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The Moon Embracing the Sun is MBC’s 2012 historical romance: the crown prince Lee Hwon (Kim Soo-hyun) loses his first love, the shaman’s daughter Heo Yeon-woo (Han Ga-in), to court conspiracy, and meets her again years later when she returns as a shaman with no memory of him. It ran on MBC in early 2012 and became one of the decade’s defining sageuks. Its filming places are all still visitable — but the paper trail is uneven, so this guide keeps the grades visible: two reported stops backed by a government magazine and a tourism-organization itinerary, and one fan-spotted stop backed only by fan guides.
Yongin: Korean Folk Village
The Folk Village is the guide’s most accessible stop: a living museum of relocated Joseon-era houses in Giheung-gu, Yongin, south of Seoul, with folk music performances, tightrope walking, horseback martial arts and traditional wedding ceremonies. Gyeonggi Province’s official tourism magazine names it as a shooting location for the drama but names no specific scene, so this guide claims none either. It stays reported: only that one qualifying source was found. Allow half a day, and check the village’s official page for transport, hours and admission before you go.
Beyond the drama link, the village works as a museum visit in its own right. VisitKorea describes more than 270 structures, from tile-roofed noblemen’s houses and farmhouses to commoners’ dwellings and government buildings, with costumed figures along the streets, and notes that it has been open since 1974. The same guide points to the Korean Folk Museum, the World Folk Museum and the Pottery Exhibition Hall, to market-style restaurants and teahouses, and to hanbok rental and hands-on activities such as horseback riding and natural dyeing.
Mungyeong: Saejae Open Set
The Saejae open set is the mountain-pass counterpart: a Joseon-style palace complex inside Mungyeongsaejae Provincial Park, on the old road between Seoul and the south. VisitKorea’s Mungyeong itinerary lists The Moon Embracing the Sun among the dramas filmed here — the only qualifying source found, so it stays reported. Expect parts to close when a crew is shooting.
What the camera shows at Saejae is a set, not a surviving palace. Mungyeong city says the Joseon-style sets were completed in 2008, after earlier Goryeo-era sets were demolished, and now include recreations of Gwanghwamun, palace halls, the crown prince’s Donggung quarters, noble houses and a market street. The palace look is a reconstruction; the pass around it is older. The city describes Saejae as the highest and toughest hill on the Yeongnam road, defended after the 1592 invasion by three gateways, Juheulgwan, Jogokgwan and Joryeonggwan. Check the city page before visiting.
Yongin: MBC Dramia
MBC Dramia — now Yongin Dae Jang Geum Park — is the weakest stop in this guide and the one to treat with the most care: fan location guides identify its palace sets as the drama’s palace filming site, but no broadcaster, tourism-organization or press source was found naming the drama here. It is labeled fan-spotted, and the palace claim is attributed to those guides. It is included because the park is real, visitable, MBC-owned, and pairs with the Folk Village in the same city — not because the evidence is strong.
Read Dramia as a working set, not a historic palace. VisitKorea calls it MBC’s largest historical drama set, with sets reconstructed from different periods, including Donggung palace buildings and a royal-costume experience room. Expect sets and costumes, not original Joseon buildings. Keep the palace claim attributed to the fan guides.
Getting there
Do not try all three stops in one day. The two Yongin stops — the Folk Village and Dramia — pair in a single Yongin day trip from Seoul. The Mungyeong set is a separate trip. No transit route was verified for any stop, so check each site’s official page for transport, hours and admission before you go. For another Mungyeong guide, see our The Scandal Mungyeong guide; for another sageuk, see our The Red Sleeve guide.
How we checked
Each stop was checked against the site’s bar: confirmed needs two independent official or press sources, and anything weaker is reported — or fan-spotted where only fan sources exist — with its source named. Here, Gyeonggi Province’s magazine is the source for the Folk Village, VisitKorea’s itinerary for the Saejae set, and fan guides for Dramia; second qualifying sources were sought on Oct 27, 2026 and not found. The dropped Hadong candidate was considered and set aside for lack of a qualifying source. How we label stops is explained on our methodology page.
Sources
- Gyeonggi Province official tourism magazine — Korean Folk Village as a Moon Embracing the Sun shooting location
- VisitKorea — Mungyeong itinerary: The Moon Embracing the Sun filmed at the Saejae Open Set
- Mungyeong city tourism — Mungyeongsaejae Open Set (address, hours, set description)
- Wikipedia and DramaHaven (fan sources) — MBC Dramia as the drama’s palace filming site
- VisitKorea — Korean Folk Village guide
- Mungyeong city — Saejae Open Set and Provincial Park
- VisitKorea — Dae Jang Geum Park
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