Cafe Basilla in Gyeongju: Artificial Snow and Tree Views

Hi, this is Ijjin-ne. Last week I took a short 2-day, 1-night trip to Gyeongju, so I chose my cafe stop carefully. I ended up being really glad I visited Cafe Basilla by Gyeongju Hadong Reservoir.

Cafe Basilla sits right in front of Gyeongju Hadong Reservoir, with the reservoir spread out in view. Hours are 9:30 to 20:30, last order is 20:10, and on weekends it stays open until 21:30. I said there is plenty of parking space in front of the shop.

Basilla is originally famous as a sunflower spot because this whole area fills with sunflowers. It was too cold to see sunflowers on this visit, but the winter scenery was even prettier.

The tree view was decorated so beautifully, with ornaments hanging everywhere. Artificial snow falls here too, which comes up later in the review.

The indoor ordering area is not very large, but after ordering you can take your drinks outside and sit at the outdoor tables.

There are seating areas here and there above and beside the building. I found a window seat near the ordering area, but seats filled quickly and many people took their drinks outside.

The order was iced Basillangtte, the signature menu, plus iced Americano and hot ginger tea.

There were about four or five cakes, six kinds of dacquoise, and a few breads on another side, so plenty of people seemed to be enjoying brunch. Since I came after lunch, I only ordered drinks.

The signature Basillangtte is a latte topped with handmade red bean paste and red bean cream. It was sweet, nutty, and tasty, almost like slightly melted patbingsu.

The ginger tea was sweet with a light bitter ginger note. It tasted like something adults would especially enjoy.

A spoon comes with the drink so you can scoop up the red bean cream. It was so good that I kept eating it by the spoonful, and next time I want to try Basilla's red bean shaved ice.

After sipping the drinks, I went outside to look at the trees. They were decorated so nicely that I spent a long time taking photos and looking around.

As mentioned earlier, Basilla sprays artificial snow over the trees. They also prepared photo props such as Santa capes, hats, and headbands. The snow starts every hour on the hour and falls for 10 minutes; on weekends it falls every 30 minutes for 10 minutes.

It looks beautiful, but after standing in it for photos, I realized the snow was soap foam. Hair and clothes got wet, so the post recommends being careful if you step into it for pictures.

It was a cafe where you could get pretty photos and enjoy the reservoir view. I recommend Basilla for a Gyeongju visit and notes that canola flowers bloom in spring, making it a place worth revisiting then.

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