Cheongju


 * Not to be confused with nearby Chungju

Cheongju (청주,淸州), also spelled Chongju, is the capital of North Chungcheong, South Korea.



Understand
Cheongju, in addition to being the provincial capital, is also a historic city credited with creating the world's oldest movable metal type print book: jikji. Do not expect to get a glimpse of the UNESCO-registered artifact as the Jikji (or what remains of it) is stored in France. Nonetheless, Cheongju is proud of its place in international history and hailed 2011 as a Jikji celebration year.

For a domestic traveler however, perhaps Cheongju's most notable asset is that it houses one of Korea's major domestic (with a few international routes) airports, serving Cheongju and the nearby major city of Daejeon.

By train
The main train station is located at Ogeunjang. Trains are limited, making this a lesser reliable method of transport into the city.

By car

 * Jeongbu Highway: connecting Cheongju with Seoul via Ochang and/or Jincheon.
 * Gyeongbu Expressway: connecting Cheongju with Seoul, Daejeon and Busan.

By bus
Most of the major cities in South Korea have an express bus to Cheongju. There are two major bus stations:
 * Cheongju Express Bus Terminal, for buses from Busan, Daegu, Gwangju and Seoul.
 * Cheongju Intercity Bus Terminal, for all other cities. Buses from Incheon and Gimpo airports also leave from this terminal. The information center is adjacent to the bus terminal. Make sure you visit here if your Korean is not very good.

Get around
Cheongju has an extensive bus system accessible for ₩1450, but it can be difficult to figure out. Taxis are the easiest way to get around, as they are cheap and quick.

See




Buy
Cheongju has various markets scattered throughout the city that any traveler is bound to stumble across.

Eat
Cheongju's local specialities are chestnuts, and little packets of them are widely available at tourism and convenience stalls across the entire Cheungchong Province. It is also a major growing region for apples, pears and peaches.

Cheongju has a reasonably good mix of Korean and Western restaurants. Most of the American fast food chains can be found somewhere in the city. The downtown area is home to McDonalds, KFC, Mr Pizza and Burger King.

Drink
The local specialty, Cheongju daechusul is a type of takju, unrefined liquor fermented from grains. It would be in the same family as the popular makgeolli and its cousin, dongdongju. Carefully brewed with jujubes, glutinous rice, yeast, malt, pine needles and spring water pumped from an underground rock bed daechusul tastes sweet with a bitter aftertaste. The alcohol content is 16 percent.

Cheongju has hundreds of drinking establishments scattered across the city. The most popular spot is the area around Chungbuk University, Chungdae Jungmun, frequented by Koreans and foreigners every Friday and Saturday night.

Chungbuk University area




Sleep
There are various love motels throughout the city that are clean and economical.



Religious services
There is a Presbyterian English Service offered by Sangdang Church (which is next to E Mart) every Sunday at 11:30. It is led by a native English speaker and is attended by people of many different denominations.

For an English Catholic mass, visit Heungdeuk Catholic Church beside the baseball stadium and Arts Center at 17:00 on Sundays.

For Seventh-Day Adventists, there is an English Sabbath worship in Bokdae 2 dong, near ChungDae, at the Sahmyook SDA School Church. Service is held Friday nights at 20:00 and Saturday mornings from 10:30. Lunch is usually offered by the church.

Go next
The metropolitan sprawl of Daejeon and the rotting early-1990s glory of its Expo Park are only an hour away by bus. Alternately, North Chungcheong Province's most convenient hub, Chungju and its most iconic natural landmarks can be found at Danyang, are both a short hop away.

For access details, see Korea's Express Bus website. However there are many buses that are not listed on here that also go from Cheongju, including buses to Gyeongju, Incheon Airport, Nam (South) Seoul, SongniSan and pretty much every other place you could ever want to go. Without going to the terminal it can be really difficult to get English-language information about bus timetables. The information office is next to the Cheongju Intercity Bus Terminal and should be able to help you out if you need it.

About 25 km southeast of Cheongju is the town of Boeun, which is the gateway to Beopjusa, one of the more famous Buddhist temples in Korea and location of the tallest Buddha statue in Korea.