Solo Travel Recommendation: Gangneung
Gangneung, Solo Travel Recommendation
Something I’ve noticed about Korea is that it is a country which doesn’t often cater to single people or solo travellers.
It has a heavy couple culture and the eating out (for Korean food) here is best enjoyed with a group of people.
Whenever I tell one of my co-workers I’m going to take a trip or go relax at a café alone their response is “Alone?! Why?”. Anyway, I took a trip alone to Gangneung and it one of my most enjoyable experiences in Korea so far!
Where is Gangneung?
Gangneung is a seaside town located in Gangwon-do province. It’s now very easy to get there since a KTX station was built for the Winter Olympics earlier this year. It takes about 2 hours from Seoul Station and the tickets cost 27,600₩ each way (approximately £20GBP or $25USD).
Accommodation
I spent two days in Gangneung and I think it was the perfect amount of time to enjoy what Gangneung has to offer. If you want to enjoy other surrounding areas then I would recommend staying in Gangneung longer and travelling out to other spots during the day, since Gangneung is one of the bigger towns in the Yeongdong region, so you’ll have a lot more options for accommodation.
I stayed at a guesthouse called “Ocean Capsule Guesthouse”. It’s 21,250₩ per night, located right on Gangmun beach, and next door to a convenience store and a whole street of restaurants and cafes!
(Photos and booking from https://goo.gl/6QbdNS)
What to see and do in Gangeung?
Relax and enjoy the beach (of course)!! Gangneung has a few beaches you can check out, the main ones being Gyeongpo, Gangmun, Anmok, and Songjeong.
Gyeongpo Beach
Gangmun Beach at 5am
If you have the energy then waking up to sea the sun rise in the morning is really worth it. The view is amazing and if you’re lucky like me you might see a seal!
As well as the beaches, I want to recommend another place to visit. It’s quite hard to get there by bus so if you have a car it would be better or you can take a taxi from Gangneung town centre.
The name of this unique place is Hassla Art World. It’s a very quirky art centre/museum, it’s HUGE and you can also see a very beautiful view of the ocean since it’s situated in the mountains. I spent about half a day exploring this place.
In the evening Anmok Port is a great place to walk around and you can find a lot of restaurants and places to eat or take away food and eat it on the beach!
Anmok
Gangneung is a very peaceful place but still exciting and has a lot to offer, I think it’s a great place to go if you’re travelling alone or even living in Korea and want to get away from everything for a while!
