About this festival
Goryeong is home to the Gaya Tumuli, a cluster of royal burial mounds currently on Korea's UNESCO World Heritage submission list. The Daegaya festival uses these landscape-defining mounds as backdrop for historical reenactments, gayageum concerts, and iron-smelting demonstrations. The 2026 theme is Daegaya's Harmony, weaving the kingdom's 520-year arc into accessible story-driven events. The scale of the tumuli visible across the hillsides gives the festival a genuinely impressive setting.
Getting there
Take the KTX to Dongdaegu Station, then a local bus or taxi to Goryeong (about 40 minutes from Daegu). Direct intercity buses from Seoul Dong Seoul Terminal reach Goryeong in about 2 hours 30 minutes. The festival site at Daegaya Museum and Jisan-dong Tumuli is walkable from Goryeong town centre.
Tips
Goryeong is a small town with limited English signage, but the festival has informational boards in English at the main heritage sites. The archaeological landscape is genuinely impressive and worth combining with Daegaya History Theme Park. Spring weather in April is warm but variable, so a light jacket is useful.
Dates by year
- tentative
2027
April 11 – 14, 2027
Source: Manual editorial. Last verified 2026-05-09.