Korea has officially confirmed what many travelers already suspected: a good trip may begin with a train ticket, but it ends with a bakery bag and bakery tourism.
For the new “Korea Attractions Discovery 100×100” project, 40,145 people cast more than 1.53 million votes for nearly 10,000 attractions across 100 themes.
The most popular theme was good-value restaurants, followed by hidden long-running eateries, seasonal dishes, and bakery pilgrimages. Food claimed four of the top ten categories—apparently sightseeing burns calories before you even leave home.
The biggest single-topic winner was Sungsimdang, Daejeon’s beloved bakery. Historic sites, forests, traditional markets, museums, and even train stations also made the list. More on Daejeon bakeries here.
The results reveal a shift away from expensive, checklist-style tourism toward affordable meals, local stories, and everyday places worth remembering. Korea’s next must-see landmark might not require an admission ticket—just a numbered bakery queue slip.
100×100 Project
The South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism created the 100×100 project jointly with the Korea Tourism Organization.
Travel experts initially recommended the themes and locations, and more than 40,000 members of the public voted on the final selections.
100×100 means 100 travel themes with up to 100 attractions in each theme—about 10,000 selections in total.
Themes include bakery pilgrimages, good-value restaurants, traditional markets, historic sites, forests, K-pop locations, and scenic train stations. Because some places appear in multiple themes and a few categories have fewer than 100 entries, the project lists 9,883 selections representing 6,336 unique attractions.
Tourism in Korea
Korea’s tourism boom has accelerated quickly. International arrivals increased from 11.03 million in 2023 to 16.37 million in 2024, before reaching a record 18.94 million in 2025. Another 10.71 million visitors arrived during the first half of 2026—21 percent more than during the same period in 2025. Incheon International Airport also became the world’s busiest airport for international passengers during that six-month period, handling approximately 38.4 million travelers.
Vocabulary
- 명소 — myeongso — attraction or landmark
- 가성비 — gaseongbi — value for money
- 빵지순례 — ppangji-sull-ye — bakery pilgrimage
- 전통시장 — jeontong-sijang — traditional marke
- 여행 — yeohaeng — travel
Related Links
- Posts on bakeries
