My partner and I marked four years together with a two-night trip to Donghae (동해) and Samcheok (삼척), two coastal cities along Korea’s East Sea. Neither of us is a big planner, but this one came together well: we’d accumulated enough Trip.com points to cover round-trip train tickets for two and two nights of accommodation. All points, no cash.
Mukho (묵호), the historic harbor district of Donghae, is known among Korean travelers as the best car-free (뚜벅이) destination in the region. Most sights connect on foot or by local bus, and the area is compact enough to work without a rental. Day 1 tested that fully.
Cheongnyangni Station and the KTX-Eum (청량리역)
Getting to the East Coast from Seoul by train means choosing between Seoul Station and Cheongnyangni Station (청량리역). Morning departures — nearly all of them — leave from Cheongnyangni. That’s where we started.
The station connects directly to a Lotte Department Store. The concourse has a solid range of food options — good for an early breakfast before a long ride. We bought kimbap (김밥, Korean rice rolls) in three varieties: pickled pepper, cheese, and wasabi tuna. Plus bread from Samsong Bakery (삼송빵집) nearby. Ate it all before boarding. Nobody wants kimbap smell on a quiet train.
The concourse has clear bilingual signs directing you toward the right platform.
Our KTX-Eum (KTX-이음) left around 9:30 a.m.
The KTX-Eum is a newer tilting train for regional lines — the Donghae Line (동해선) runs it along the East Coast. More compact than older KTX models, quieter inside.
The Train: Two Hours, One View
Each seat has wireless charging and a 220V outlet. Battery anxiety over a two-hour ride: not a factor.
A-row seats are the ones to book. About 30 minutes before Mukho, the East Sea appears on the A-side window and doesn’t leave until arrival. A and B seats go fast — book 2–3 weeks ahead.
The train makes a 5-minute stop at Jeongdongjin Station (정동진역), a small station built essentially on the shoreline, well known for sunrise views. Five minutes is enough to step off, take a photo, and reboard.
Then the coast opens up.
The water along this stretch is a bright, transparent blue. By the time Mukho Station comes into view, you’ve had a good 30 minutes of it.
Arriving at Mukho (묵호역)
Small station. One building, short platform, quiet forecourt. The scale of it called to mind rural train stations in Japan — unhurried, compact, easy to like.
Two things to sort out right away:
Donghae City Tour Bus (동해시티투어버스) — The bus stop is directly in front of the station. Through the end of May, fares run at 50% off: ₩2,500 per adult. The route covers Donghae’s main sights. Our schedule only aligned for one ride, but if you build your day around it, it moves you efficiently between attractions for almost nothing.
Mukho Sognant Luggage Service (묵호 소극장) — Directly across from the station entrance. Bag storage: ₩5,000 per item. Hotel or pension delivery: ₩12,000. For car-free travel, delivery makes more sense than storage — you won’t be back before check-in, and hauling a suitcase up Nongolddam-gil’s stone steps is a poor use of energy. We shipped ours ahead. The bag arrived before we did.
For buses to coastal sights, board at the Donghae Plaza stop (동해프라자 정류장). Local buses here run on schedule.
Lunch and Eodal Beach (어달 해수욕장)
Lunch was at Eodal Yeop Pocha (어달 옆 포차, "the spot next to Eodal"), a small casual restaurant near Eodal Beach. Easy to miss if you’re not looking. Good food.
After eating, we walked along the shore to Eodal Beach (어달 해수욕장) — one of the most-visited spots in Mukho.
The water here runs toward a Jeju-style turquoise — bright and transparent, with a red buoy offshore. Visitors stack small stone cairns along the shoreline. On a clear day the comparison to Jeju holds.
Across from the beach is Eodal Intersection (어달삼거리), a popular photo spot. The road slopes down toward a junction, and at the bottom, the ocean fills the frame.
Safety officers are posted at both the uphill and downhill ends — it’s a live road, and they manage foot traffic. Navigate with "어달삼거리" on Naver Maps.
Dojaebigol Sky Valley (도째비골 스카이밸리)
The walk from Eodal toward the Sky Valley passed streets you’d skip entirely from a car: a market alley, a fish tank in a shop doorway with more variety than most aquariums, a café with a sea view that made us stop longer than planned.
Dojaebigol Sky Valley (도째비골 스카이밸리) is a glass-floor walkway cantilevered over the cliff at Mukho. Admission: ₩3,000 for adults; ₩1,000 is returned as a Donghae Love Gift Certificate (동해사랑상품권). The Digital Tourism Resident Card (디지털관광주민증) and Gangwon Life Resident Card (강원도생활도민증) discounts do not apply here.
Standing on the walkway, close up, it’s less dramatic than photos suggest. Distance is better.
The sky bikes (하늘자전거) are people pedaling on bicycles suspended from a cable stretched between two towers. From the ground, they look slightly absurd — in a good way.
From the top of the Sky Valley, the full Donghae coastline comes into view — breakwater, harbor, residential towers backed by mountains.
Looking down from the same point, Haerang Observation Deck (해랑전망대) sits below.
A small quirk: the Sky Valley looks better from the deck below, and the deck looks better from above. See both.
Haerang Deck is free admission. The view from the end of the walkway — sea on three sides — earns the detour.
Nongolddam-gil (논골담길)
Five minutes into Nongolddam-gil and it was clear why Mukho has built the reputation it has.
The alley climbs through painted walls, small shops, and seafront cafés with uninterrupted views to the East Sea. The most-visited stop is Mukoya (무코야), a gift shop with locally themed goods and small souvenirs. We went on a Sunday — manageable. A Saturday crowd would make the shop nearly impassable.
Geodong Tangsuyuk (거동탕수육), a restaurant known for tangsuyuk (탕수육, Korean-style sweet-and-sour pork), had a line that bent well back into the side street when we passed in the afternoon. A weekday morning is the realistic window for getting in without a long wait.
We spent about an hour on Nongolddam-gil before heading back down toward the waterfront.
Evening: Squid Sundae and the Last Bus
At the market, we picked up ojingeo sundae (오징어순대) — squid stuffed with glutinous rice and vegetables, sliced into rounds — and ate it at the riverside park.
We caught the last Donghae City Tour Bus to Cheongok Rotary (천곡로타리), the downtown hub of Donghae. Empty bus, sunset through the windows. Confirm your Naver reservation at boarding and you get a wristband; ours was ceremonial at that point.
Cheongok Rotary is Donghae’s city center. We found Naengmyeon Gwonga (냉면권가), known for pyongyang naengmyeon (평양냉면, North Korean-style cold buckwheat noodles). The roast chicken there is also a local staple — the price was not. One pyongyang naengmyeon each (₩14,000), packed to go.
The noodles: better than expected. At ₩14,000 a bowl, probably a once-in-a-while thing.
Our hotel was a residence-type property in Donghae city, chosen by sorting accommodations lowest to highest and picking the best-looking result. Room 514. No ocean view, but clean and quiet — all we needed after a full day on foot. The suitcase we’d shipped from Mukho Sognant was already in the room. Check-in includes a ₩3,000 coupon for the iMart24 on the ground floor.
Dinner was pyongyang naengmyeon, the remaining ojingeo sundae, and whatever the iMart24 hot bar had. The next morning, we rented a car and headed south to Samcheok (삼척).