East coast · Donghae, Gangwon
Chuam Beach
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.
Photograph by Sohyeon Bak, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized for this page.
More on the east coast
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.