Visit February 2020 - Dolmen sites are generally not too appealing for me, but in a land full of temples and palaces, they were a nice disruption. Unlike most others I did not visit Ganghwa (easy one for a revisit to Korea) but went for Gochang and Hwasun.

Gochang

Gochang is probable the main site among the three. It is not ideally located, but at least there are two Seowons nearby. You start your visit with a museum that displays the life in times of these dolmens with live size figures. The area is rather big and stretches into three directions. Lazy folks can use a shuttle bus. The left side after the river are primitive capstone type dolmen. On the right side you will find some beautiful go-board type and table type dolmen. The most beautiful table type dolmen however is on the museum side of the river. It is rather poorly signposted, so ask if you are not sure.

Hwasun

While Gochang is a very “commercialized” dolmen site, with entry fee, museum, map and shuttle bus, Hwasun is different. I guess not many have visited the site due to it’s off the path location. But it is actually rather close to the Unjusa Temple TWHS, a must see in Korea in my opinion. There is a parking lot and a small (closed when I arrived) information center. Other than that, you just follow the foot path along the road and look out for sparse information plates that explain the most important dolmen. None of them are very impressive. They are mostly capstone types with 2-3 go-table types as highlights. The area is not fenced, so you are able to visit as long as there is sunlight. I wandered the whole length of the site (I guess. There is no actual signage when it starts or ends) and hicked up the hill to see a place where they cut out the stones for the dolmens. As often, I was the only visitor on site, but the area is also used by families as a recreational area. Visit the site, when you go to Unjusa. But in itself it is not worth the detour.