KoreaRegions & prefectures

Daegu

Korea’s hottest city, capital of textiles and traditional medicine.

Capital: Daegu
Status: Metropolitan city
Region: Yeongnam (Gyeongsang)
Must-see: The Yangnyeongsi medicine market
Local specialty: Makchang, soupy tteokbokki, apples

Closed inside a windless basin, Daegu regularly posts the country’s heat records, which earns it the nickname "Daefrica". The city made its fortune in textiles in the twentieth century, then in components. Its medicinal herb market, opened in 1658 by royal order to supply the court, still operates in the same streets and remains East Asia’s most important for Korean pharmacopoeia.

What to see there

Places, dishes and traditions tied to this territory.

Bong Joon-hoSouth Korean director and screenwriter born in 1969, creator of Parasite (2019), the first non-English-language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.Yangnyeongsi medicine marketThree hundred and fifty years of trade in roots and barks, in the same alleys.

In the magazine

Articles that cover this topic.