Ganghwa Island

Korea's fifth-largest island has been a strategic refuge for a thousand years — the Goryeo court fled here from the Mongols, and its coast bristles with 19th-century forts. It holds part of the UNESCO-listed dolmen sites, including the great table-shaped Bugeun-ri dolmen, the ancient temple Jeondeungsa, and Chamseongdan altar atop Manisan where the founder Dangun is said to have made rites; from the north shore the Peace Observatory looks across the estuary to North Korea.