Why Gangneung Works as a Korean Getaway — And Whether You Should Go
If you’re picturing Gangneung as a city stacked with must-see landmarks, you might be a little disappointed when you get there. That’s not really what the trip is about.
Gangneung isn’t famous in Korea because of any single attraction. It’s famous because of what an entire region built around it: a coastline that’s genuinely easy to reach, a coffee culture that grew out of a beach full of vending machines, and a bowl of tofu that’s been made the same way for generations a few minutes from the water. None of that photographs like a palace or a mountain fortress. All of it helps explain why Gangneung fits so naturally into Korea’s domestic travel culture.
So, is Gangneung worth visiting? Here’s what that actually means for your trip, and how to tell whether it’s worth building into your Korea itinerary.
The Data: Gangwon Keeps Winning Korea’s Domestic Travel Numbers
Start with the part that’s easy to verify and rarely mentioned in English-language guides: Gangwon Province, where Gangneung sits, isn’t just one popular overnight destination among many. It’s the single most-visited region in the country for overnight domestic trips, by a wide margin.
According to the 2025 National Travel Survey, released by Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, Gangwon accounted for 19.4% of domestic overnight-trip destinations nationwide in 2025, nearly twice the share of either South Gyeongsang (10.6%) or North Gyeongsang (10.1%), the second- and third-ranked regions. It’s also not a one-year spike: the Ministry’s 2024 survey recorded Gangwon as the country’s top region in overnight-trip frequency for the seventh year running.
Within that region, Gangneung is one of the anchor cities. Regional data reported by Gangwon Ilbo put the city at roughly 16.8 million recorded tourism visits in the first half of 2025 alone, the highest of any city in the province for that period.
None of this proves that Seoulites specifically go to Gangneung every weekend, and this article won’t claim that. What it does show is that Gangwon, and Gangneung within it, isn’t a niche pick. It’s where a large share of domestic Korean travel actually goes.
So What Are People Actually Doing There?
The honest answer is: not that much, on paper. And that’s kind of the point.
The beach and the coffee
Anmok Beach’s coffee street didn’t start as a designed tourist attraction. Through the 1980s and 90s, the beach was known locally for its coffee vending machines, and it became a spot where people would walk, sit, and drink cheap coffee facing the water. Cafés and specialty roasters began appearing later, particularly through the 1990s, followed by a broader citywide coffee culture through the 2000s, and the city has run a dedicated coffee festival since 2009. What’s there now is a few hundred meters of cafés facing the East Sea, built on top of what was originally just a place locals liked to hang around.
That backstory matters because it explains what the street is actually for. It’s not a checklist attraction. It’s a place to sit somewhere with a view and not be in a hurry, which happens to be the same reason a lot of the rest of Gangneung works.
The tofu that’s specific to one neighborhood
A short trip from the coffee street is Chodang, a neighborhood that’s been making tofu a specific way for generations: soybean curd coagulated using seawater from the East Sea rather than the more common commercial coagulants. The Korea Tourism Organization credits the neighborhood’s name to Heo Yeop, a Joseon-era scholar whose pen name it borrows. Roughly 20 restaurants in the area still make their own tofu on-site, according to Gangneung’s own UNESCO Creative City materials, which describe the use of seawater as a defining feature of Chodang tofu and also note that the food has since branched into modern variations like tofu-based jjamppong and tofu ice cream alongside the traditional bowls.
Whether or not any of that appeals to you personally, it’s a useful example of what Gangneung’s food culture actually is: hyperlocal, tied to one specific process and place, and not really built for a “top 10 restaurants” list.
The Gangneung Foreign Visitors Often See Online
If you’ve searched Gangneung in English, you’ve probably run into a different version of the city: the BTS bus stop in Jumunjin, the pier from the drama Goblin, K-pop and K-drama filming locations spread across the coast. These places are real and worth knowing about if they matter to you, and plenty of day tours from Seoul are built entirely around them.
That’s a legitimate way to visit Gangneung. It’s also a fairly different trip from the one described above. One is organized around specific filming locations and photo spots. The other is organized around not having anywhere in particular you need to be. The problem is that these two versions of Gangneung create very different expectations, and going in with the wrong one is where a self-planned trip is most likely to feel off.
Knowing which trip you actually want before you go is most of the decision.
Is Gangneung Worth Visiting? Who It’s Actually Good For
Given what the data and the local culture actually support, here’s a straightforward way to think about it.
Gangneung is probably worth your time if:
- You have enough days in Korea that losing one to travel and unstructured time doesn’t feel like a cost.
- You want to see what a Korean domestic coastal trip can look like, not just the international-facing side of the country.
- You’re fine with a day built around a beach, a few cafés, and a meal, rather than a list of sights to check off.
- You’ve already covered Seoul’s essentials and are looking for something that isn’t Busan or Jeju.
You can probably skip it if:
- You only have three or four days in Korea total and haven’t finished Seoul yet.
- You’re traveling for landmarks and historic sites specifically, since Gangneung’s draw is more atmosphere than monuments.
- You’re the kind of traveler who wants several attractions packed into a single day. Gangneung’s sights are spread out enough that trying to do that will mostly mean time on buses.
- The only Gangneung content you’ve seen is the BTS/Goblin filming-location circuit and that’s specifically what you’re after. That trip works better as a tightly planned day tour than a self-guided visit built around this article.
Practical Box: Getting There and Getting Around
This part isn’t the point of the article, so it’s short on purpose.
- By KTX: Trains run from Seoul Station to Gangneung Station, with a journey time of roughly two hours. Book through Korail, especially for weekend morning departures.
- By express bus: A cheaper, slower alternative from Dong Seoul Bus Terminal, useful if your accommodation is closer to a bus terminal than a KTX station.
- Getting around once there: Gangneung’s sights are spread across the city rather than clustered downtown. Local buses connect the station, Gyeongpo/Anmok, and Chodang, and a car isn’t required, though it does save time if the sights you want to see are spread further apart. See our Google Maps vs. Naver Map guide before you go, since Naver Map or Kakao Map are generally more useful for local navigation in Korea.
- Day trip or overnight: Both are genuinely workable. A day trip is enough to cover the coffee street, the beach, and one meal without rushing. Staying one night removes the pressure of watching the clock for a return train and gives you an evening on the coast, which is a meaningfully different experience.
- Payment: Cards are widely accepted at cafés and restaurants, though a little cash is still useful for some market stalls and smaller vendors. See our guide to paying in Korea for the full picture.
One More Thing: If You’re Looking for Surfing, That’s a Different Trip
If what actually drew you to Korea’s east coast is surfing, beach parties, or a younger nightlife scene, that’s a different destination and a different kind of trip. For that, read our guide to how Yangyang became Korea’s surf capital and what its success is changing.
The Short Version
Gangneung isn’t a city you visit for a single big attraction. It sits inside Korea’s most popular region for overnight domestic travel, and Gangneung is one of that region’s major destinations, built around a beach, a coffee culture that grew out of nothing much, and food that’s specific to one neighborhood. So, is Gangneung worth visiting? That depends less on how many sights are on the list and more on what kind of day you’re actually looking for.
Sources: 2025 National Travel Survey — Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; 2024 National Travel Survey / seven-year overnight-trip ranking — Yonhap; Gangneung H1 2025 tourism visits — Gangwon Ilbo / Korea Tourism Data Lab; Gangneung Coffee Street — Korea Tourism Organization; Gangneung Coffee Festival — Gangneung Culture & Arts Foundation; Chodang Tofu Village — Korea Tourism Organization; Chodang tofu — Gangneung UNESCO Creative City.
