Gangneung

Gangneung (강릉) is the east coast's main resort town, two hours from Seoul by high-speed train and built around a long sandy bay. Gyeongpo Beach and the lagoon behind it are the summer draw, while the year-round one is coffee. Anmok's seafront is a solid row of roasteries and cafés that grew out of a single vending-machine alley and now anchors an annual coffee festival. The old town keeps two of the best surviving Joseon houses in Korea, Ojukheon, the birthplace of the scholar Yi I and his painter mother Shin Saimdang, and the aristocratic Seongyojang. Chodang village makes tofu with seawater instead of brine. Down the coast at Jeongdongjin a railway line runs along the sand, and the town markets itself on being the first place in the country to see the sunrise.