Sokcho, South Korea

KoreaTravel

Oct 7

Written By

***This post is very photo heavy. So all tips and thoughts are here at the top and then you can scroll to your hearts content!Thoughts/Itinerary: We had a long weekend for Korean Thanksgiving, Chuseok, and The Nami 5 decided to set off and take full advantage of our time. We bought bus tickets ahead of time and made the 2 hour ride up in the AM. We arrived at one of the main bus depots and caught another bus in to our hostel to check in and relax. It was a nice day so we hopped on the bus and went to the beach and walked around the beach front area until we found a cheap Korean restaurant for dinner. Sokcho has multiple beach areas and waterfront boardwalk that reminds me of the beaches in the south of the USA, but nicer. The water is pretty clear, but we went in August and it was really cold. There are a few things to see/do at the beaches, some carnival type games, sculptures, piers etc.The next morning we walked up to the park entrance, spent some time in the museum/nature center and then headed up to start our hike. We did the Ulsanbawi trail, which are the photos with lots of fog in them. It was MISERABLE. Straight up stairs for about 3 hours, you reach the peak and it is complete fog. So best of luck to you. AKA go on a clear day. The next day, we were miserable and sore and miserable, so we attempted to go up to a waterfall, but took the wrong trail. But we ended up in the Cheonbuldong Valley and it was BEAUTIFUL and not strenuous at all. The trail continued for a long way, but we hiked to a quiet place that we could eat lunch on the rocks. (these are the really clear photos of the streams and high rock formations).That afternoon we had purchased cable car tickets for $9 or 9000 Won each. The cable car goes really fast and really high and it is worth every penny. Once you get to the top, you hike up (stairs again) to a peak, but you can then climb straight up (using ropes) to get to the tip-top of the peak. (These are the AMAZING photos of us looking over the edge of the whole world). Terrifying, worth it. We had dinner at this delicious restaurant, Matsu, and was such a steal. For about $15 a person you get bruschetta, salad, pasta and dessert.We rode the bus home the next morning and only hit a bit of traffic. This is a great place to travel, especially during fall as the leaves are just magical here. Check out my friend Emily's photos of her trip in the fall. It is incredible that we took some of the exact same photos and they look completely different!Tips:

This is where we stayed. It was very affordable and very nice. It had a bed, couch and floor mats with a bathroom in the room and an efficiency type kitchen. It was very close to the mountain, a little strip of restaurants and was right by a bus stop. If your main goal is hiking a hostel in this area is the way to go, if the beach is your preference stay near the beach and ride a bus up and hike for a day.
Like everywhere in Korea the buses are amazing and run all over the city frequently. But the buses running up to the mountain/hostels did end around 10 (I believe) so you may need to take a taxi if you stay out too late.
If you stay at the hostels there are some restaurants in walking distance, but they are a bit expensive and serve only (delicious) Korean food.
We packed our lunches both days we hiked (food was bought in town and stored in the fridge in our room), hostel provided breakfast and we ate dinner out.
If you want to eat a full Korean meal while hiking, there are full restaurants on the trail. They also sell ice cream, souvenirs, snacks, water, etc very reasonably priced on most of the trails.
There are bathrooms almost the whole way along the trails. Koreans are geniuses.
This can be a very inexpensive trip as the most you should be paying for is transportation (cheap on the bus), food (pack your lunch) and park entrance (about $3 a day)
The trails we took were marked as the least strenuous and were incredibly strenuous, so I never want to find out what Koreans think is difficult. AKA there are hikes for all different levels and plenty of families were there
You can do an overnight backpacking trip to get to the highest peak if you plan ahead