48 hours in Gangneung: Glamping and food guide
Travel and food writer, Thuy Bui, shares everything she ate during her ultimate girls glamping weekend in Gangneung.
Images throughout: Thuy Bui for Cherry Chu Magazine.
Glamping in Korea has been on my to-do list for a while, and Gangneung was the perfect opportunity to do this with my friends.
We arrived in the afternoon (after a long bus journey from Seoul), and headed straight to the supermarket to buy groceries. In true Korean style, our first dinner was BBQ.
Our campsite in Gangneung.
Gangneung Jungang Market
21 Geumseong-ro, Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do
Opening times: Everyday from 8AM – 7PM
The next day, we headed to Gangneung Jungang Market for lunch. Here’s everything we bought and ate:
1. Kimchi Rolled Pork Belly (김치말이 삼겹살)
Wolhwa Kimchi Rolled Pork Belly is located in Gangneung Jungang Market. Its speciality is pork belly rolled with kimchi, cheese, perilla leaves, and fried onions presented on a hot iron plate.
The dish was cooked slightly crisp and served with wasabi mayo and chilli sauce (in my opinion this wasn’t needed). However, it was so juicy and flavoursome.
A juicy and flavoursome Kimchi rolled pork belly snack.
2. Stuffed Squid Sundae (오징어 순대) and Abai Sundae (아바이 순대)
If you like sundae (blood sausage) and seafood, then you’re going to love these! There are two ways to eat stuffed squid sundae — steamed or steamed and then fried with a light batter coating. We opted for the fried version.
Abai sundae was an upgrade on the usual dish. The filling includes chopped squid, tofu, and vegetables.
Menu options.
3. Baenni Daljip (배니 닭강정)
Baenni’s Fried Chicken (배니 닭강정) is famous in Gangneung. It has a crunchy batter covered with a sweet and sour sticky sauce coating plus a sprinkling of sliced almond and crushed peanuts.
Look out for the chicken sign! There’s always a queue but it runs pretty quickly.
Baenni Daljip is a must visit in Gangneung!
4. Garlic Bread (마늘육쪽빵 and 양파 육쪽빵)
I don’t know what it is with Koreans and garlic bread, but they really love it! I’m not a fan because it’s often unusually sweet here, but this one was surprisingly good. It also had a soft cheese filling, and the one with onions was sweet but manageable.
Garlic bread tends to be sweet in Korea.
5. Tofu Gelato (순두부 젤라또)
If you know Vita soy milk, then you’ll know exactly how tofu gelato tastes! This was so good, I had to go back for another one because we were all sharing.
We also had mango gelato (망고 젤라또), which was really nice and creamy, but nothing special in comparison to the tofu gelato.
Tofu Gelato is a staple in Gangeung.
6. Traditional Snacks
If you’re looking for traditional snacks, you’ll find hyeonmi gwaja (현미 과자) and oranda (오란다) everywhere.
Hyeonmi gwaja are made from brown rice, are often baked or toasted, and can come in various flavours and shapes. The one I bought had a sweet syrup coating that was crunchy but also chewy.
Oranda is made of puffed beans and nuts and has a sweet coating. It’s much softer in texture in comparison to hyeonmi gwaja.
Hyeonmi Gwaja is a delicious rice snack.
Café106
17, Geumseong-ro 13beon-gil, Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do, 25543
Opens daily 11AM-8PM, except Wednesday
IG: @cafe106
Gangneung Jungang Market was busy and crowded, so we decided to head to Wolhwa Street which runs parallel. (You can exit from some of the restaurants inside the market to get to the street.) We decided to find a coffee shop close by to get our beverage fix.
Café106 is located around the corner from the market and on the walking strip. It’s a perfect place to people watch. If coffee isn’t your thing, then try the ice grain latte. It’s nutty, not too sweet, and helps to balance out all the greasy food we ate.
Try a delicious ice grain latte at Cafe106!
Gangneung Obba
24-1, Jungangsijang 4-gil, Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do, 25543
Opens daily 11.30AM-7PM, except Wednesday
IG @gangneung_obba
Gangneung Obba is a few doors down from Café106 and was on my radar to visit.
My friend picked out two cakes for take away so she could enjoy them later on in the day. She just couldn’t resist!
This place specialises in giant stuffed croissant-like cupcakes. There’s plenty of flavours to choose from, but we got the original and the injeolmi flavour.
These sweet treats are a must try!
Intercity Bus Terminal
Squid Ink Soft Serve (오징어 먹물 아이스크림 빵)
Squid ink ice cream was the final thing I wanted to try. There’s a café inside the intercity bus terminal (Located on the 2F) where you’ll find 오징어 먹물 아이스크림 빵 (squid ink soft serve). It’s the perfect final treat before you leave Gangneung.
The soft serve is black due to the squid ink. The filling treat was nice and creamy, served in a squid-shaped cake-like cone.
Masiwa
15, Haseulla-ro, Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do, 25519
https://masiwa.kr
If you want to try something new, the squid-ink soft serve is for you.
If you visit Gangneung and head to any of the delicious spots mentioned above, let us know in the comments below!
Edited by Molly Raycraft and Chelsea Cheetham.