Things To Do Outside of Seoraksan National Park

We loved our trip to Seoraksan National Park! It was definitely the highlight of our vacation to Sokcho, but there are also a number of fun destinations outside of the park to enjoy! I hope you enjoy this guide to some of the hot destinations you can visit while you are taking breaks from hikes! 

SOKCHO BEACH

Sokcho Beach is a large, sandy beach and a top tourist destination. The beach is massive but is also incredibly crowded. You are able to rent parasols, tents, and swimming tubes from various tents along the beach. Especially during the summertime, you’ll want to rent a parasol! It’s also a good way to stake your claim on the beach! Parasols are 10,000 won to rent and also require a 10,000 won cash deposit that you get back once you turn your parasol in for the day! 

Our first AirBnB was located 5 minutes away from the beach itself and had a beautiful view of the ocean. We enjoyed being so close to the beach, but were disappointed to find that food options were actually much more limited than we anticipated! We are spoiled living in Gwangalli Beach in Busan – a beach with hundreds of dining options near the beach! Sockho is very small and restaurants are more limited and close early. We recommend planning out your dining in advance and possibly getting an AirBnB with a kitchen.

While dining options were more limited than expected, we still had some incredible food in Sokcho! They are known for their Snow Crab and raw fish in Sockho, and both did NOT disappoint! We enjoyed some delicious raw fish bibimbap and lots of different varieties of crab! 

There are multiple restaurants in Sockho where you can order a whole steamed snow crab! We were definitely interested in doing this! We happened to be staying across the street from the most famous snow crab restaurant in Sokcho, and were so excited to share our crab! However, when we ordered the dish, they told us that we could not have one and had to pick a different entree. We were thoroughly confused but didn’t argue due to the language barrier. We ended up ordering a snow crab soup with knife-cut udon noodles made in-house, and it was to DIE for! This became my favorite dish on the entire trip!

We ended up going back to that same restaurant another day to try to get our crab – we were confident we would be able to order one this time! However, we were once again denied. They told us that the crab was “taken” and while we didn’t read anywhere that you needed to reserve a crab in advance, we came to understand that was the case. Moral of the story, if this is something you are interested in trying, you’ll need to call the restaurant in advance and reserve a crab! 

Morning Walk at Sokcho Beach & Our Favorite Eats!

NAKSANSA TEMPLE

Naksansa Temple is a glorious and massive temple located in Naksansa, about a 20 minute bus ride from Sokcho Beach. It is one of South Korea’s only coastal temples, as most temples in the country are located in the mountains. 

Another one of South Korea’s famous coastal temples is located in Busan near our home – Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. Check out my blog post on Haedong Yonggungsa here!

Naksansa Temple is a must visit place on your trip to Sokcho-si. As I said, the grounds are massive and located on the coast. You can wander through beautiful and lavish gardens, see multiple gates and pagodas, and pay your respects to multiple shrines to different Buddhas. 

There is a serene, wooded walking path up to the temple from the town. We enjoyed taking our time wandering up to the temple grounds and encountered a beautiful gazebo on our way. This gazebo had actually been recently rebuilt, after the original burned down in a forest fire in 2005. 

There is a small price of admission (3,500 for adults, 1,000 won for children) at the entrance to the temple. After purchasing your ticket, you enter the grounds through a large temple gate and have various options for working through the grounds. We enjoyed seeing a seven story pagoda in front of the temple, which the signage told us was “originally built during the Silla period (57 BCE – 935 BCE).” That’s right, ya’ll – BCE! While the temple has been built and rebuilt countless times, it’s truly ancient. It’s stunning to behold. 

You can follow a trail from the temple up a hill to a stunning statue of the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. This tall, stone statue overlooks the temple grounds as well as the ocean, and the view is breathtaking! There is a small store across from the statue to purchase offerings to the Goddess and also has ice cream treats for visitors. 

We worked our way down the hill on another trail, which brought us to a teahouse and gift shop. We had some tea here and were pleasantly delighted to spend time lounging with four temple cats! These sweet cats live in the teahouse and love to snuggle – we had a great time decompressing and relaxing after a hot day touring the temple grounds! 

Exploring the Naksansa Temple Grounds

OVERVIEW

We really enjoyed our time in Sokcho, even though Seoraksan was admittedly the best part of our trip! Check out my blog post detailing Seoraksan National Park here. 

We strongly recommend the trip to Naksansa Temple, and also taking advantage of the beaches and seafood restaurants in Sokcho! We didn’t visit, but we’ve heard a lot of great things about Naksansa Beach and Cheoksan Spa as well! Overall, this is a great vacation destination and we hope you enjoy Sokcho-si as much as we did!

All my Love,

Lex 

(and the Naksansa Temple Cats!)