Why visit these three places
Queen of Tears aired on tvN from March 9 to Apr 28, 2024, and its finale drew a 24.9% nationwide rating (Nielsen Korea), the highest in tvN history, passing Crash Landing on You’s 21.7%. It also reached No. 2 on Netflix’s Global Top 10 for non-English TV in its final week, with 4.1 million views that week, its eighth consecutive week in the Top 10, and a Top 10 finish in 41 countries. That is why these places are worth a trip even though they sit outside the drama’s two best-known clusters, Seoul and Mungyeong: millions of viewers watched the Queens family’s story, and these three places show three different sides of it.
The contrast is the point. Sayuwon is the chaebol world at leisure — a private contemplation garden where the Queens family went hunting, built with world-class architecture. Geonji Village is the opposite pole: a quiet riverside village where the story slows down for a sunset confession. The Hyundai Daegu is the glamorous middle: a department store whose art-filled ninth floor hosted a party scene. One garden, one sunset, one store — three day trips that together cover the drama’s range better than any single Seoul stop.
The three places in detail
1. Sayuwon (사유원) — Gunwi
Sayuwon is a private garden for contemplation covering about 330,000 square metres in Gunwi, now part of Daegu. It was built with architects Álvaro Siza and Seung H-Sang, landscape architects Jung Young-sun and Kawagishi Matsunobu, and calligraphers Jung Yeon-sun and Wei Liang. The first buildings visitors meet are Siza’s Soyoheon Art Pavilion and the Miradouro Sodae, a lookout tilted about 15 degrees and 20.5 metres high, looking back over the pavilion and the woods. Seung’s works include Hyeonam, the Cheomdan lookout at the garden’s highest point, and Wasa, a meditation space. At the garden’s heart is Pungseol Gicheonyeon, a grove of 108 centuries-old quince trees.
Getting there takes planning. Take the train to Daegu — check Korail for today’s trains — then a taxi or local ride; the garden is not walkable from a station. Use the Kakao Map and Naver Map links on the card for the last leg. Tips: reserve ahead on the official site, since visits are capped at 350 people a day; the garden is open Tue–Sun 09:00–17:00 with last entry at 15:00 and closed on Mondays. Allow half a day — walking routes run 1 to 4 hours, and many visitors stay longer. The drama connection is the Queens family’s hunting scene, reported by both Kyunghyang Shinmun and Seoul Shinmun.
2. Geonji Village sunset viewpoint (충주 건지마을) — Chungju
Geonji Village is a small riverside village near Chungju, and Chungcheong Ilbo calls its sunset viewpoint the drama’s “confession spot.” There is no set to see here and no ticket to buy. What you come for is the viewpoint itself: a sunset over the river by a quiet village, the kind of place the drama uses when the story stops rushing.
Getting there: take the train to Chungju — KTX-Eum on the Central Inland Line serves the city — then a taxi or local ride for the last leg. Arrive before sunset, since the light is the whole point, and keep the visit low-key: stay on public paths, keep noise down near homes, and do not enter yards or fields. Pair it with the Chungju Lake area rather than making the viewpoint a sole destination. Because only one press source backs the filming claim, this spot stays Reported — see “How we checked” below.
3. The Hyundai Daegu (더현대 대구) — central Daegu
The Hyundai Daegu is a department store in central Daegu, and its draw for drama fans is the Forum by Jaime Hayon: a culture, public and cafe space occupying the ninth floor, with an outdoor Gates Garden. It is an easy stop — no reservation, no ticket — and the store’s own blog lists it as a drama photo spot. One clarification matters: this is not the Queens Department Store. That is The Hyundai Seoul in Yeouido, covered in the main guide. The Daegu store appears separately, as the setting for a party scene.
Getting there is straightforward: Banwoldang Station on Subway Lines 1 and 2, Exit 18, then walk to the store at 2077 Dalgubeol-daero, Jung-gu. Tips: follow store hours, allow an hour or two for the Forum and the Gates Garden, and combine it with downtown Daegu. Because the filming claim rests on the store’s own blog plus fan research rather than independent press, this spot stays Fan-spotted.
Planning the trip
Do not try all three in one day. Gunwi, Chungju and central Daegu are far apart, and each last leg needs its own taxi or local ride. The practical split is two bases: Daegu for Sayuwon plus The Hyundai Daegu, and Chungju for Geonji Village. Fares and timetables change, so check Korail’s timetable page on your travel day and confirm the last leg in Kakao Map or Naver Map before you set off.
How we checked
Confirmed means at least two independent sources back the filming claim — press, VisitKorea, VisitSeoul or a city release. Reported means one solid source backs it and a second is still missing. Fan-spotted means fan researchers only, or a commercial source such as a store’s own blog. Each card carries its own last-checked date and its sources; this guide was enriched on Oct 17, 2026 without changing any spot’s status, because no new qualifying second source surfaced for Geonji Village or The Hyundai Daegu. Private homes, operating hospitals and schools, and private property are excluded. A Reported spot becomes Confirmed when a second independent source confirms the same filming claim.
Photo coverage
One image serves this guide: the hero photo of Chungju Lake (Wikimedia Commons, CC0), a general area view for the Chungju stop, not a drama still. None of the three spots has its own dedicated photo yet — Sayuwon, Geonji Village and The Hyundai Daegu are all still photo-less. No drama stills are used anywhere on this page.
Keep going
Continue in Queen of Tears — Seoul + Mungyeong for the Hyundai Seoul, the Korean Stone Art Museum, Gwangtonggyo Bridge, and the Mungyeong day trip. For the Mungyeong day in route form, see 1 Day in Mungyeong: The Scandal & Queen of Tears. For another tvN hit’s Seoul spots, see Crash Landing on You — Seoul.
Sources
All sources for this guide
Accessed Sep 26, 2026 (Asia/Seoul) unless noted.
- Kyunghyang Shinmun — Sayuwon
- Seoul Shinmun — Sayuwon introduced to Japanese visitors
- Chungcheong Ilbo — Geonji Village
- The Hyundai blog — PhotoSpot6
- Korail — https://www.korail.com/global/eng
- Korea JoongAng Daily — Queen of Tears finale ratings (24.9% finale, tvN record)
- allkpop — Netflix Global Top 10, final week (No. 2 non-English, 4.1M views, 8th week in Top 10, Top 10 in 41 countries; citing Netflix TOP 10 data)
- VisitKorea — Sayuwon (address, hours, reservation cap, fees)
- VisitKorea — Sayuwon, Luxury Korea (architects, Soyoheon, Sodae, 350/day cap, 330,000 m²)
- Tripzilla — Queen of Tears filming locations (Forum 9th floor, Banwoldang Exit 18, address — practical details only)
- Korail timetable — https://www.korail.com/ticket/reserve/train-timeTable
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