Beyond Seoul: Day Trips to Gapyeong and Nami Island

Northeast of Seoul, where the mountains get taller and the rivers run clear — a day trip that earns its travel time.

A green summer day on Nami Island

Gapyeong: Where Koreans Go to Actually Relax

Ask anyone who went to university in Korea about their MT memories, and there's a decent chance Gapyeong (가평) comes up. MT — short for Membership Training, though in practice it's really just a class bonding trip — is a Korean university tradition: a rented pension (펜션), a group of classmates, a river nearby, and a lot of food. The format is still one night, two days. But how people use that time has quietly shifted. An older generation might remember lingering through lunch before finally heading home, reluctant to let the group scatter. These days, students apparently leave first thing in the morning. Maybe younger Koreans are more protective of their personal time and space — or maybe it just varies by school and department. Hard to say for certain. Either way, the landscape that made Gapyeong the go-to for these trips hasn't changed.

Set along the Bukhangang River about an hour northeast of Seoul, Gapyeong-gun (가평군) is the kind of place Koreans visit to decompress. In summer, the riverside fills with people kayaking, rafting, and tubing. Campgrounds and pension clusters line the valley roads. It's genuinely more popular with locals than with international tourists, which is part of its charm. For the best experience — fewer crowds, better scenery — aim for spring or autumn rather than the peak summer rush.

Key Info

Getting there: Take the ITX-Cheongchun (청춘) train from Yongsan or Cheongnyangni Station to Gapyeong Station (about 1 hour). The Gapyeong City Tour Bus (Route A, ₩8,000 day pass) connects the main sights from the station. A car gives you more flexibility for the valley roads and pension areas deeper in the mountains.

Garden of Morning Calm: Slow Beauty, Every Season

One of Gapyeong's most visited attractions is the Garden of Morning Calm (아침고요수목원, Achim Goyou Sumogwon), a sprawling botanical garden with over 5,000 plant species spread across more than 20 themed sections. The garden earns its name — it's a genuinely peaceful place, and it looks completely different depending on when you visit. Spring brings azaleas and cherry blossoms, summer is lush and full, autumn turns the maple sections golden, and winter hosts an illumination festival that draws visitors well into the evening.

One honest caveat: it's a garden. If you're travelling with young children who want something more active, they may not share your enthusiasm. But for anyone who enjoys a slow walk with good scenery, it's well worth the stop.

Tip

Admission is ₩11,000 for adults. Plan 1.5 to 2 hours. If you're combining the garden with Nami Island in one day, visit the garden first — the City Tour Bus schedule makes this the more practical sequence, and the garden is calmer in the morning.

Nami Island: Technically Chuncheon, Actually Gapyeong

Here's a fun fact most visitors don't know: Nami Island (남이섬, Namiseom) is technically located in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province — but the only way to reach it is from Gapyeong. The ferry terminal sits on the Gapyeong side of the Bukhangang River, the phone numbers use a Gyeonggi area code, and virtually everyone treats it as a Gapyeong destination. It's one of Korea's stranger administrative quirks, and the island itself seems to lean into it with a playful self-declared "nation" concept — you get an entry stamp at the dock.

The island's international fame traces back to the 2002 KBS drama Winter Sonata (겨울연가, Gyeouryeonga), starring Bae Yong-joon and Choi Ji-woo. The show's iconic scenes — particularly a bicycle ride along a snow-covered lane of towering metasequoia trees — turned Nami Island into a K-drama pilgrimage site, especially for Japanese fans who coined the "Yonsama" craze around Bae Yong-joon. The trees are just as striking in person. Tall, straight, and densely planted, they create a completely different atmosphere depending on the season.

Beyond the trees, the island has live performances, a handful of small animals roaming the grounds (the llamas have a reputation — keep a respectful distance), and plenty of cafés and restaurants. Just be aware that food and drinks inside the island cost noticeably more than on the mainland.

Heads Up

Nami Island gets very crowded on weekends, public holidays, and any day with good weather. A weekday visit makes a real difference. Food inside the island is significantly more expensive than outside — consider eating before you cross.

Personal Take

I've been to Nami Island more times than I can easily count — before I was married, after having a child, and on group trips with my husband's friends over the years. Each visit felt a little different depending on who I was with and what season it was. If I'm honest, I'd skip the summer. Korean summers are genuinely hot and humid, and spending the day walking around an outdoor island isn't the most comfortable version of the experience. Spring and autumn are another story — the metasequoia path looks entirely different in cherry blossom season versus autumn gold, and the light and temperature are just right. The Garden of Morning Calm is similar: quietly beautiful for anyone who enjoys that kind of pace, though I've seen kids counting the minutes. It's very much an adult kind of beautiful.

Getting There and Making a Day of It

The ITX-Cheongchun train from Seoul to Gapyeong Station takes about an hour and is the easiest option for those without a car. From the station, the Gapyeong City Tour Bus stops at the Nami Island ferry terminal, the Garden of Morning Calm, and other sights on a loop. A day pass is ₩8,000 and covers unlimited rides.

For Nami Island, you can reach it by ferry (a 5-minute crossing, departures every 10–20 minutes between 9am and 6pm) or by zipline across the river for a more dramatic entrance — the zipline fee includes island admission and a return ferry ticket. If you're visiting both the garden and the island in one day, an early start helps.

Gapyeong pairs naturally with a wider northeast Seoul itinerary. Nearby Yangpyeong is another good option for a quieter, more countryside-focused day — see our Beyond Seoul series for more ideas, or check our Seoul Metro guide for help navigating the train system.