Seokguram Grotto
석굴암
A separate journey from Bulguksa with its own travel time, not an annexe of it. Admission has been free since 4 May 2023, and the published times are last-admission times rather than closing times.
Language
Place information
- Korean name
- 석굴암
- Address
- 238 Seokgul-ro, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do
- Getting there
- Bus Bus 12 · Seokguram (change to Bus 12 at Bulguksa)
- Opening hours
- Mar–Sep 09:00 (last entry 18:00) Feb, Oct 09:00 (last entry 17:30) Jan, Nov–Dec 09:00 (last entry 17:00)
- Closed
- Open year-round
- Hours notes
- Seokguram states no separate closing time. Pets are not admitted.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Admission
- Free
Prices
| Admission | FreeFree since 4 May 2023 under the revised Cultural Heritage Protection Act. This note used to say Gyeongju's admission page still showed the old fare; checked on 2026-08-30, that table carries no figure for this place at all, only a 'see details' link out to the operator. The old figures survive in the page source as commented-out markup and are never rendered. |
|---|---|
| Parking — small and mid-size vehicles | ₩2,000Seokguram states the car park is run by the tourism team of the Gyeongju city facilities agency. |
| Parking — large vehicles (buses) | ₩4,000 |
Source: Seokguram — visiting hours and admission ·
What to see
The principal Buddha
The seated Shakyamuni at the centre of the rotunda, about 3.4 m high and cut from granite. The right hand hangs over the knee with the index finger touching the earth, the left rests in meditation — the moment of enlightenment itself.
The eleven-headed Avalokitesvara
Directly behind the principal Buddha, at the centre of the curved wall. Nine small faces above the head and one more above them make eleven with the figure's own — and it is the most finely cut carving in the grotto.
The ten disciples
Five standing arhats to each side of the eleven-headed Avalokitesvara. Each has a different bone structure in a long face, a different stance, different robes, and something different in the hands — a scroll, a censer, a water bottle.
The heavenly kings and bodhisattvas
Inside the rotunda, Indra and Brahma stand first to either side, then the bodhisattvas — Manjushri on the left, Samantabhadra on the right. Samantabhadra stands on a lotus pedestal holding out a cup; Manjushri holds a scroll in the left hand.
The four heavenly kings
On the walls of the passage joining the antechamber to the rotunda, each standing on a demon underfoot. Dhrtarastra of the east and Virudhaka of the south hold swords; Vaisravana of the north raises a pagoda in his right hand.
The eight guardians
Four to each wall of the antechamber. From the right of the entrance: Garuda, Gandharva, Deva, Mahoraga; on the left, Asura, Kinnara, Yaksha, Naga. They are thought to be later than the carvings of the rotunda.
The vajra guardians
Flanking the way in from the entrance to the rotunda. They are carved in markedly higher relief than anything else here, and the split between upper and lower garment throws the musculature forward.
The niches
Ten hemispherical niches set above the wall carvings, five to the north and south and to the east. They skip only the space directly in front of the principal Buddha and above the eleven-headed Avalokitesvara behind it; most hold a seated bodhisattva.
The principal Buddha selected
Nearby
Bulguksa Temple
Treat Bulguksa and Seokguram as separate stops with their own travel time; the temple grounds reward a slower look at gates, bridges, halls, and pagodas.
Godoveol Hanjeongsik
A hanjeongsik house in Bomun-dong, laid out across two hanok buildings and set with seasonal ingredients.
Gyeongju National Museum
The national museum of Silla. Four of the six gold crowns excavated from the tombs in central Gyeongju are administered here, as is the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok. After Daereungwon and Cheomseongdae — the tombs and the sky — it is the natural place to come and see what was inside the tombs.
Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond
The best-known night view in Gyeongju, and the only one of the central sites that charges. The city warns that arriving near the 21:30 ticket cut-off may not get you in.
Stories about this place
- Gyeongju, Day Two: Bulguksa and Seokguram by Bus
If the first day was walked, the second is ridden. Bus 10 covers the 35–45 minutes from the terminal to Bulguksa, and Bus 12 climbs Tohamsan from there. What orders the day is not a closing time — it is the bus back down from Seokguram, which leaves on the hour.
- Bulguksa and Seokguram: How to Check Admission and Opening Hours
Gyeongju's official admission table gives a figure for every attraction. Tongiljeon and Bunhwangsa are written in as 'free'. But the Bulguksa and Seokguram cells carry no figure at all — only a 'see details' link, and that link leaves for an unencrypted address.
Nearby Food
Related articles
- Gyeongju in a Day on Foot: Daereungwon to Woljeonggyo
- Five Places to Visit Around Hwangnidan-gil, Gyeongju: Daereungwon, Cheomseongdae, Donggung and Wolji, Woljeonggyo
- Three Places to Visit in Andong: Hahoe Village, Buyongdae and Byeongsan Seowon
- Seoul's Five Palaces, Compared: Price, Closing Day, Hours — and How There Came to Be Five
- The Jinju Namgang Lantern Festival
- How to Use Korean Convenience Stores: From Heating a Meal to Topping Up a Transit Card
Where these facts come from
- Seokguram — visiting hours and admission ·
- Seokguram — the structure and what it holds ·
- National Heritage Portal — Seokguram Grotto (National Treasure) ·
- Gyeongju Culture and Tourism — admission ·
- Seokguram — the temple's own directions page. Its public-transport section says to take Bus 10, 11 or 700 towards Bulguksa from the terminal or the Gyeongju city centre, or Bus 700 from Singyeongju Station where it runs four times a day, get off at Bulguksa, and there change to Bus 12 for Seokguram. Buses back down to Bulguksa leave on the hour. It gives ten minutes on foot from the Seokguram car park to the grotto precinct — a figure attached to its driving directions rather than to a bus stop. ·