Perfect Crown Day Trip to Gyeongju: 1 Spot (1 Confirmed)

About the drama

Perfect Crown (21세기 대군부인) is an MBC Friday–Saturday drama that aired from 10 April to 16 May 2026 in 12 episodes, and also streamed on Disney+. It imagines a present-day South Korea that kept a constitutional monarchy: IU plays Seong Hee-ju, a chaebol heiress, and Byeon Woo-seok plays Prince Ian (Lee Wan), second in line to the throne. A drama about a royal family needs royal ground, and the production found some of its oldest at Gyeongju, the former Silla capital — at a tomb cluster older than any palace the series could build.

Filming location: Oreung (Confirmed)

Oreung means “five royal tombs”: five grass mounds in Tap-dong, southwest of central Gyeongju, believed to hold four Silla kings and one queen, including Hyeokgeose, the founder of Silla — though Preview notes the exact attributions remain uncertain. The tombs stand in maintained, tree-shaded grounds inside the UNESCO-listed Gyeongju Historic Areas, and the site is open to visitors today.

Two independent sources put the Perfect Crown production here. Preview magazine’s location roundup (11 May 2026) lists the Gyeongju Five Royal Tombs among the drama’s real filming locations and says some of its romantically charged moments unfold against the tombs’ quiet landscape. SayArt’s Gyeongju filming coverage (25 October 2025), published while the drama was still in production under its working title, reports that the production filmed scenes at Oreung to depict the solitude of Prince Ian, using the site as a backdrop for royal scenes. Two sources, one official-adjacent arts press and one magazine, independently naming the same ground — that is what Confirmed means on this site. The two write-ups frame the scenes differently, so the stop claims the filming itself rather than any single scene, and no episode is attached to it.

The drama’s other verified locations sit far from Gyeongju: the hanok houses of Oseong Hanok Village in Wanju are covered in the companion Perfect Crown in Wanju guide. Preview’s roundup also names Mujinjeong Pavilion in Haman, Jongmyo Shrine in Seoul and Gwanghalluwon Garden in Namwon; for those, no second independent source has been checked yet, so they are recorded under “outside the area” below rather than listed as stops.

Why five tombs? VisitKorea’s Gyeongju history walk retells the legend: Park Hyeokgeose’s body is said to have split into five pieces after his death, and when people tried to bury the pieces together, a giant snake appeared and blocked the attempt — so the pieces were buried separately. That is why the site is called Oreung (五陵), ‘Five Royal Tombs.’ The attribution is kept as legend: the tombs are unexcavated and exact attributions are uncertain.

On the grounds, look for Sungdeokjeon Shrine to the east of the tombs, which holds the ancestral tablet of King Park Hyeokgeose, and behind it Aryeongjeong Well, said to be the birthplace of Queen Aryeong. Neither the shrine nor the well is claimed as a filming spot — they are part of visiting the site.

How we checked

This guide was built from press sources only. Preview’s May 2026 roundup is a post-premiere location list that names Oreung with its address; SayArt’s October 2025 article is production-era coverage of Gyeongju filming that independently names Oreung for the same drama (identified by its cast, network and working title). Because the two are independent of each other and both name the place directly, the stop is graded Confirmed. A reference-page summary that pins a specific kiss scene to Oreung was read but not used: reference summaries do not count toward grades here, and the two counted sources do not agree on a single scene. Visitor facts are limited to what the sources support — the address and opening hours are VisitKorea’s listing; no fees are printed because no source used here states them.

What Oreung is

Oreung is older than the drama’s story in a different way: five unexcavated grass tumuli, the tallest about 10 metres and the shortest about 1.8 metres, whose internal structure is unknown because the tombs have never been excavated. The site is Historic Site of South Korea No. 172, designated on 27 August 1969, and sits inside the UNESCO-listed Gyeongju Historic Areas, inscribed in 2000.

VisitKorea lists the burials as four Park-clan kings — Hyeokgeose, the founder of Silla, Namhae, Yuri and Jabi — plus Queen Aryeong, wife of Hyeokgeose. Other heritage writing names Pasa as the fifth burial instead of Jabi, so the exact attributions remain uncertain, as this guide already notes. On the grounds, east of the tombs, stands Sungdeokjeon Shrine, holding the ancestral tablet of King Park Hyeokgeose; behind the shrine is the Aryeongjeong Well, said to be the birthplace of Queen Aryeong.

The site is also called Sareung, or “snake tombs”. The story — a legend, not history — says Hyeokgeose and the queen were to be buried together, but a giant snake prevented it, so the body was divided into five parts.

Getting to Oreung

Take the KTX from Seoul Station to Gyeongju Station on the Gyeongbu High Speed Railway: about 2 hours to 2 hours 10 minutes, roughly ₩44,000–₩50,000 depending on the train/route. Confirm fares and times on your travel day via the Korail timetable. Book to “Gyeongju Station”, not the old name Singyeongju — the station was renamed in December 2023, and the old downtown Gyeongju Station is closed. The KTX station sits outside the historic centre, so take a city bus or taxi into town; bus routes changed in July 2026, so check routes on the day rather than relying on any single bus number.

The slower alternative is an express bus from Seoul Express Bus Terminal to Gyeongju Express Bus Terminal, about 3.5–4 hours; the Gyeongju terminal sits next to downtown, so the last-mile transfer is shorter than from the KTX station. Oreung itself is southwest of central Gyeongju, not in the downtown tomb cluster — from downtown, plan a local bus or taxi leg (one travel guide puts it about a 20-minute bus ride from the Daereungwon area).

Nearby in central Gyeongju

Oreung is the quiet tomb site; the big central cluster is a separate stop. Daereungwon Tomb Complex (Tumuli Park) holds 23 royal burial mounds, and Cheonmachong (the Heavenly Horse Tomb) is the one tomb visitors can enter, with replica artifacts from its 1973 excavation — the Silla golden crown and the flying-horse painting, whose originals are in the Gyeongju National Museum. Cheomseongdae Observatory, a 7th-century stone tower built under Queen Seondeok (632–647) and considered one of the oldest surviving astronomical observatories in East Asia, stands 9.17 metres tall in 362 granite blocks, about 5 minutes’ walk from Daereungwon. Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond (Anapji), the Silla palace garden lit at night, is about 10 minutes’ walk from Cheomseongdae. The Gyeongju National Museum, home to Silla gold crowns and treasures, has free admission and is about 10 minutes on foot from Tumuli Park and Cheomseongdae. Hwangridan-gil (café and hanok street), Gyochon Hanok Village and Woljeonggyo Bridge are all in the same walkable downtown cluster. Bulguksa Temple and Seokguram Grotto, UNESCO sites a bus ride east of downtown, work as a half-day extension rather than a same-walk stop.

Tips

Travel guides describe Oreung as quieter than Daereungwon, and the ground is flat and easy to walk. Hours are seasonal — 09:00–18:00 from March to October, 09:00–17:00 from November to February — and the site is open all year with parking available. Admission is listed at ₩2,000 for adults, ₩1,000 for teens and ₩500 for children on KTO-data mirrors, so recheck both hours and fees before you go. Do not confuse Oreung with Daereungwon, and do not expect to enter a tomb interior here — unlike Cheonmachong, Oreung’s tombs have never been excavated.

Sources

The stop card above shows the two claim sources. This guide also relies on:

1. CinePlay — Perfect Crown premiere coverage — MBC premiere on 10 April 2026, Disney+ streaming, leads IU and Byeon Woo-seok
2. Preview (11 May 2026) — Awon visitor guide — companion coverage used for the drama’s Wanju locations in the sister guide

Full source list (16)

1. Preview (11 May 2026) — Perfect Crown filming locations — Oreung named as a filming location, with address
2. SayArt (25 October 2025) — Historic Gyeongju emerges as a premier K-drama filming destination — production filmed at Oreung for the drama (working title); the tombs’ royal burials and UNESCO context
3. CinePlay — Perfect Crown premiere coverage — broadcast facts
4. Korea Heritage Service photo of Oreung via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) — location photo used on this page
5. VisitKorea — Gyeongju Five Royal Tombs — address (38-9 Geumseong-ro / 탑동 67-1), hours, parking, Historic Site No. 172, occupants, Sungdeokjeon Shrine, Aryeongjeong Well (Oct 28, 2026)
6. VisitKorea — Gyeongju History Walk: From Royal Tombs to an Ancient Observatory — the five-pieces legend behind the name Oreung (Oct 28, 2026)
7. Gyeongju city smart-tourism site — Oreung — Sareung snake legend, hours, parking
8. Wikipedia — Oreung — Historic Site No. 172 (1969), mound heights, unexcavated status, UNESCO inscription
9. Wikipedia — Gyeongju station — Gyeongbu High Speed Railway and Donghae Line, former name Singyeongju, renamed December 2023
10. BusanNavi — Gyeongju Station — rename date, station outside the centre, city bus and taxi into town
11. Seoul Off Script — Gyeongju from Seoul: day trip or overnight — KTX time and fare guide figure
12. Korea Local Hacks — Gyeongju travel guide 2026 — KTX fare figure, express-bus time, Bulguksa extension
13. East Asia Explorer — Gyeongju historical sites — Daereungwon, Cheonmachong, Cheomseongdae, Gyeongju National Museum
14. Korea Uncovered — Shrines and tombs — Oreung southwest of centre, about 20 minutes by bus from the Daereungwon area
15. Around the World 4U — Cheomseongdae Observatory — Donggung Palace and Wolji Pond, Hwangridan-gil, Gyochon, Woljeonggyo, Bulguksa and Seokguram
16. Donga Science — Daereungwon district coverage — ‘Daereungwon district’ used as an umbrella for the wider tomb zone