Korean Rural Travel: Donghae and Samcheok

Recommended time to visit: end of summer, fall, early winter, spring

Recommended for solo travel, friend weekend, couple trip, families

Mukhohang Waterside Park/Dojjaebigol Skyvalley

Deokbongsan/Maengbang Beach (from BTS' Butter)

Samcheok Marine Cable Car, Haesindang Park, Lady Suro Heonhwa Park, Jeongdong Rail Bike

Wow, who knew the countryside could have SO MANY fun things to do? I went to the eastern side of Korea during Chuseok vacation. If you are looking for a healing vacation, try these out! Our trip was a total of two days and three nights.

Daegwallyeong Skyranch

Okay, so this one is actually near Yangpyeong, but it's well worth the detour! We went on Chuseok weekend, so we ended up taking a bus (I know) to Jinbu Station, but there is a KTX station here as well. You WILL need a car to get to the ranch. There are no buses that go to the ranch. There are some buses between the cities, but I encourage you to go to Jinbu Station first, then get your car from there. OR you can just get a car for the whole trip.

I mean, look at these pictures. I truly felt like Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle. I was the main character this day. My friend was the absolute best to take so many photos so that I could find THE ones.

Instagram also had people going in winter. It is truly just beautiful.

Admission was W10,000 and the shuttle bus comes every 10 min. If you have NaverPay, you can get a discounted ticket on the Naver app. There's a hayride, sheep and cow area, and other little spots around the ranch. You could easily spend a whole day here and even small children would probably like it.

BE CAREFUL! Sometimes navigation sends you to a similar sounding place. The end location should be like the one on this map:

Take the KTX from Jinbu Station to Donghae Station if you can! The train goes right next to the ocean!

Mukhohang Waterside Park/Dojjaebigol Skyvalley

We found our accommodation in Donghae city. If you go up just a bit, you can find a neat little wharf-ish area that has two bigger tourist attractions. Sky Valley needs admission; the last ticket is sold at 5:00 pm. It looked like fun, but we came too late. (We started our day at Lady Suro Heonhwa Park). We should have planned better, but I'm giving that wisdom to you!

We ended up just doing Waterside Park. It was a speedy and small walk into the sea, but still, something to visit!

**We also saw that just above this city, there was a rail bike that had an automatic system. It was near Jeongdong Station. I think it is called Jeongdong Rail Bike.**

Deokbongsan/Maengbang Beach (from BTS' Butter)

Next up on the list is Maebang Beach. It was a nice area and we spent a good few hours here. It is well-known as the area for BTS' Butter jacket sleeve for their album. It was a bit anti-climactic, but the beach was gorgeous and well-maintained.

There was a small mountain next to the beach that had planks to reach it. I would skip going to the top as going around was much more picturesque. The top just has a big sign that says "덕봉산."

Chogok Yonggul Walking Path

Hopefully, they can fix the part of the bridge that connects to the rest of the walking path by the time you want to go. The Chogok Yonggul Walking Path was a nice stop. I actually hate the smell of the ocean when I'm in Incheon or Jeju, but here I loved being next to the water the whole trip.

Samcheok Marine Cable Car, Haesindang Park, Lady Suro Heonhwa Park, Jeongdong Rail Bike

We were unable to visit these places as they were closed for Chuseok. But, I HIGHLY recommend looking into these places while you search for your vacation spots. I think all of them are worth the trip.

Haesindang is that infamous penis sculpture park for the virgin lost to the sea. I was most bummed about Lady Suro Heonhwa Park, it looked so interesting! Jeongdong Rail Bike seemed to have cars that could automatically go without needing to peddle, my kind of rail car!