I moved from Seoul to Sokcho in the northeast of Korea. The main idea behind getting here was going away from the city and exploring Korean nature a bit. Getting to Sokcho from Seoul is easy, fast and cheap – if you use the bus, haven’t even checked the other options. There are 2 bus terminals in Seoul – Dong Seoul and Gangnam Express bus terminal. I used the Dong Seoul one – got there by metro with my huge backpack.

The only tricky thing about the bus is, you have to buy the ticket at the counter because you cannot pay with an international credit card, which also means no online purchases and no advance bookings. The bus takes you to Sokcho intercity bus terminal, which is luckily directly in front of my hostel – Haru Guesthouse. The drive takes about 2,5h, there are lots of buses in one day and it costs around 13€ for a huge, comfortable seat.

I used the rest of the day to explore the city of Sokcho, which is really not all that special in my opinion. I think people mostly get here on their way to Seoraksan national park.

There is a tourist info point at the bus terminal in Sokcho, which has everything you need to explore the city, so getting lost is not an option. I walked around Sokcho Tourist & Fishery Market and tried some street food for the first time since I came here (I think this blog is seriously lacking in food pics, but I think Japan will make up for that hopefully).

My next stop was Yeongnangho Lake, which was the prettier part of the town. Things are not really so much walking distance as I imagined, so exploring with a car would be nice. If I had a car, I would probably drive to Seorak Pine Resort for a few hours at the spa.

I was already walking around for a few hours and did around 10 km, so I had enough of exercise for one day. I accidentally found a really nice Korean couple with zero English skills who drove me back to my guesthouse – I am daily surprised by how nice people are here. I ended the day with a really good dinner near my hostel, which is nowhere to be found online, hence no link.

PS: On Day 13 I was already bent on sending some stuff home because I cannot carry the backpack anymore. So reading this, I decided to visit the Korean Post ASAP.