South Korea – August 2025
After weeks of road tripping through Mongolia, I am ready for a change of pace. Instead of spending hours every day in a car, I decide to stay in one place for a little longer. My home for the next week is Gangneung, a coastal city on Korea’s east coast, where I volunteer at a small guesthouse called Gangneung Weekenders. My mornings now follow a completely different rhythm. Instead of packing my bag and checking the next destination on my map, I head to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for the guests. Together with the other volunteers, I help get the guesthouse ready for another day of travellers arriving and leaving. There are rooms to prepare, beds to change and conversations over breakfast, where I get my first taste of Gangneung’s famous potato bread. The atmosphere at Gangneung Weekenders is exactly what I had hoped for. Guests linger over breakfast instead of rushing out the door, volunteers swap travel stories while folding laundry and every evening someone suggests a different restaurant to try.
It does not take long before I stop feeling like a volunteer and start feeling like part of the household. It is a different way of travelling. Instead of only meeting people for a few hours before moving on, I get to experience small pieces of everyday life together with the people around me. Apart from the pretty interior, I chose Gangneung Weekenders because of its location. Within minutes, I can hop on a local bus or simply start walking towards the East Sea. Once the work is finished, the afternoons are mine, and the coastline quickly becomes my favourite place to spend them. One of my favourite walks takes me through the pine forest stretching between Gyeongpo Lake and Anmok Coffee Street. The towering pines provide welcome shade from the August heat, while glimpses of the sea appear between the trunks every now and then. Some days I continue all the way to the beach, while on others I stop to sit in the shade and simply enjoy the slower pace of life.
Each beach has its own atmosphere. Some are lined with cafés and restaurants, while others feel much more peaceful, with only the sound of waves and the occasional person walking along the shore. There is no checklist, no rush and no reason to hurry back. On one of the few rainy days, I head over to Anmok Coffee Street, a seaside road famous for its cafés overlooking the East Sea. I am always fascinated by Korea’s café culture. Here, cafés are not just places to grab a quick drink. They are destinations in themselves, with carefully designed interiors, creative menus and views that make people want to stay for hours. Anmok Coffee Street takes this idea to another level. Sitting with a coffee while watching the waves roll onto the shore feels like the perfect afternoon break. What I enjoy most is the contrast. In the morning, I am helping guests at the guesthouse get ready for their next adventure. A few hours later, I become a traveller myself again, sitting by the sea and discovering another corner of Gangneung.
On my day off, I take a bus further along the coast towards Jeongdongjin. While my fellow volunteers come here for the famous sunrise views, my destination is the Jeongdong-Simgok Badabuchae-gil coastal trail nearby. Instead of walking beside the water, I am looking down at the East Sea from high above, following the curves of the cliffs while waves crash against the rocks below. There is something special about this place. The trail feels much wilder than the developed beaches nearby, and the combination of dramatic cliffs, pine trees and colourful fishing boats makes it one of the most memorable walks of my time in Gangneung. What surprises me most, however, is finding a coffee shop right in the middle of this seemingly remote trail. Then again, perhaps expecting Koreans to walk for an hour without an iced Americano is simply unrealistic.
One of my favourite things about returning to Korea is the network of people I have met over the years. Through my friend Sinae, I happen to know Jaewon, who is working at a hospital in Gangneung during my stay. She messages me a few days after I arrive, and we decide to meet for a swim before heading to Jumunjin Fish Market for dinner. The market is exactly the kind of place I love exploring. Instead of ordering from a menu, we wander between the tanks and look at the different fish and seafood swimming around. Eventually, we choose one container holding five different sea creatures and hand it over to a grandmother working at one of the small restaurants. A little while later, our selection returns to the table as delicate slices of sashimi, while the remaining fish is transformed into a bubbling spicy stew served with rice. Despite both Gangneung and my chosen Japanese hometown of Kanazawa looking out onto the Sea of Japan, the meals could not be more different. I love discovering how the same sea provides ingredients for completely different culinary traditions, and this dinner becomes another reminder of how much there still is to learn about Korea.
As for the highlight of my week, it has to be one of the yoga and surf retreats the owner hosts throughout the summer. Participants travel from all over South Korea for a weekend of slowing down, practising yoga by the sea and enjoying Gangneung’s relaxed atmosphere. Once we are done with our morning chores, the other volunteers and I join the yoga workshop on the beach ourselves. Afterwards, we return to the guesthouse to help prepare dinner, laying out a buffet of local specialties: crispy fried chicken, squid sundae, different kinds of jeon, gimbap and bubbling dumpling stew. Sitting together after sunset, sharing food with people who had been strangers only a few days earlier, feels like the perfect way to end my stay. Looking back, I realise I barely crossed anything off a sightseeing list during my week in Gangneung. Instead, I found a temporary routine. Mornings in the guesthouse kitchen, afternoons wandering along the coast and evenings shared with new friends over Korean food.
