Enjoy cool, pleasant museum tours in summer

If you can't beat the heat, it might be best to surrender.

But for those seeking sanctuary indoors, Korea still has a lot to offer tourists.

For the month of August, the Korea Tourism Organization recommends a selection of spots that not only offer a cool, pleasant environment to spend your vacation, but also cultural experiences that reveal different sides of South Korea.

Korean Stone Art Museum

Korean Stone Art Museum, the world’s only museum specializing in stone art, is home to 1,250 Korean stone artifacts.

The artworks, ranging from Jeju’s ancient rock statue “dolharubang,” or the stone grandfather, to local stone pagodas and Buddhist statues, are grouped together under different themes, presenting stories that transcend space and time.

Korean Stone Art Museum is in Seongbuk-gu and opens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is closed on Mondays.

National Mountain Museum

For those who are interested in hiking and the mountains of Korea, head to Sokcho -- a coastal city located in the eastern part of Gangwon Province -- to explore the National Mountain Museum.

Established by the Korea Forest Service, the museum presents the history of hiking, an overview of Korean hiking culture, personal stories of professional mountain climbers and the indirect hiking experience.

One of the highlights of this museum may be the high-altitude experience center on the second floor, where visitors can feel the difference in temperature and oxygen levels at 3,000 meters and 5,000 meters above sea level.

Visitors can also try bouldering, a kind of freestyle climbing without any ropes, on the second floor.

Textbook Museum

Another museum in Sejong presents a time-traveling experience through one medium that holds memorable traces of the past for all of us: school books.

This Textbook Museum exhibits a wide range of school books, some of which date back to the Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392).

The complete evolution of Korean textbooks is shown at the museum, and visitors who went to school here will likely recognize the books they used in their childhood.

The textbook exhibition aside, the museum also presents how school books were made and textbooks from across the globe, including North Korea.

Visitors can feel how the homerooms were in South Korea in the 1960s as well.

Pohang Museum of Steel Art

Known for being home to South Korea’s biggest steelmaker, Posco, Pohang might be a renowned industrial city, but appears poised to turn itself into a center of art at every corner.

And Pohang Museum of Steel Art is taking the lead.

Located in the center of Pohang, the museum presents diverse, steel-themed artworks that deceive your eyes. Plays on texture, such as "Facade2022C-3," a colored stainless steel artwork, appear like plastic.

The outdoor area is considered as a “roofless museum,” exhibiting works by South Korean modern and contemporary artists.

The go-to attraction is the Space Walk, a unique trekking trail that offers a panoramic view of the city, sunsets and sunrises.

Appearing like a giant roller-coaster from afar, the installation's elevated walkways offer a unique experience in themselves.

If the museum tour was not enough, take a 10-minute walk to the nearby Yeongildae Beach, where the steel-themed artworks dot the shoreline.