Every hidden gems video worth watching in Sokcho — in one place

Sokcho’s position on the East Sea coast, roughly two-and-a-half hours from Seoul by express bus, means it sits at the threshold of what most Korean itineraries include — which is precisely why the city consistently delivers more than expected for the visitors who do make the journey. The Abai Village, originally settled by North Korean refugees after the Korean War, is preserved in a form that feels genuinely different from the heritage-tourism-polished villages elsewhere in the country: the hand-pulled cable ferry across the estuary is still the way locals cross to the main market, and the squid-drying racks along the waterfront are working infrastructure rather than decorative. The Cheongcho Lake walking path, a freshwater lagoon separating the town centre from the beach district, offers a serene circuit that multiple creators recommend over Sokcho Beach itself for those visiting outside peak summer season — the path is flat, cafe-lined, and rarely crowded. One creator’s honest trip report notes that the city is compact enough to see its highlights in a focused 24 hours, which makes it a legitimate one-night stop rather than an aggressive day trip from Seoul.

“Backpacking Korea’s East Coast: Untouched Beauty from Samcheok to Sokcho” frames the city in its coastal context — what makes it different from Gangneung to the south and from Seoul’s polished experience to the west — and is the most useful single video for calibrating whether Sokcho fits your itinerary. Pair it with the “Top Underrated Spots in South Korea” travel guide, which positions Sokcho within the broader South Korea travel landscape and gives it the comparative context that single-city guides cannot provide. Together they build the case for the stop without overpromising.