Daegu, South Korea

Daegu, formerly written as Taegu, is the third largest city in South Korea. It is the capital and main city of Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. Daegu has a population of 2.5 million people within the Daegu-Gyeongbuk metropolitan area which has a population of 5 million.

The history of Daegu can be traced back to ancient times, when it was part of the Silla Kingdom (57 BC to AD 935). Daegu was the site of a historic battle which took place in AD 927, resulting in several place names commemorating the warfare, which pitted the forces of Taebong against that of Hubaekje. Despite victory by the Hubaekje clan, local sympathies favored Wang Geon, the Taebong leader, who was eventually proclaimed king.

The location of Daegu between Seoul and Busan made it a strategic transpotation center, even during the medieval period. It is also on the crossroads to Gyeongju and Jinju.

Daegu was the administrative capital of Gyeongsang-do, one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty, which today comprises the cities of Busan, Daegu, Ulsan and the provinces of Gyeongsanbuk-do and Gyongsangnam-do.

Today Daegu is developing into a major center for fashion and high-tech industries in South Korea. The city aspires to be the "Milan of Asia", concentrating its effort to develop its fashion industry. By Korean standard, it is a rather conservative city, with plenty of temples and churches.

Travel to Daegu

The most practical way to reach Daegu, for most foreign travelers, is to take the train, either from Seoul or from Busan. The KTX High-Speed Train connect Daegu with Seoul, completing the journey in 1 hour 40 minutes. From Daegu it continues to Busan, taking 1 hour to get there. The fare is ₩36,600 from Seoul and ₩10,800 from Busan. The KTX train arrives at the East Daegu (Dongdaegu) Station, which is the bigger of the two main railway stations in the city. The other, the Daegu Station is located at city centre, surrounded by big department stores. You can take the subway from Dongdaegu Station to Daegu Station.

Travel within Daegu

Daegu is served by two subway lines. Line 1 (color-coded red) goes from Ansim station in the northeast to Daegok station in the south. Line 2 (green) goes from Munyang station in the west to Sawol station in the east. The two lines intersect at Banwoldang station.

The fare for taking the subway is ₩1,100 per ride. However if you hold the stored-value RF Card, there's a discount, making the ride cost only ₩950.

Photos of Daegu

Donghwasa Temple, Daegu

Places of Interest in Daegu

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About this website

Thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye. My hobby is to research information about places, and share the information with people on this website. I started this website on 5 January 2003, and since then, have written about over 20,000 places, mostly in Malaysia and Singapore.

Please use the information on this page as guidance only. While I try my best to provide you information that is as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors. Also, as I might not be able to update some information on time, some of these pages may contain outdated information.