well serviced with both an Inter-city and an Express bus terminal. The Inter-city terminals runs frequent services mainly to nearby cities in Jeollanam-do such as Gwangju, Yeosu, and Mokpo. Whereas, the Express bus terminal runs several-a-day bus services to large cities throughout Korea such as Seoul, Daegu, Busan and Suwon.
Please note that the Inter-city and Express bus terminals are located approximately 2 kilometres away from each other so it's best to know which terminal you'll be needing to use prior to arriving at one of the bus terminals.
[edit] By car
[edit] Municipal transit
[edit] Rail
There's no municipal train service in Suncheon.
[edit] Bus
Suncheon has a frequent, well-serviced local bus service, which also travels to nearby cities: Boseong, Beolgyo, and Gwangyang.
It costs 890won (you consequently develop a nice collection of 10 won coins!) to travel.
[edit] Shopping
[edit] Department Stores
[edit] Grocery Stores
Suncheon's quite well serviced with grocery stores for a medium-size city. There's a Carrefour, HomePlus and newly-opened E-Mart, all of which are quite well stocked with Western goods and alcohol, as well as several smaller Korean grocery stores.
[edit] Convenience Stores
All the large convenience store franchises (7-Eleven, Mini-Stop, LG25, etc.) as well as many ma and pa convenience stores.
[edit] Electronics Stores
Suncheon has both a Hi-Mart and ET Land store, where you can buy many electronic goods.
[edit] Convenience Stores
[edit] Home and Garden Stores
[edit] Book Stores
[edit] General Stores
[edit] Dining and Entertainment
There's a Gran Piatto Italian restaurant as well as many high-quality Korean restaurants. There's also an Outback Steakhouse which opened in 2005.
[edit] Snack-style bars
There's a couple of Baskin Robbins as well as several chicken-on-a-stick restaurants.
[edit] Pub-style bars
There's a Miller Time pub in town as well as many Hofs and Soju bars with a pub-like atmosphere.
There is a new foreigner bar called "Julliana's" in Yeon-Hyang Dong (AKA "new downtown", as opposed to "old downtown (Jung-Ang Dong 중앙동). They serve western food and have cheap beer and cocktails.
Elvis bar is another popular bar for foreigners, most of the clientele are engineers and english teachers. There is no food served.
Julianna's Bar is located in the Yon Hyang-Dong section of the city. Its clientel is mostly foreigners (read: english teachers)where you can find a game of poker midweek if the crowd is right. Food is served and quite good.
[edit] Fast Food and Noodles
There's 2 McDonalds, 2 Pizza Huts, as well as several Lotteria stores. There's also many great, cheap Kimbap and Noodle stores, many of them 24 hour restaurants. The last Popeyes recently closed.
There's also a Domino's as well as many other pizza stores including Pizza Touch and Mr. Pizza.
[edit] Services
[edit] Auto Service
[edit] Hair Styling
My favorite hair shop is across from the McDonald's downtown (Shinae). It's called Hair For You, but it is written in Korean. It's a white and black sign. I went in there to get all of my hair cut off and get a drastically new style. I showed pictures to the stylist and she showed me what would look good on me and bam, it was done. The best thing was, it only cost 6,000 won.
[edit] Tailoring and Dry Cleaning
[edit] Veterinary Services
[edit] Travel Agencies
[edit] Utilities
[edit] Electrical Service
[edit] Communications
[edit] Internet Coverage
[edit] Mobile Phone Coverage
[edit] Natural Gas Service
[edit] Fuel Oil Service
[edit] Liquid Propane Service
[edit] Sanitation
[edit] Waste Separation Rules
[edit] Waste Pickup Schedule
[edit] Local Attractions
Tourist attractions nearby Suncheon are: Suncheon Bay (순천만 - 順天灣), Songgwangsa (송광사 - 松廣寺) and Seonamsa (선암사 - ) Buddhist temples, and Nagan-eupseong Traditional Korean Folk village. Recently completed is a film set for a Korean drama currently being filmed. It is located close to Gum-Dang Dong. It is a full mockup for a 1970s Korean town, including a 'slum' area, and well worth a visit. You can ask any taxi driver to take you to the "Du Ra Mah Se Tuh" (Drama Set), it is located near Saint Carlo Hospital ("Saeng Carlo Byeong Won" 생카로병원)
[edit] Specialty Products and Festivals
[edit] Museums
[edit] Temples
[edit] Recreation
[edit] Fitness
[edit] Outdoor Activities
[edit] Parks
[edit] Related Articles
The following articles are relevant to this position:
[edit] External links
- government web sites:
- http://www.suncheon.jeonnam.kr/ ~ Korean
- http://www.suncheon.jeonnam.kr/eng/ ~ English
