Things to Do in Gangneung: Ojukheon, Jeongdongjin and the Sea Cliff Walk (2026)

Gangneung’s attractions divide neatly into two groups: things on the coast and things in town. The coast is mostly free and the town sites mostly charge a small amount.

Hours and prices are as of September 2026 and come from official listings.

Ojukheon

Ojukheon (오죽헌) is the house where the scholar Yi I was born in 1536, and where his mother Shin Saimdang grew up. If those names mean nothing yet, look at a Korean banknote: he is on the five thousand won note and she is on the fifty thousand.

That makes this one of the more genuinely significant historic houses in Korea, and it is attached to the city museum. The name means “black bamboo house”, after the dark-stemmed bamboo in the grounds.

₩3,000 for adults, ₩2,000 for youth and military, ₩1,000 for children. The grounds are open 09:00 to 18:00 with last entry at 17:00, every day of the year.

Free for children under seven, visitors over 65 and Gangneung residents, and half price on the last Wednesday of each month. Note that the indoor galleries close on 1 January, Lunar New Year and Chuseok even when the grounds stay open.

Allow an hour and a half with the museum.

Seongyojang

Seongyojang (선교장) is a large aristocratic estate built around three hundred years ago and still owned by the same family. It is the best preserved house of its kind on the east coast, with a lotus pond, a guest pavilion and a working hanok stay.

₩5,000 for adults, ₩3,000 for youth, seniors, military and disabled visitors, ₩2,000 for children. Open 09:00 to 18:00 from March to October and to 17:00 in winter.

If you stay the night here you enter free, which is worth knowing when comparing it against a hotel.

Gyeongpo

Gyeongpodae (경포대) is the pavilion above Gyeongpo Lagoon, free and open at any hour, with free parking. It is one of the classic east coast viewing pavilions and the traditional spot for watching the moon over the water.

Gyeongpo Beach below it is the city’s main beach, long and wide and busy in July and August. Buses 202, 202-1 and 202-2 run out from town.

The area around the lagoon is flat and pleasant to cycle.

Jeongdongjin

Jeongdongjin (정동진) is a village twenty minutes south of the city whose entire identity is the sunrise. The railway runs along the beach, which is unusual enough that the station has become a destination in itself.

Getting there is easy: bus 112 from the city, or the local train from Gangneung Station, which takes about 17 minutes and runs ten times a day each way.

The Hourglass Park (모래시계공원) is free and open, built around a giant hourglass turned each New Year. The Time Museum nearby is housed in railway carriages and opens 09:00 to 18:00, though its admission is not published officially.

A rail bike runs from the village, operating 08:45 to 16:45 in the summer months.

The New Year sunrise festival runs every 31 December to 1 January and is one of the biggest in the country. Rooms sell out months ahead.

The sea cliff path

The best walk in the area is the Jeongdongsimgok Badabuchae-gil (정동심곡 바다부채길), a boardwalk built along the base of the sea cliffs between Jeongdongjin and Simgok, on a stretch of coast that was closed to the public for decades.

₩5,000 for adults, ₩4,000 youth and military, ₩3,000 seniors and children. Open 09:00 to 17:30 from April to October, with ticketing closing an hour earlier, and 09:00 to 16:30 in winter.

It closes in bad weather, and the east coast gets weather. Check before travelling out.

Chodang and the market

Chodang Tofu Village (초당두부마을) is a cluster of tofu restaurants rather than an attraction. Free, open all the time, and covered in our food guide.

Jungang Market (강릉중앙시장) in the city centre has over three hundred registered businesses and around five hundred stalls, with a fish market in the basement. Official opening hours are not published, so treat it as a daytime market that quietens in the evening.

Also there

The city’s own listings also cover the Woolhwa-gil street park, which runs 2.6 km from Gangneung Station through the centre on a former railway alignment, Haslla Art World, the Coffee Museum, Arte Museum Gangneung, the Olympic Museum from the 2018 winter games, and the Jumunjin bus stop made famous by a television drama and now a photo queue.

Practical notes

• The last Wednesday of the month halves the Ojukheon ticket.
• The cliff path closes in wind and rain. It is the one thing here that weather can cancel outright.
• Jeongdongjin by train is more fun than by bus and takes less time.
• Gyeongpo and Anmok are different beaches. Gyeongpo is the big one, Anmok is the coffee one.
• Seongyojang is free if you sleep there.

Wrapping up

Ojukheon for the history, Gyeongpodae for the view, the cliff path for the walk, and Jeongdongjin at dawn if you can face the hour. Total admission for all four is under fifteen thousand won.

More in this series: the Gangneung overview, where to stay and what to eat.