East coast · Donghae, Gangwon
추암해수욕장
Small beach, enormous sea stack — the country's best-known sunrise rock.
Chuam is a short stretch of sand next to Chotdaebawi, the 'candlestick rock' — a needle of stone standing out of the water that is one of the most photographed sunrise spots in Korea.
A boardwalk and a small suspension bridge run around the headland, and the whole thing takes under an hour to walk.
What else is here
Chuam is a short beach with a set of sea stacks at the end of it, one of which is famous enough that most Koreans have seen it thousands of times without ever going there.
The candlestick rock
A slender sea stack standing off the rocks at the southern end of the beach. It is the image used behind the national anthem when it is broadcast on KBS, which makes it one of the most-seen views in the country.
Getting there: A ten-minute walk from the beach car park along a boardwalk.
Over the rocks
A footbridge strung along the shore between the viewpoints, opened to link the Chotdaebawi walk with the coastal path. It puts you out over the water where the waves break on the stacks.
The reason for the 5am alarm
The sun comes up beside the candlestick, which is why every Korean sunrise calendar has this view in it somewhere. New Year here is busy enough to need traffic management.
The working coast next door
Chuam sits between Donghae's port and Mukho, where the Mukho lighthouse and the painted Nonggol Damgol village are a good hour's wander. Ferries to Ulleungdo leave from Mukho.
Small beach, big rock
Chotdaebawi is a stack of weathered sandstone left standing when the softer rock around it eroded away, and it happens to be shaped like a candle. That, plus the fact that it faces east into the sunrise, is the whole story — and it is enough to have made this little beach in Donghae one of the most photographed places in Korea.
The beach itself is short and pebbly at the southern end, sandy at the northern. It is fine for a swim in August, but nobody comes here for the swimming.
The walk is the thing: a boardwalk and suspension bridge threading along the rocks past the stacks, taking maybe forty minutes to do properly. Go at first light and you will share it with a hundred photographers, which is part of the experience.
Gyeongpo Beach
Gangneung's big, easy beach — white sand, a lake behind it and a KTX from Seoul.
Naksan Beach
Four kilometres of sand with a pine forest behind and a clifftop temple above.
Hajodae Beach
Turquoise water, very few people, and Korea's surf scene a few minutes up the road.