East coast · Gangneung, Gangwon
Gyeongpo Beach
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Gangneung's big, easy beach — white sand, a lake behind it and a KTX from Seoul.
The east coast's most popular beach, and the easiest to reach: the KTX from Seoul gets to Gangneung in around two hours, and a short bus ride does the rest.
The sand is white and the water shelves gently, which makes it a family beach in summer. Gyeongpo Lake sits immediately behind it, ringed by a walking and cycling path that is at its best at sunset.
Photograph by Christophe95, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for this page.
More on the east coast
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.
Jeongdongjin Beach
The railway station sits on the sand — and people ride the night train out for the sunrise.