South Korea · Chungcheongbuk-do
Where to Stay in Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do
Cheongju is a city of central South Korea, the capital of North Chungcheong, the town where the oldest book printed with movable metal type was made, long before the presses of Europe.
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Where to stay in Cheongju-si
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Where you stay in Cheongju turns on the old town or the new city. The streets around the printing museum keep the old ground, the market, and the river within a walk, and staying downtown suits anyone here for the history. The river cuts straight through the middle of Cheongju.
Wooded hills rise close by. Out toward the fortress and the new districts, the town gives way to the mountain fort, the colleges, and the clean wide suburbs. A room in the new city trades the old streets for broad avenues, parks, and the green fortress ridge.
The plain runs flat to the hills. Stay downtown for the history, or out for the new city. Downtown Cheongju is only a short ride back in.
About Cheongju-si
Cheongju is the printing city of central Korea.
What is Cheongju-si known for?
On the plain of North Chungcheong below wooded hills, it grew as an old provincial town, and it keeps the memory of the Jikji struck from movable metal type, the site of the temple where it was printed, the great early-printing museum by the river, and the old mountain fortress of Sangdang above the town. The green hills ring the plain. Rivers wind through the fields.
What are the main landmarks in Cheongju-si?
The Early Printing Museum is the pride of Cheongju. The great museum on the ground of old Heungdeok Temple, where the Jikji was printed six hundred years ago, holds the story of the metal type, the emblem of the city, downtown. A mountain fort rises east.
The old walls of Sangdang ring the ridge above the town, while the national museum, the ancient iron flagpole, and the wooded hills mark the country around Cheongju.
What is the history of Cheongju-si?
Cheongju gave the world the printed book. Long an old town of Chungcheong, it held a temple called Heungdeok, and there in the fourteenth century monks cast metal type and printed a book of Buddhist teaching, the Jikji. Its metal type was cast here.
The Jikji was struck from movable metal type in the year thirteen seventy-seven, long before Gutenberg printed in Europe, and one worn volume of it survives to prove the deed. The old town held its fortress and shrines. On the ridge above the town stood the mountain fort of Sangdang, and in the valley an ancient iron flagpole of the Goryeo age still rises by the road.
The city grew in the modern age. After the printing was long forgotten, Cheongju grew into the capital of its province, a city of colleges and clean new districts, and it built a great museum on the old temple ground, keeping the memory of the Jikji, its fortress, and its shrines. The presses of the world began here.
Cheongju keeps its printing heritage on the Chungcheong plain.
Where is Cheongju-si?
Cheongju lies in the center of South Korea, on a broad plain in North Chungcheong. The city sits between low wooded hills and the wide fields of the Miho river valley, in a mild inland country of paddies and orchards, with the old fortress ridge rising to the east and the plain running out to the south. The hills stand green around.
Rivers cross the wide plain.
What is the climate of Cheongju-si?
Cheongju has a warm, humid continental climate. Hot wet summers and cold dry winters cross the plain, with a rainy summer and snow in the short cold winter. The summer runs hot and wet.
Winter turns cold and clear.
How do you get to Cheongju-si?
Cheongju lies in central South Korea, on the rail and road south of Seoul. Fast trains and the highway run to it down the country from Seoul, and a nearby airport serves the middle of the land. The line runs south across the open plain to reach Cheongju.
Seoul lies north up the line.
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Updated August 2026