Visit K-Drama Filming Locations in Gangwon Without a Car (2026 Guide)

Published April 12, 2026 · 12 min read · Korea Travel

Standing Where the Scene Was Filmed

Gangwon's coast has been a backdrop for Korean dramas for decades — and when you stand on Jumunjin Beach where that Goblin scene was filmed, you understand why the production team drove four hours from Seoul just to shoot here. The light hits the water differently. The pine trees along the dune edge look almost cinematic just standing still. When the wind picks up off the East Sea and your jacket pulls back, you half expect Gong Yoo to materialize behind you at the bus stop.

I'm not the most obsessive K-drama fan in the world, but I've seen enough to know what these locations feel like on screen — and I'll tell you, they feel better in person. The scale is real. The weather is real. The smell of salt air and pine isn't something any cinematographer can bottle.

Gangwon Province strings its most famous drama filming locations along 80km of coastline, from Jumunjin in the north down through Gangneung to Jeongdongjin in the south. A few more are inland — the mine set from Descendants of the Sun (태양의 후예) near Jeongseon, the wind farm from Yong-pal (용팔이) up in Taebaek. Getting between them without a rental car sounds impossible. I'm here to tell you it's not — and that the solution is more comfortable, more flexible, and often cheaper than anything else on the market.

This guide covers the locations, the itinerary, the math, and the booking. Let's go.

The Locations: What You're Actually Going to See

Before we get into logistics, let me show you what we're working with. These are the six anchor locations — real filming spots with verified drama connections, all reachable in a single day from Gangneung or Sokcho.

I haven't even listed Gyeongpodae Beach, Jumunjin's fish market, or the Anmok coffee strip's best individual cafés yet. The density of good stops here is genuinely unusual for a regional coast.

The Transport Problem on Gangwon's Coast

Here's the honest version of what happens if you try to do this without a private car.

The bus network in Gangwon exists. It runs. But the coastal filming locations are spread across three distinct transport zones — Sokcho/Goseong in the north, Gangneung city in the middle, and Jeongdongjin at the southern end. Getting between them by public bus means at least two to three transfers each way. Total transit time for the full route: four to five hours, minimum. That's assuming no missed connections. Rural bus schedules in Korea, outside the major cities, run every 40 to 90 minutes. Miss one and you're standing on a two-lane road in the rain, checking your phone, recalculating.

Some travellers try the KTX from Seoul to Gangneung and then piece together taxis from there. That works for the Gangneung-area spots — Anmok, Gyeongpodae, Jeongdongjin. But Jumunjin is 20 minutes north of Gangneung city. The Secret Blue café in Goseong is another 40 minutes further up the coast. Each individual taxi adds up fast, and you're coordinating four separate bookings in Korean, with waiting time between each.

Rental cars solve the distance problem but create a different one. Korean roads in the Gangwon coast area are manageable, but the GPS is in Korean, parking at Jumunjin Beach and Anmok Coffee Street on weekends is genuinely awful, and you have to stay sober through a day that includes a fish market with makgeolli on the menu. I've seen travel forum threads that turn into mild disasters by step three.

What you actually want: someone else driving, maximum flexibility on timing, no parking stress, all locations in one day. That's the private taxi tour — and it's cheaper than you'd expect.

The Fix: Two 3-Hour Taxi Blocks

The itinerary I'm going to walk you through runs as two consecutive 3-hour private taxi bookings. Morning block covers the northern coast — Jumunjin, Yeongjin Beach, the lighthouse. Afternoon block handles Gangneung's coffee strip, the It's Okay to Not Be Okay café, and Jeongdongjin at golden hour. Lunch at Jumunjin's fish market sits naturally between the two blocks — you're already there, the seafood is exceptional, and the break gives you time to recharge before the afternoon.

The driver handles all navigation. You direct the stops. If you want fifteen extra minutes at the Goblin bus stop for photos, you ask. If the afternoon light on Jeongdongjin cliff looks too good to leave, you linger. This is a private booking — it runs on your schedule, not a group tour's.

We'll get to booking details further down. First, let's walk the actual route.

Morning Block: Coastal Drama Vibes (3 Hours)

Start point: Gangneung Station or your accommodation in Gangneung. Departure time: 9:00am recommended — beaches are emptier, light is soft, and you'll finish before the lunch crowds hit the fish market.

Stop 1 — 영진해변 (Yeongjin Beach): The Goblin Bus Stop

This is the one K-drama fans come for first. In Goblin (도깨비, 2016) — the tvN fantasy romance starring Gong Yoo and Kim Go-eun — there's a pivotal scene filmed at a bus stop on this beach. Ji Eun-tak appears in a flash of light at the seaside. If you've seen the series, you know the one. If you haven't, the beach is still spectacular: wide, relatively uncrowded even in summer compared to the Gangneung main beaches, backed by those characteristic coastal pine trees.

The bus stop itself is still there, and there's a small photo zone that drama fans have turned into an unofficial pilgrimage spot. Bring a screenshot from the episode. The match between the drama frame and what you see in person is genuinely striking — same tree line, same light angle in the morning, same curve of sand.

Budget 25 to 30 minutes here. It's not a large beach but you'll want photos from multiple angles, and if it's your first time at an East Sea beach, the colour of the water alone takes a few minutes to process. It really is that shade of blue.

Stop 2 — 주문진해수욕장 (Jumunjin Beach)

A five-minute drive from Yeongjin, Jumunjin Beach is wider and longer — popular with surfers when the swell is up, families in summer. The vibe is different from Yeongjin: more active, more infrastructure, more cafés along the waterfront. There's a small surf rental scene here that feels out of place in the best way.

This stop is primarily photographic — the wide arc of the beach gives you compositional options you don't get at smaller coves. Blue sky, white sand, pine-backed dunes. Twenty minutes here is enough unless you want to rent a board.

Stop 3 — 주문진등대 (Jumunjin Lighthouse)

The lighthouse sits on a small headland above Jumunjin harbour, and the views from the top are the kind that end up as your phone wallpaper. On a clear morning you can see the full sweep of the Gangwon coast in both directions — north toward the mountains of Goseong, south toward Gangneung's lowland shore. The harbour itself is active fishing territory; there's something grounding about watching the commercial boats while you're in full tourist mode above them.

The walk up to the lighthouse takes about ten minutes from where the taxi drops you. It's paved, manageable for most fitness levels. No entrance fee. Give it 20 to 25 minutes including the walk up and back.

At this point you've covered three strong stops in roughly two and a half hours. Head back toward Jumunjin harbour and the fish market — the natural pivot point between your morning and afternoon blocks.

Lunch Break: 주문진수산시장 (Jumunjin Fish Market)

Between the two taxi blocks, you have a natural window of 60 to 90 minutes. Jumunjin's fish market is the right place to spend it.

This is a working market, not a tourist performance. Fishermen pull in here in the morning; the catch goes straight onto the market stalls by mid-morning. By noon the hoe (회, raw fish) counters are at full capacity — thick slices of flounder, sea bass, crab, and the occasional impressive geoduck, all cut to order and served with the standard accompaniments: sesame oil, soy sauce, gochujang, whatever banchan the ajumma behind the counter decides you need.

The upstairs eating halls above the market stalls are where you want to eat. Take your fish purchase to an ajumma table runner upstairs, pay a small seating fee (usually 5,000–10,000 KRW per person), and she'll set you up with rice, soup, and everything else. The system looks chaotic if you haven't done it before — just follow the person in front of you. It works out.

If raw fish at noon isn't your thing, there's a line of restaurants along the market perimeter serving grilled options and haemul jeongol (해물전골, seafood hotpot). You won't be hungry after either option.

Afternoon Block: Cafés and Cliffs (3 Hours)

Second taxi block starts around 1:00 to 1:30pm from Jumunjin. This block heads south toward Gangneung and beyond — covering the coffee street, the K-drama café, and Jeongdongjin before the light dies.

Stop 4 — 안목해변 커피거리 (Anmok Beach Coffee Street)

Korea has a lot of café culture. Gangneung has made it an identity. Anmok Beach — technically just north of Gangneung city proper — became famous in the early 2000s as the country's first drive-through coffee vending machine strip. That's long been replaced by actual cafés, but the density of coffee shops here is still remarkable: somewhere between 30 and 40 independent cafés on a strip of maybe 600 meters, almost all facing the ocean, almost all with floor-to-ceiling windows designed for exactly one thing: sitting with a flat white watching waves.

Pick one based on the queue length and the view angle. They're roughly equivalent in quality. The coffee is genuinely good — Gangneung has developed a specialty coffee scene that's punched above its weight nationally. Budget 25 to 30 minutes here. You want caffeine before Jeongdongjin anyway.

Stop 5 — 시크릿블루 베이커리 카페 (Secret Blue Café): It's Okay to Not Be Okay

This is one of the more satisfying drama location visits because the café itself is still operating — you're not looking at an empty lot or a sign. It's Okay to Not Be Okay (사이코지만 괜찮아, 2020) used Secret Blue Bakery Café as the filming location for several scenes, and the distinctive architecture — the blue-framed windows, the coastal position, the slightly storybook quality to the building — made it an immediate fan destination after the drama aired. The show stars Kim Soo-hyun as a psychiatric ward caregiver and Seo Ye-ji as a children's book author; the café scenes carry an emotional weight that's easy to feel when you're standing in the actual location.

The café is operational and you can order here. The pastries are solid. The window seats are what everyone is trying to photograph — the frames the drama used as compositional anchors are obvious once you've seen the episodes. Allow 30 to 40 minutes: ordering time, photography, and a few minutes to just sit with the view.

Note: Secret Blue is north of Gangneung in the Goseong direction, which means your driver will need to adjust the afternoon route accordingly. It's easiest to visit after Anmok by heading north before turning south to Jeongdongjin. Tell the driver before the block starts — a good guide will already know this route.

Stop 6 — 정동진 (Jeongdongjin)

Korea's most famous sunrise point is on the agenda for afternoon light for a reason: most people do it at dawn, which means by mid-afternoon it's quieter, and the cliffside views south of the railway station are yours with significantly less competition for the shot.

Jeongdongjin is famous in Korea for the train platform that sits directly on the beach — the Guinness-certified closest train station to the sea in the world. The visual is exactly as odd and compelling as it sounds. The Hourglass Park above the cliff has a large sand timer that resets every New Year and an elevated walkway with unobstructed East Sea views.

This is the natural ending point for your afternoon block. The light at 4pm on this cliff, if the weather cooperates, is the photo you take home. Allow 45 minutes minimum. If your driver's clock allows it, push to an hour.

End point: your driver returns you to Gangneung Station or your accommodation. Total day: roughly 9:00am to 5:00pm, six hours of guided driving, five to six key stops, and a proper seafood lunch in the middle.

Bonus: Inland Drama Sites for the Dedicated Fan

If the coastal route has your interest but you've already been to the East Sea beaches, or you're a dedicated Descendants of the Sun (태양의 후예, 2016) viewer who came specifically for the Uruk mine scenes, the inland Gangwon locations are worth knowing.

삼탄아트마인 (Samtan Art Mine), Jeongseon — The former coal mine that served as the fictional Uruk base in Descendants of the Sun. Now a functioning art museum built into the original mine structure. The industrial aesthetic is genuinely striking — rusted machinery, cavern galleries, outdoor sculptures on the tailings heaps. Drama fans will recognise the exterior immediately. Non-fans will find it an interesting afternoon on its own terms.

한보탄광 (Hanbo Coal Mine) — Also used for Descendants of the Sun location shots, this site is nearby Samtan and covers additional scenes from the fictional Uruk storyline. Less developed as a tourist site, which makes it feel more authentic as a location visit.

매봉산 풍력발전단지 (Maebongsan Wind Farm), Taebaek — The sweeping high-altitude wind farm used for outdoor scenes in Yong-pal (용팔이, 2015), the medical-action drama starring Kim Tae-hee and Joo Won. The turbines run along a ridgeline at around 1,300 meters — the views are as wide as they look in the drama, and the road up through the cabbage fields is an attraction in its own right.

These inland sites require a separate booking — either a longer single block or a dedicated inland day. They're not efficiently combined with the coastal route without a very long day. If you're planning a multi-day Gangwon trip, I'd put the inland sites on day two. See our full Gangneung travel guide for multi-day itinerary options.

The Math: What This Actually Costs

Private taxi tours get dismissed as "expensive" by budget travellers who haven't run the numbers. Let me show you the actual math.

The Trip.com listing for the Gangwon private taxi tour (3-hour block) is priced at ₩32,000 (~US$23) per booking. That's per booking, not per person — for up to four passengers.

Worth knowing: the current price includes a Korean government subsidy for licensed foreign-tourist taxi services. The government is actively subsidising inbound tourism through this program, which is why the per-car rate is this low. It's not a permanent arrangement — these subsidies get reviewed seasonally and can be withdrawn without much notice. If you're weighing up whether to book, the rate you see now isn't guaranteed to be there next trip.

Now compare that to the alternatives:

• Organised K-drama bus tour from Seoul: US$55–80 per person, group of 20, fixed stops, fixed pace, 6-hour round trip from Seoul included
• Individual taxis between each location: ₩15,000–25,000 per taxi leg × 4–5 legs = ₩60,000–125,000, no flexibility, no guide, multiple bookings in Korean
• Rental car for the day: ₩80,000–120,000 for the car, parking fees at popular spots (Jumunjin weekends can be ₩10,000–15,000 extra), and you're sober the whole day

For a couple, the private taxi tour comes out at roughly the same per-person cost as a rental car — but someone else is driving, parking is not your problem, and you can have a beer at the fish market. For a group of four, it undercuts almost every alternative on the market while giving you a private, flexible day.

The one place the organised Seoul tour wins is if you're coming specifically from Seoul for the day and want transport included. For anyone already based in Gangwon — or willing to take the KTX to Gangneung as a separate step — the private taxi is the obvious call.

Who This Works Best For

The sweet spot is two to four people travelling together. A solo traveller still benefits from the flexibility and local knowledge, and the absolute cost is still competitive with organised tours — you're just not splitting it. Five or more people will need to check vehicle capacity for their booking.

This itinerary particularly suits:

• K-drama fans who have specific filming locations in mind and don't want to compromise on which stops to make
• Couples who want a private, unhurried day along the coast
• Travellers staying in Gangneung or Sokcho who want to cover the full coastal range without a rental car
• Groups where one person is a K-drama fan and others are along for the scenery and seafood — this route works for both

If you're travelling with children, the itinerary adapts well — beaches, a lighthouse, a fish market, and a bakery café are all manageable with kids. We've put together a specific version of the Gangwon taxi day for families: Traveling with family instead? See our family Gangwon guide.

For more ideas beyond this route, check our full things-to-do guide for Gangwon Province. And if you haven't sorted accommodation yet, our where to stay in Gangneung guide covers the full range from guesthouses near the station to beachfront hotels.

How to Book: Step by Step

The process on Trip.com takes about five minutes once you're on the listing page.

Step 1: Go to the listing. Use the Trip.com link below. The listing is for a private car tour — not a shared group. Confirm that before checkout.

Step 2: Select your date and time. Choose your preferred start time for Block 1 (9:00am recommended). You'll book Block 2 as a separate reservation — same process, start time approximately 1:00 to 1:30pm.

Step 3: Set your pickup location. Gangneung Station is the standard pickup point. If you're staying at a hotel, you can usually request hotel pickup in the booking notes — confirm directly with the operator after booking.

Step 4: Add your filming location preferences in the notes. Trip.com bookings have a notes/special requests field. Use it: "K-drama filming locations — please include 영진해변 (Goblin beach), 시크릿블루 카페, 주문진등대." A good driver will already know these; the note confirms your priorities and removes ambiguity.

Payment is handled through Trip.com's platform. Cancellation policies vary by operator — check before confirming, but most Gangwon private car tours offer free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure.

Tips for Drama Location Photography

A few things that make the difference between a tourist photo and a shot that actually captures the drama connection:

• Download screenshots before you go. Have the specific scenes saved to your camera roll — the bus stop shot from Goblin, the café window frame from It's Okay to Not Be Okay. Trying to recreate the composition is more satisfying than just standing in front of a sign.
• Weekday mornings are dramatically better for empty shots. Jumunjin Beach on a Saturday afternoon in July is full. The same beach at 9am on a Tuesday is near-empty. The KTX from Seoul makes a midweek trip genuinely doable.
• Drama-themed photo zones exist at major sites. Some locations — particularly the Goblin bus stop area — have official or fan-created photo props. They're cheesy in the best possible way and worth using for one shot.
• Charge your phone the night before. Six hours of location visits, constant photo mode. You will run out of battery if you don't start at 100% and bring a portable charger.
• Golden hour at Jeongdongjin runs 4:30–5:30pm. If you can time your afternoon block to land here in that window, the light on the cliff and the rail tracks is the best photography of the day.

FAQ

Can I request specific drama filming locations the tour doesn't normally cover?

Yes. This is a private booking, not a group tour. You can specify which locations you want in the booking notes field on Trip.com. The driver will adjust accordingly. For unusual locations (e.g., the inland mine sites), confirm in advance that the driver knows them — most experienced Gangwon guides do.

Will the driver know where the filming locations are?

Most drivers on this route are familiar with the major drama locations — Goblin's Jumunjin beach is well-known throughout Gangwon. For specific locations like Secret Blue Café, include the Korean name (시크릿블루 베이커리 카페) in your booking notes to confirm. Korean names remove any ambiguity.

Can I spend more time at one location if I want?

Yes. The 3-hour block is your time. If you want to spend 45 minutes at Yeongjin Beach and cut the lighthouse short, that's your call. The suggested timings in this guide are starting points, not fixed schedules. Talk to your driver at the start of the block about your priorities.

What if the weather is bad?

Rain doesn't necessarily ruin this trip — dramatic cloudy skies over the East Sea have their own cinematic appeal, and the cafés on the route are warm and atmospheric in grey weather. For heavy rain or typhoon-level conditions, most operators allow rescheduling. Check the cancellation policy before booking. The coast between July and September can get sudden weather; spring (April–May) and autumn (September–October) are the most reliable windows.

Is there a minimum group size?

No. Solo travellers can book. The price listed is per booking, not per person — you pay the same whether there's one person in the car or four.

For a deeper dive on the mechanics of booking private car tours in Gangwon, see our complete booking walkthrough — it covers vehicle types, tipping customs, how to handle payment on the day, and what to do if a location is closed.

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