Know this when planning your trip to Sokcho – A Quick Sokcho Travel Guide

In this quick and concise travel guide to the South Korean city of Sokcho, we give you all the information you may need to plan a successful trip. Find out how to get to Sokcho from Seoul, how to get around, where to stay, how long to stay and more!

Plus, we also included some ideas and suggestions for what we would consider a perfect Sokcho Itinerary at the end of this post. So, let’s get started.

Complete Sokcho Travel Guide

Sokcho is a fishing town on the northeastern coast of South Korea. Since Sokcho is located a short bus ride away from the stunning Seoraksan National Park, most people use this city merely as a base for visiting the national park. Initially, we did so as well. However, we absolutely fell in love with Sokcho while we were there! So much so that we decided to extend our stay in this charming beach-side town.

In this quick travel guide to the city of Sokcho, we provide all the information you need to plan your trip! We cover how to get there, where to stay, how to get around as well as why we think it is worth it to spend some time here!

How to get to Sokcho from Seoul

Getting to Sokcho from Seoul is fairly easy. Everyday between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. there are Express Buses going from Seoul Express Bus Terminal towards Sokcho.

A bus departs every 30 minutes and generally takes about 2:30-3h to get to its destination depending on the traffic. We paid 21.300 KRW (~14€/15$) for a one-way ticket (in 2023).

As a tip: When inside the Seoul Express Bus Terminal, follow the signs that say Gyeongbu/Yeongdong Line to get to the correct terminal for travelling to Sokcho. There is more than one bus terminal building!

In Sokcho, you will be arriving at the Sokcho Express Bus Terminal, which is also where you can get your tickets and catch the bus back to Seoul. We did not book our tickets in advance and had no problem getting seats. On weekends, during peak holiday season or on holidays this might be different though.

How to get around Sokcho

Sokcho itself is not that huge so most of the attractions within the city centre can easily be reached on foot. However, the city also has quite a decent public bus system that may come in handy when having to travel bigger distances.

As such, for instance, there are several bus lines (i.e. line 1/1-1, 7/7-1 and 9/9-1) that can get you from Sokcho Express Bus Terminal/Sokcho Beach towards the city centre of Sokcho in a matter of 10-15 minutes.

You can pay in cash when entering the bus, however we highly recommend getting yourself a T-Money Card.

If you don’t know what a T-money card is: This card can be used all over South Korea for the subway as well as city buses. When entering the bus, tap the card once against the ticketing machine and then again on the machine next to the back door before exiting.

Where to stay in Sokcho

We stayed right next to Sokcho Beach and we would definitely recommend you do too. Staying here will have two major advantages: First of all, you are close to the Sokcho Express Bus Terminal, which is great as you can simply walk from and to the Express Bus terminal on the day of your arrival and departure.

Second, you are close to the beach. Sokcho Beach is a great place to relax after your hike in Seoraksan National Park and, in general, a great place to spend the evening!

We stayed at the Sokcho Chonpines Beach Hotel*, which is located right on the beach! When we visited, the hotel room was clean and we ended up enjoying our stay very much. We paid around 50.000 KRW (~35€/38$) per night.

Since our visit, there are new hotels that have opened their doors in the Sokcho Beach area. One of them is:

• Urbanstay Sokcho Beach C*. Price per night: 57.000KRW (~38€/39$).

If it had been around when we visited, we might have chosen this one instead. Why? Well, it has slightly more appealing rooms, but is still in the same price range (except for maybe on weekends). Hence why we wanted to mention it as an alternative to you here as well😉.

Is Sokcho worth visiting?

In our opinion the answer to this question is definitely a yes! We really liked Sokcho because of its more laid back beach-town-vibe. Life seems more slow paced here when compared to busy Seoul and therefore a stop-over in Sokcho can be a great change of scenery/pace within your South Korea itinerary.

I will say though that we probably also enjoyed our time in Sokcho a lot because of the good weather that enabled us to go to the beach. If you are visiting during a colder and more grey season of the year, your experience might be a different one. 

So, what can you actually see and do in Sokcho?

Especially during summer, Sokcho is a stunning beach town with some really interesting things to do!

🏖️ Do a beach picnic and eat their famous Mansuk Dak Gangjeong or, 

🎣 Stroll through the tourist and fishery market on the hunt for some awesome street food! 

🚶🏽‍♀️ Walk the Oeongchi Bada Hyangiro Trail where you can still find some remnants of Sokcho's history with North Korea! 
                                                                       ... and more.

How many days are enough for Sokcho?

Sokcho is definitely worth a visit. However, if this is your first time in South Korea and you have limited time for exploring the country, there may be other destinations that are ‘more worth it’ to allocate more time to.

As such, determining how much time to spend in Sokcho usually comes down to how many days you intend to spend in Seoraksan National Park. Most tourists head to Seoraksan National Park as a full day trip from Sokcho. And in that case, spending two nights in Sokcho is ideal.

If you do not intend to visit the national park, Sokcho can still be a great weekend getaway during late spring and summer when the weather is nice. In that particular case, depending on how much time you wish to spend on the beach, we would recommend staying 1-2 nights.

How to spend 3 days/2 nights in Sokcho – An Itinerary Suggestion

Before we reach the end of this post, we wanted to leave you with a suggestion on how to best spend your time in Sokcho. This won’t be a detailed itinerary, more like an itinerary overview to give you a few ideas and suggestions. So let’s get started.

Day 1: Arrival + Explore Sokcho

After arriving in Sokcho, check in to your hotel and then use the afternoon and evening to explore Sokcho. Visit Sokcho Lighthouse, Yeounggeumjeong Pavilion and try street food at Sokcho Tourist and Fishery market. During sunset, stroll around Cheongchoho Lake Park.

Restaurant tip: We ate at a small local restaurant called Eommarang Nunarang (or 엄마랑누나랑)(5HRV+3Q Sokcho, Gangwon-do, South Korea on Google Maps) across from the big E-mart near Cheongchoho Lake Park. Very decent food for 9.000-11.000KRW (6-7€/$) per dish.

Day 2: Do the Ulsanbawi Hike in Seoraksan National Park

On your one full day in Sokcho, explore Seoraksan National Park. Personally, we would suggest doing the Ulsanbawi Hiking Trail. Alternatively, you can also ride the Seoraksan Cable Car and explore Sinheungsa Buddhist Temple if hiking is not your thing. Spend the evening relaxing at Sokcho beach with a beach picnic.

Day 3: Explore Sokcho + Departure

On your third and last day in Sokcho, spend the morning exploring more of Sokcho Beach area. Walk the Oeongchi Bada Hyangiro Trail, a stunning (flat) board walk alongside the coast and spend some more time soaking in the stunning Sokcho Beach. Then take the bus back to Seoul or your next destination.

Sokcho Travel Guide – Final Thoughts

One of the reasons we absolutely wanted to write a travel guide to Sokcho is because we really liked this city. Most people only use it as a base to get to Seoraksan National Park, which we get – the national park is stunning! But we think that especially during spring and summer, it is worth it to allocate at least a little time to the city as well.

We hope we were able to answers all your questions in this Sokcho Travel Guide! If there is anything more you want to know, let us know in the comments!

For now, as always, we wish you safe and happy travels!🍀