Dongpirang in Tongyeong is the mural village everyone photographs: a hillside maze of painted alleys above Jungang Market, famous as a drama filming site. We paired it with sea squirt bibimbap and honey bread for a full Dongpirang Tongyeong afternoon.
Climbing from Jungang Market
Follow the road up from Jungang Market and you reach the mural village entrance. A cafe marks the point where you are almost there.
Hungry first, sightseeing later: across from the entrance sits Ajeong restaurant.
Sea squirt bibimbap at Ajeong
Ajeong serves oyster soup and sea squirt bibimbap. The side dishes came out neat and tidy, then the oyster soup, clean and refreshing with no fishy smell.
Then the sea squirt bibimbap we were curious about. It was truly delicious, so much so that a version we tried elsewhere the next day could not compare. Good enough to make us want to return to Tongyeong for it.
The mural village
Back inside Dongpirang, the village is smaller than expected and easy to walk. “Pirang” means a remote cliff edge, and the uphill paths do feel like light hiking, but the dense murals are well preserved.
From the summit, the city view is superb, and we took selfies against it.
This corner felt familiar for a reason: it is where a famous drama filmed its ending scene, with the heroine running a coffee shop here.
Honey bread on the way out
Near Dongpirang we found a honey bread shop and bought from Yi Sun-sin Honey Bread instead of trekking to the famous Omisa. Honey bread is chewy glutinous doughnut with syrup and red bean inside, very sweet, around 5,000 won.
Honestly, the tasting corners along honey bread street hand out enough samples to fill up on. The whole area overflows with honey bread and chungmu gimbap shops, and the crowds make walking a slow shuffle, but that is Dongpirang Tongyeong at its liveliest.
Prices, hours and details in this post are from our visit in August 2016 and may have changed, so check the latest information before you go.