Gangwon coast in 5 days: Gangneung, Yangyang, Sokcho and Seoraksan

How the route fits together, and where to sleep

The coast from Gangneung north to Sokcho is one continuous strip, but it is not one kind of place. Gangneung is a city with a KTX station, lakeside pavilions and old houses. Yangyang, in the middle, has no compact centre: its sights — Naksansa Temple, the Hajodae headland, the surf beaches at Ingu and Jukdo — are spread out along the shore. Sokcho is a harbour town at the foot of Seoraksan. The railway stops at Gangneung: the KTX Gangneung Line ends there, and the Donghae Line KTX-Eum runs south from it towards Samcheok and Busan, not north. North of Gangneung, you travel by road.

That is why this route goes in one direction. Arrive by train in Gangneung, travel up the coast by road, and leave from Sokcho by express or intercity bus; VisitKorea's bus guide lists both Seoul Express Bus Terminal and Dong Seoul Terminal for Sokcho and Gangneung. A return to Seoul from either end is possible, but doing the coast as a line saves half a day of backtracking.

Sleep in only two places. In Gangneung, Gyeongpo or Anmok put you by the sea; the station area is better if you arrive late or want Jungang Market on foot. In Sokcho, the area around the intercity bus terminal is the practical base: VisitKorea puts the Tourist & Fishery Market about five minutes' walk away, and bus 7 or 7-1 to Seoraksan starts there. Sokcho Beach is the sea-view alternative. Change bags once, on day 3, and the rest of the trip is light.

Days 1–2: Gangneung by the lake and the old houses

Day 1. Take a morning KTX from Seoul Station or Cheongnyangni; VisitKorea gives the Gangneung Line as 237.7 km and the trip from Seoul Station as about two hours. Leave your bag, then head for the Gyeongpo side: Gyeongpodae Pavilion above Gyeongpoho Lake, which VisitKorea lists as open 24 hours and free, a walk along the lake shore, and Gyeongpo Beach behind the pines. Have a late lunch of tofu in Chodang Dubu Village, just south of the beach. End the day at Anmok, where Gangneung Coffee Street faces the sea; VisitKorea lists city buses 300-1, 223-1, 225-1 and 314-1 from Gangneung Station, about 15 minutes.

Day 2. Start at Ojukheon, the birthplace of the Joseon scholar Yi I (Yulgok), designated a Treasure in 1963. When we checked on 2026-10-03, VisitKorea listed it as open 09:00–18:00 (last admission 17:00), with adult admission at 3,000 won. Then go on to Seongyojang, the Lee family's upper-class house by the lake; VisitKorea listed 09:00–18:00 from March to October and 09:00–17:00 from November to February, and 5,000 won for adults. Spend the afternoon at Gangneung Jungang Market, a permanent market since 1980, and save the evening for the beach you did not see yesterday.

If the sea matters more to you than the houses, Jeongdongjin and its cliff path, or Jumunjin's fish market, can replace day 2; our Gangneung guide covers both. Plan around the city's big October events: when we checked, VisitKorea listed the 2026 Gangneung Coffee Festival for 21 to 25 October; the festival grew out of Anmok's coffee culture, so expect the seafront there to be busy.

Day 3: up the coast through Yangyang

This is the moving day, and the only one without a train. There is no railway north of Gangneung, so the options are an intercity bus along the coast or a taxi. VisitKorea's bus guide points to txbus.t-money.co.kr for intercity routes and times; we could not confirm a current Gangneung–Yangyang–Sokcho timetable from an official page, so check it there the day before. For a sense of distance: VisitKorea puts Yangyang International Airport, which sits on this coast between the two towns, about 45 minutes by taxi from Gangneung, 10 minutes from Naksansa and Hajodae, and 30 minutes from Sokcho.

Stop first at Hajodae, a rocky headland with pine trees, rock stacks and a pavilion on the cliff, named after the late-Goryeo officials Ha Ryun and Jo Jun; the pavilion is a 1998 restoration. Surfers can add a stop at Ingu Beach, further down the Yangyang coast, which VisitKorea describes as shallow and popular with novice surfers. Then go on to Naksansa, founded in 671 by the monk Uisang and one of Korea's three main centres of devotion to Avalokitesvara, according to VisitKorea. Walk from the main temple to Uisangdae, a hexagonal pavilion on a sea cliff, and on towards Hongnyeonam Hermitage; together they are designated Scenic Site No. 27. When we checked on 2026-10-03, VisitKorea listed Naksansa as open 06:00–17:30, with visitors required to leave by 18:30.

From Naksansa, continue north and reach Sokcho by late afternoon, check in near the intercity bus terminal and walk to the market for dinner. If you want Uisangdae at sunrise — it is one of the east coast's classic sunrise points — sleep at Naksan Beach on night 3 instead, see the temple at dawn on day 4, and move the Seoraksan day to day 5. That variant means the bus back to Seoul on the evening of day 5 or an extra night.

Day 4: Seoraksan from Sokcho

Take city bus 7 or 7-1 from the Sokcho Intercity Bus Terminal; the cable car operator lists the route past the express bus terminal and the park entrance to the Seoraksan car park, the last stop, and VisitKorea's hiking guide uses the same bus to Sogongwon Park. From there, choose one of two days.

Ulsanbawi is the classic hike: VisitKorea gives the loop from Sogongwon via Sinheungsa and Heundeulbawi as 7.6 km, with a gentle forest path as far as Heundeulbawi and a steep climb after it to the granite ridge. The cable car to Gwongeumseong is the easy alternative. When we checked on 2026-10-03, the Seorak Cable Car's official site listed return-only tickets at 16,000 won for adults and 12,000 won for children from 37 months to primary-school age, a ride of about five minutes each way, and operating hours posted daily on its website. It warns that taking the last car up leaves only about 20 minutes at the top. Combine it with the level valley walk towards Biseondae, which VisitKorea recommends as the easier trail.

In the foliage season, which VisitKorea's 2026 forecast put at first colour on 3 October and a peak around 25 October, go on a weekday and be at the park early; the cable car operator says most weekends are busy. VisitKorea's hiking guide also lists closures of the upper trails beyond Biseondae for forest-fire prevention, from 2 March to 15 May and from 15 November to 15 December; the lower valley stays open. For the summit, Daecheongbong, plan a separate trip from Osaek — see our Seoraksan guide.

Day 5: Sokcho's harbour, then the bus home

Keep the last morning on foot. Cross to Abai Village on the gaetbae, an engineless barge that passengers pull along a steel wire across a channel of about 50 metres; VisitKorea says the crossing takes about five minutes. The village was settled by Korean War refugees, mainly from Hamgyeong-do, and its restaurant alley serves their food: Hamheung-style cold buckwheat noodles, stuffed squid and North Korean-style sausage soup. Walk back to Yeonggeumjeong, a pavilion at the end of a 50-metre bridge over the rocks by Sokcho Lighthouse, and finish at the Sokcho Tourist & Fishery Market, which VisitKorea listed as open 08:00–24:00, with hours varying by shop.

Book the bus back for the afternoon. The Seorak cable car operator gives about 2 hours 30 minutes by express bus and 2 hours 10 minutes by intercity bus via the Seoul–Yangyang Expressway, with departures about every 30 minutes; check times on kobus.co.kr (express) or txbus.t-money.co.kr (intercity), as VisitKorea's bus guide advises. Choose Seoul Express Bus Terminal or Dong Seoul Terminal by where you are staying in Seoul.

If you would rather not carry bags around town, VisitKorea notes that the Gangwon Tourist Taxi for Foreigners also operates in Sokcho, with a driver who speaks your language or translation; when we checked, it listed a three-hour minimum with 20,000 won paid by the user, hours of 09:00–17:30, and a passport requirement, booked through the tourist information centres or online.

Variations: surf days, Samcheok and a longer stay

This route is an editorial suggestion, not a timetable. Check opening days for each place you choose, and the bus times the day before you travel.

• Day 1 — Gangneung: KTX from Seoul; Gyeongpodae, the lake and Gyeongpo Beach; tofu in Chodang; coffee at Anmok.
• Day 2 — Gangneung: Ojukheon, Seongyojang and Jungang Market, or Jeongdongjin or Jumunjin instead.
• Day 3 — Yangyang to Sokcho: Hajodae and Naksansa with Uisangdae on the way north; dinner at Sokcho's market.
• Day 4 — Seoraksan: Ulsanbawi, or the cable car to Gwongeumseong with the Biseondae valley.
• Day 5 — Sokcho and home: gaetbae to Abai Village, Yeonggeumjeong, then the bus to Seoul.
• Surf variant: replace Gangneung's second night with a night at Ingu or Jukdo; VisitKorea describes Ingu as shallow and popular with novice surfers.
• Six or seven days: start in Samcheok, which the Donghae Line KTX-Eum links with Gangneung, for the caves and the rail bike, then continue north on this route. Our Samcheok guide suggests two nights there.