Gyeonggi Province surrounds Seoul on all sides and is the most populous province in South Korea, home to nearly 14 million people. It is not a place most visitors plan to spend time in its own right, but it contains some of the most visited destinations in the country — many of them easily reached as day trips from the capital.
The Korean Folk Village near Suwon is one of the best open-air museums in Asia, recreating the architecture, crafts, and daily life of Joseon dynasty Korea on a large forested site. The UNESCO-listed Hwaseong Fortress at Suwon is an intact 18th-century city wall with impressive gates and pavilions. To the north, the Demilitarized Zone separating South Korea from the North can be visited on guided tours from Seoul; the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom is one of the more surreal experiences available anywhere on the Korean peninsula. Incheon International Airport, the country's main gateway, lies on the coast just west of the province.
Gyeonggi also has ski resorts in its eastern hills, popular with Seoul residents in winter, and several national parks and mountain hiking areas within easy reach of the city.
