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Brochure for Gyeognju Tourist Pension Association

Since we’ve been on the topic of pensions lately, I thought I should mention the Gyeongju Tourist Pension Association. I was down by the bus station last week and decided to pop in the Tourist Info Booth to see what was new. I noticed they had a brochure in Korean listing information for about a dozen different pensions around Bomun Resort. The brochure was published by the aptly named Gyeongju Tourist Pension Association. Unfortunately their Korean website is listed as a “Reported Attack Site” by Firefox (which can happen when you use a lot of dodgy Active-X and java script in your website, I guess) , so I won’t be providing a hard link to it here.

Brochure for Gyeognju Tourist Pension Association

However, they do have a similar site in English: koreagj.com (Internet Explorer recommended), that has information on 9 out of the 12 pensions in the brochure. The site’s a little wonky to navigate though. You have to click on the picture of the pension, after which there’s a pop-up with photos and the pension’s address and phone number. From here, click on “Website” in the top right corner of the pop-up which will take you an English page with more photos, directions, maps and (most importantly) online booking. Both Ja-yeon Pension and Lacvert Pension (where my family stayed last Chuseok Holiday) are part of this organization, as well as a pension erroneously named “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”. I’m going to guess that the owners never actually read the book.

Brochure for Gyeognju Tourist Pension Association

As I mentioned before, most of these pensions are located in the area around Bomun Resort and Bulguksa Temple. They may be a little tricky to get to by public transportation and they are definitely not budget accommodations. Still, they provide a romantic and scenic alternative to the usual humdrum tourist hotels and guest houses. I’m including scans of the brochure here as it included photos and web addresses for each pension. However, don’t be surprised if the sites aren’t in English. Your best bet for reservations (which are pretty much essential) is still: koreagj.com There are of course tons more pensions scattered about Gyeongju. For more English info on those, check out the “Condominiums and Pensions” listings under “Accommodations” on the new Official “Gyeongju Tourguide” Webpage (but more on that in a few).