The story
Gurye Sansuyu Festival in Gurye
A cornelian cherry blossom festival in the villages beneath Jirisan, where Gurye's farms produce the bulk of Korea's sansuyu harvest. Golden blossoms cover stone-walled village paths each March, paired with tastings of sansuyu tea and tonics made from the region's signature tart red fruit, alongside walking tours and photo contests.
At the foot of Jirisan, one of Korea's largest and most storied mountains, the farming villages around Gurye turn bright gold each March, weeks before the rest of the country sees any spring color, as millions of sansuyu blossoms open on cornelian cherry trees planted across the hillsides.