Places & destinations
Cities, temples, natural sites and must-see museums of China, Japan and Korea, mapped out to explore.
Japan
Beppu and its hells
Eight boiling pools far too hot to bathe in, visited as a circuit.
Himeji Castle
The only major Japanese castle never destroyed: no siege, no fire, no bombing.
Dejima
A fan-shaped islet of fifteen thousand square metres: all Japan let the West see of it for two centuries.
Dōgo Onsen
Fifteen hundred years of bathing, an 1894 building and a wing reserved for the imperial family.
The Tottori Sand Dunes
Sixteen kilometres of sand on the Sea of Japan, complete with camels and paragliding.
Eihei-ji
The mountain temple where Sōtō zen has trained its monks since 1244, with no concession to tourism.
Takachiho Gorge
A basalt canyon you row up, at the foot of Japan’s founding myth.
Hiraizumi and Chūson-ji
A Buddhist capital of the far north, of which one hall survives, covered entirely in gold leaf.
Sado island
Land of imperial exile, Tokugawa gold mine, and home of the world’s best-known taiko ensemble.
Ise Jingū
The shrine demolished and rebuilt identically every twenty years for thirteen centuries.
Izumo Taisha
Japan’s oldest shrine, where you clap four times instead of two.
The Jigokudani macaques
The only monkeys in the world that take hot baths, and they learned it by themselves in 1963.
Kawagoe, little Edo
A street of black storehouses, a wooden bell tower and an entire alley given over to sweets.
Kenroku-en
The garden that unites the six qualities a landscape is not normally able to combine.
Kōraku-en
A stroll garden built for a lord, with a rice paddy, a tea plantation and a view of the black castle.
Mount Kōya
A monastic town at eight hundred metres, where you sleep in temples and Kūkai has been meditating since 835.
Kusatsu Onsen
Four thousand litres of scalding water a minute, cooled with wooden paddles to a work song.
Lake Biwa
Japan’s largest and oldest lake, with some sixty species found nowhere else.
The Fuji Five Lakes
Five lakes born of a lava flow, one of which appears on the back of the thousand-yen note.
Matsushima
Eight hundred pine-covered islets, one of Japan’s three canonical views since the seventeenth century.
Mount Aso
A still-active volcano at the centre of a caldera where fifty thousand people live.
Nikkō Tōshō-gū
The shrine where the three wise monkeys were carved, and the shogunate’s founder buried.
Ōuchi-juku
An Edo-period post town kept intact, where soba is eaten using a leek as a chopstick.
Tateyama-Kurobe alpine route
Thirty-seven kilometres of cables, tunnels and trolleybuses to cross the Japanese Alps without a car.
Sakurajima
The volcano that stopped being an island in 1914, and still dusts the city with ash.
Shirakawa-gō
Sixty-degree thatched roofs, built for snow, maintained by the whole village at once.
Yamadera
A thousand steps cut into the cliff to a temple hanging above the valley, and Bashō’s most famous haiku.
The yatai of Hakata
A hundred stalls set up on the pavement each evening, eight stools, packed away before dawn.
Dōtonbori
Landmark · Osaka, Japan
Furano
Natural site · Hokkaido, Japan
Fushimi Inari Shrine
Temple · Kyoto, Japan
Gion District
Landmark · Kyoto, Japan
Itsukushima (Miyajima)
Temple · Hiroshima, Japan
Kamakura Great Buddha
Temple · Kanagawa, Japan
Kerama Islands
Natural site · Okinawa, Japan
Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion)
Temple · Kyoto, Japan
Nara Park
Natural site · Nara, Japan
Niseko
Natural site · Hokkaido, Japan
Osaka Castle
Landmark · Osaka, Japan
Peace Memorial Park
Museum · Hiroshima, Japan
Sensō-ji
Temple · Tokyo, Japan
Shibuya Crossing
Landmark · Tokyo, Japan
Shuri Castle
Landmark · Okinawa, Japan
Tōdai-ji
Temple · Nara, Japan
Yokohama Chinatown
Landmark · Kanagawa, Japan
Akihabara
Tokyo's electronics district. Mecca of otaku culture: anime, manga, video games, maid cafes.
Harajuku
Tokyo district famous for its youth culture and eccentric fashion.
Tokyo
Capital of Japan and largest metropolitan area in the world with over 14 million inhabitants (37 million in the greater metropolitan area).
China
The Terracotta Army
Eight thousand life-size statues, all different, found by farmers digging a well.
Huangguoshu Waterfall
East Asia’s largest waterfall, which can be crossed by a cave behind the curtain of water.
Chengde Mountain Resort
The summer palace where the Qing received Mongols and Tibetans, ringed by copies of their temples.
The Mogao Caves
Four hundred and ninety-two painted chapels in the cliff, and a library walled up for nine centuries.
Lake Qinghai
A salt inland sea at three thousand two hundred metres, ringed with yellow rapeseed in July.
Mount Changbai
A crater lake at two thousand two hundred metres, sacred on both sides of the border.
Mount Huangshan
Granite peaks, pines clinging to rock and a sea of clouds: the model Chinese landscape.
Mount Tai
Six thousand six hundred steps, seventy-two emperors and two thousand inscriptions cut into the rock.
The Wudang Mountains
The Daoist mountain where emperor Yongle had a golden hall built on the summit.
Shenyang Imperial Palace
The Qing palace before Beijing, where the throne stands under a wooden tent.
Pingyao
A complete Ming town behind six kilometres of walls, and the cradle of Chinese banking.
The Li River
Eighty-three kilometres between limestone peaks, complete with cormorant fishermen.
The Dazu Rock Carvings
Fifty thousand figures cut into the cliff, where Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism share the wall.
The Hulunbuir steppe
A grassland the size of England, considered the best preserved in the world.
The Shaolin Temple
The monastery where Chan Buddhism was born, and where the monks took up fighting.
The Western Xia Tombs
Nine earthen mounds in the desert, the only remains of an empire the Mongols erased.
Zhangjiajie
Three thousand two-hundred-metre sandstone columns, carved by rain and erosion.
Canton Tower
Landmark · Guangdong, China
Forbidden City
Landmark · Beijing, China
Giant Panda Base
Natural site · Sichuan, China
Great Wall (Badaling)
Landmark · Beijing, China
Kashgar
City · Xinjiang, China
Leshan Giant Buddha
Temple · Sichuan, China
Lijiang Old Town
Landmark · Yunnan, China
Mount Everest (North Face)
Natural site · Tibet, China
Potala Palace
Temple · Tibet, China
Stone Forest
Natural site · Yunnan, China
Taklamakan Desert
Natural site · Xinjiang, China
Temple of Heaven
Temple · Beijing, China
Temple Street Night Market
Landmark · Hong Kong, China
The Bund
Landmark · Shanghai, China
Fujian Tulou
Landmark · Fujian, China
Victoria Peak
Landmark · Hong Kong, China
West Lake
Natural site · Zhejiang, China
Wuyi Mountains
Natural site · Fujian, China
Yu Garden
Natural site · Shanghai, China
Forbidden City
Imperial palace of Beijing. Residence of Ming and Qing emperors for 500 years, now a museum.
Great Wall of China
Military fortification stretching thousands of kilometers.
Beijing Hutong
Traditional Beijing alleyways. Historic neighborhoods preserving old-style community life.
Suzhou Gardens
Classical Chinese gardens of Suzhou. Masterpieces of landscape architecture, UNESCO heritage.
Macau
Special administrative region of China. Former Portuguese territory, world gambling capital.
Shenzhen
China's Silicon Valley. Tech megacity facing Hong Kong, home to Huawei, Tencent, DJI.
Beijing
Capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the oldest cities in the world, with over 3,000 years of history and more than 21 million inhabitants.
Korea
The Baekje capitals
Two provincial towns that were the capital of a refined kingdom, exporter of culture to Japan.
Gyeryongsan
The rooster-dragon mountain, Korea’s second national park and a stronghold of folk religion.
Haeinsa and the Tripitaka Koreana
Eighty-one thousand woodblocks carved in the thirteenth century, kept without air conditioning.
The Boseong tea fields
Curves of tea bushes cut into the hillside, Korea’s largest tea-growing area.
Seoraksan
The country’s third-highest peak, a biosphere reserve, and Korea’s most photographed autumn.
Hahoe Folk Village
A clan village held in a river bend, continuously inhabited for six centuries.
Sejong administrative city
A ministry three and a half kilometres long, topped by the world’s largest rooftop garden.
Yangnyeongsi medicine market
Three hundred and fifty years of trade in roots and barks, in the same alleys.
Bukchon Hanok Village
Landmark · Seoul, Korea
Bulguksa Temple
Temple · North Gyeongsang, Korea
Dora Observatory
Landmark · Gangwon, Korea
Gamcheon Culture Village
Landmark · Busan, Korea
Gyeongbokgung Palace
Landmark · Seoul, Korea
Haeundae Beach
Natural site · Busan, Korea
Hallasan Mountain
Natural site · Jeju, Korea
Hongdae
Landmark · Seoul, Korea
Hwaseong Fortress
Landmark · Gyeonggi, Korea
Jeonju Hanok Village
Landmark · North Jeolla, Korea
Joint Security Area (JSA)
Landmark · Gangwon, Korea
Korean Folk Village
Museum · Gyeonggi, Korea
Seokguram Grotto
Temple · North Gyeongsang, Korea
Seongsan Sunrise Peak
Natural site · Jeju, Korea
Tumuli Park
Landmark · North Gyeongsang, Korea
Nami Island (Namiseom)
Picturesque South Korean island, famous thanks to Winter Sonata drama.
Jeju Island
Volcanic island south of Korea. UNESCO heritage, haenyeo (divers), and honeymoon destination.
Seoul
Capital of South Korea and megalopolis of over 10 million inhabitants (25 million in the metropolitan area), Seoul is the birthplace and driving force of the hallyu wave (K-pop, K-drama, K-beauty, Korean cinema).