Golgul-sa Temple Stay experience in Gyeongju

Temple stay is one of the most unique thing to do while traveling to South Korea. While planning our itinerary, we stumbled upon temple stay.

Temple stay is a unique cultural program which lets you experience the life of Buddhist practitioners at traditional temples which preserved the 1700 year old history of Korean Buddhism.

It turns out, it's also something even the locals would do. During our stay there, we got to know that this experience is gaining popularity in other countries such as Singapore, France and America.

Perhaps this is all due to how the world is going at such a fast pace, social media that's full of distractions causing us to feel lost and anxious. Not only it's a good escape from the busyness of the world, it's also a great way to explore a cultural experience.

How to book a temple stay in South Korea

You can book it via the website temple stay.

1. Type in a keyword for the "Search Term" or leave it empty.
2. Select your check in and check out dates.
3. Click "Search"

You will be presented with a list of temples with information and multiple temple stay programs.

Choose a Program of your liking to see if the schedule suits you. Complete your reservation by filling all the required information.

How much does temple stay cost

Each program is different. The cost can vary depending on the choice of program and the number of days to stay. For us, we selected the 2D 1N Seonmudo & Meditation near Beach, and we had the shared room so we paid about 80,000KRW (approx. 55.50€)

How to get there

We depart from Seoul to Singyeongju by train (KTX) for about 2 hour journey. Once we got there, it's fairly easy to get a taxi from a taxi rank. It was about an hour drive to reach the temple. I'd highly recommend taking the taxi if money is not an issue and if you have a large luggage.

Our Golgul-sa Temple Stay Experience

We had a great experience during our stay. Instead of going to another touristy attraction, this was an interesting alternative because it was a good pitstop before heading to our next destination in Busan. We used it as an opportunity to find our inner peace and be present during our trip. It was such an immersive way to learn about the culture and Buddhism, to experience it first hand. It's interesting how sometimes we tend to forget how to appreciate the small things in life.

We arrived and registered at the reception. We paid the fees and were given uniforms and had to wear them throughout the stay. Quite unfortunately, we missed the Sunmudo Demonstration because we were late as the demonstration had already started sharp at 3pm.

The temple was surround by lush forest and you can hear birds chirping every now and then, there's this sense of serenity being so close to nature. The temple kitchen served delicious vegetarian food - like kimchi, Korean sweet black beans, tofu. There was also a nice little café near the main entrance gate of the temple (they seem to only accept cash).

Ours was the (2D 1N Seonmudo & Meditation near Beach) experience. However, it was quite unfortunate that it started raining the next day. We were not able to go to the beach, instead, we had a meditation and beginner Seonmudo lesson in the common hall, which was also an enjoyable experience.

The next day started with a 5:30am early morning Buddhist service / sitting meditation. After that, there's also a monk chanting and tea ceremony session where you can ask question about Buddhism or any wisdom you seek. It's also basically checkout, since we're not staying more than 2 nights.

We requested for a taxi from the reception and head to the train station for Busan.

What did I learn

I think one of the biggest take away from this experience these word from the monk. She said "We all suffer as human beings. We all suffer because of our minds." Indeed, couldn't agree more. It was such an enlightening experience to hear it, it's the very core teaching of Buddhism.

“The root of suffering is attachment” because the only constant in the universe is change.

Meditation is such an important skill to have. To calm that storm that's brewing in the mind, causing suffering. Just breath and be present. 🧘‍♂️

Cost breakdown

Overall

It was an enjoyable experience. If you're curious about my South Korea trip, you can read more about it in my blog and checkout my YouTube Channel or Instagram. 😊