Hwaseong Fortress

One of my favorite parts of Suwon City was Hwaseong Fortress.  Suwon is located about 30 km south of Seoul and is most well known for the fortress, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The easiest way to get there is probably to take the Suwon City bus tour which is located just outside the Suwon metro station. If you look around and see these two 'generals', you've found the right place. This 2-hour city tour also includes a visit to the outdoor KBS studio set and the Hwaseong Haenggung palace.

Hwaseong Haenggung

Much like the splendid Château Chambord in France's Loire Valley was constructed as a hunting lodge for the king, Hwaseong Haenggung was similarly a resting shelter palace for the king. As you can see here, there are cut-outs of characters from Dae Jang Geum (which I, strangely enough, have not watched despite it being one of the most popular kdramas out there); parts of that historical drama were indeed filmed here.

KBS Outdoor Studio @ Suwon

One of the stops on the Suwon City tour was the KBS outdoor TV studio.  This was really cool set of Seoul as it supposedly looked in the 1930s and 1940s for the filming of dramas.  Parts of the set could even be used as a backdrop for the 1960s and 70s.  In fact, after visiting this place, I am fairly certain that some of the early scenes in Baker King Kim Tak Goo were filmed exactly in this studio lot.