Myohyangsan (the Mysterious Fragrant Mountain) is about two hours north of Pyongyang and is one of the country's most scenic areas. The mountains rise steeply from forested valleys, and hiking trails lead past waterfalls and the ruins of old Buddhist temples. The air genuinely smells different from the city.
The main reason most tourists come is the International Friendship Exhibition: two enormous palace-style buildings blasted into a hillside, housing over 200,000 gifts given to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il by foreign heads of state and organisations from around the world. You enter barefoot, in felt slippers, through metre-thick blast-proof doors. The rooms are arranged by country. There are gifts from Stalin, Mao, Fidel Castro, dozens of African leaders, various Western politicians, and a large number of bewildering objects whose significance requires explanation. A bulletproof limousine from Stalin. A crocodile-skin briefcase from the Sandinistas. A bear-hunting rifle.
The experience is sincere on the North Korean side and deeply surreal on the visitor's. It is one of the most genuinely unusual things you can see anywhere in the world.
Pohyon Temple nearby dates originally to the 11th century and has been partially restored. It is a functioning Buddhist site — one of the few in the DPRK — and worth the short detour. For something active, the Sangwon Valley hike climbs past waterfalls and painted pavilions into the wooded heart of the massif.
Myohyangsan is typically an overnight stop on extended tours, allowing time for both the exhibition and a morning hike. Foreign visitors are housed at the pyramid-shaped Hyangsan Hotel at the base of the mountains.