[KR; 2026] Part 6 - Gangneung & Yangyang | Naksan, Jumunjin
Annyeong Part 6 - Gangneung & Yangyang
My only itinerary in Gangneung was to take the bus ride to Naksansa Temple. I figured that I probably will not take an entire day, I pulled out the map I got from the tourist information counter, and started pinning areas I can visit to fill up the day. Jumunjin was the answer!
This map was opened up like this on my hotel table throughout the stay. My physical google map.
I had bread from the basement kitchen and a cup of warm tea for breakfast:
I took a local bus to the Gangneung Bus Terminal:
Gangneung Intercity & Express Bus Terminal 강릉시외.고속터미널
Checked the bus platform through this pillar:
Bought the tickets from this machine, which allows me to choose seats, and it was in English:
Everything within 5 minutes!
Gangneung to Naksan bus ticket8,200 won, 9:15am, ~1 hour ride
It was the world cup season, so I caught it together with all the ahjuma and ahjussi.
The bus was pretty comfortable - I enjoyed the ride to Naksan. And the view was amazing!
Naksan Beach
I was hungry, and thankfully I did some research on the bus so I knew exactly where I would go for early lunch.
낙산해신물회
Yes - Mulhae! I never had it before so I was so surprised by the portion and the freshness of the seafood! Apparently it was a really popular stall on social media, and I probably got really lucky to find good food randomly. Oh and the banchan were so good, some of them were seafood based, like baby crabs and etc. Totally worth the trip. (I finished everything alone :P)
I also spotted a cafe on one of the levels in the same building, so I decided to check it out:
I made another great decision:
하조대커피 낙산점
The cafe had an amazing view of the beach. It was so peaceful, and I sat there for a long time staring at the sea. And the drink I got matched well with the sea view - it was nice to drink too!
There were some random gift shops along the way and I popped in:
Time for the real beach!
낙산해수욕장
Clear skies, blue waters and white sands~
Naksan Temple
This temple caught my attention when I was researching for temple stay - and I was really looking forward to visiting it ever since.
It was pretty easy to get to the temple, there is a small slope toward the carpark of the temple right next to the beach.
And the temple entrance was right here:
Map of the temple - it was bigger than what I expected:
Photos of the temple! Recommend to wear comfortable shoes as there a lot of slopes and stairs!
I had to climb further up:
And there was a Goddess of Compassion: Bodhisattva Guan Yin at the top!
I could see the famous Seoraksan 설악산 from far:
More photos heading down:
Spotted a small shelter with the free coffee / tea signage:
The temple gift shop was fun to shop:
Not in the photos, but I bought a snack from the temple which was super delicious. It was called 참자연 송이과자 (Chamjayeon Songi Gwaja / Pine Mushroom Cracker). This is a highly regional, specialty product tied to Gangwon Province's mountains, it is not distributed globally in major supermarkets... so if you see them in the temple, grab many boxes, you won't regret!
I needed some space to rest, so I popped by the temple's cafe and ordered a pumpkin dessert! It was so yummy.
Heading to Jumunjin
The bus stop for the express bus was just right outside a convenient store
I bought the ticket from the bus driver. I wasn't reading the ticket, hence I took a random seat, and at the next stop I got a death stare by a young girl for sitting on her seat. Aftermath, I realised the seat number was allocated on the ticket. Oh well.
Jumunjin Beach
The beach was very touristy and yet famous for a lot of k-dramas, k-movies and k-pop scenes:
BTS Bus Stop BTS 버스정류장
Honestly, I'm not a big fan of BTS, but I queued an hour to take a quick photo with the bus stop. And guess what - I was wearing a purple shirt that day, which made me a totally 100% BTS fan. There was a couple that took 10-15 minutes of shots and they were criticized by the fans queuing really harshly...
I was determined not to take a bus, so I started walking along the beach to check off more places. I'm sure one of the drama or movie walked down this path.
I think this is a filming site for The Glory:
They even setup directions where to go to capture the scenes:
I wanted to visit the famous The Goblin's breakwater, but I ended up going to the Jumunjin Seawall 주문진방파제. I literally walked until the end then realising that wasn't from Goblin. However I saw many interesting stuffs:
And the famous market! If only I didn't pin the wrong directions and queued for the BTS bus stop, I would have some nice seafood snacks here.
Re-navigated and I started walking toward the correct filming site, passed by this Starbucks which was interesting - it displayed the first consonant of Starbuck in Korean characters. For a moment I thought I was in those mind game k-variety shows, trying to figure out what does it mean.
If I didn't get my directions wrong and queued for the BTS stop, I would have spent my time at this Starbucks staring at the sunset (again, yes I was super upset with myself).
I took the sunset while standing on the breakwaters, it was really beautiful.
Back to the Gangneung City
So, I made another mistake again. I should had went for dinner somewhere at Jumunjin. The bus ride back was another 45-60 minutes, and by the time I alighted the bus stop nearest the hotel, there wasn't any restaurants still operating (even though naver said they were open). I literally opened the doors of every restaurants I could see on the way back to the hotel, and every single one rejected me.
I was extremely hungry - I knew I can get food if I walked back to the Jungang Market area, but I didn't had the energy. Hence, convenience store was the best option. The first convenience store ran out of decent packaged food. And the second one was a lifesaver - this was the last box of decent bento left on the shelf - it was delicious.
I treated myself with a can of Pear Highball:
Together with a bowl of instant noodle from the hotel:
The funniest thing was... I had to ask AI which instant noodle had no beef seasoning, and they all had! So AI recommended the one with the least for me.
Ended the day with really nice warm food!
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