Do you live in Seoul or Gyeonggi and feel like you need a quick getaway? Guess what! You donโt have to go all the way to Busan for a beach getaway. The next closest beach destination is just in Gangwondo. Come to Sokcho for a beachy, foodie getaway!
Gangwon-do
Gangwon-do is a South Korean province located in the Northeast. Due to its location on the map, it has tons of mountain attractions and beach activities. Gangwondo is where the famous hiking mountain, Seoraksan, is located.
However, for this post, letโs take a look at one of Gangwon-doโs famous beach attractions!
Sokcho Beach
Introducing, Sokcho beach! This beach town is one of Gangwon-doโs most famous coastal areas. Located near the Sokcho express bus terminal, the beach is easily accessible to people who travel by bus. At the beach, there are cafes and convenience stores. So, you can grab a drink, a snack, or anything you want that can help you relax and enjoy the scenery.
Shallow Waters
Sokcho beach is pretty shallow, so itโs suitable for kids to swim in them. I went on the weekend and there were so many families. They were picnicking, and the kids are mostly in the water. I also saw a kid as young as 4 or 5 years swimming in the water under the supervision of his mom. If you had a choice, I would recommend going on weekdays. I went on a Sunday and it was quite crowded.
Park
At the beach, there was also a small park and a walking trail if youโd like to enjoy the green scenery nearby. This is a great option for families and groups with a few people who arenโt big fans of the water.
Sokcho Eye
The Sokcho Eye is a Ferris wheel that began operating this year on March 25th. Itโs a nice addition to the beach with structure and colorful pobs. You get an amazing scenic view of the Sokcho beach from up high on the Ferris wheel.
Price:
- 12,000 won for adults
- 6,000 won for children (pre-school children under the age of 7)
- 9,000 won for groups (20 or more)
- โป 50% discount for Sokcho residents (with ID card)
- Free for infants and children under 36 months
Photo spots
There have quite a number of photo spots here. There are 4 photo spots Iโd like to recommend.
The Frame
When you get to Sokcho beach, you will see this giant frame located to the right of the beach. Here, you can choose to take a photo with the beach as the background or the Ferris wheel as the background
Ferris Wheel
A photo from inside the cubicle is also a good photo spot! Iโve seen some photos on Instagram that look amazing! Unfortunately, I didnโt get to ride the ferris wheel. BUT, I did manage to get a nice photo with it in the background.
Angle Recommendations
- On the beach with the Ferris Wheel in the background.
- Standing under the Ferris Wheel
- Along the road with the Ferris Wheel in the background.
Sokcho Holiday Sign
On the beach, you will find two Sokcho signs. The first is written in Korea, in English it means โSokcho Holidayโ. The second sigh says ใ ใ , which is short for Sok (์)Cho(์ด).
Sokcho Beach (์์ดํด์์์ฅ) Address: 186 Haeoreum-ro, Joyang-dong, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do Korean Address: ๊ฐ์ ์์ด์ ์กฐ์๋
Sokcho Fishery Market
Sokcho Fishery Market is a traditional market located 1.9km from Sokcho Beach. So if youโre looking for an affordable place to have lunch or dinner, you can try this market!
Sokcho Squid Bread
This is a special kind of bread thatโs only available in Sokcho.
My friend and I were walking around the market and I walked past the Squid stall. I was like โhmm this looks different. Iโve never seen anything like this before in my whole 5 years in Suwon and Seoul. Turns out, itโs a kind of bread that specially originated in Sokcho!! So you have to try this when you visit the market.
They have 3 different flavors, red bean (black), cheese (yellow), and vegetable (white). The bread was so nice and fluffy and the fillings were so good. Plus, all of them have squid in them! They sell them for only 5,000won for 3 pieces of bread.
Food Heaven!
After that, we visited a tteokbokki place in the same row as the squid shop and had some tteokbokki. I couldnโt resist dipping the squid bread into the tteokbokki sauce โ It was soooo good! I mean, once you have tteokbokki sauce, you canโt go wrong.
Then, I had orange juice for about 3,000 won. The orange juice uses tangerines from Jeju so they designed the bottle to look like the statues that you can always see in Jeju.
Besides these, you can also find delicious-looking fried foods which are mostly prawns, crab meat, baby crabs, seafood ramyeon, Korean traditional and modern snacks, and so much more! This place is seriously a paradise for foodies.
Sokcho Fishery Market (์์ด ๊ด๊ด์์ฐ ์์ฅ) Address: 16 Jungang-ro 147beon-gil, Jungang-dong, Sokcho-si, Gangwon-do Korean Address: ๊ฐ์ ์์ด์ ์ค์๋ก147๋ฒ๊ธธ 12 Opening Hours: 08:00 AM - 12:00 PM
One of the most popular stalls for fried shrimp in the market is HyunTaeNae Fried Foods. Click Here to read more!
