Korea’s National Road 7
October 13, 2010
Min and I took a road trip a couple of months ago down old National Road 7 along Korea’s east coast. The 350km highway runs from Goseong to Busan. Just beautiful. Highly recommended. CNNGo ran my story this morning. Plenty of tips and directions in there.
Getting there: Best bet is to head straight to Gangneung. Yeongdong Expressway (Highway 50) from Seoul to Gangneung takes roughly two hours. From Gangneung, National Road 7 runs north to south.
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I second what Gregory sez — with the one warning i said in my post above…
Hey, this trip sounds fantastic. But I am a little bit worried about the Korean driving skills. I mean, people say its crazy to drive in Korea. So is it true, or is it a good idea to take the National Road 7? How is the traffic on this road? Thank you Theo
The driving isn’t too much of a problem at all. I think when you hear how crazy it can be, it’s usually in regards to Seoul. Cities are always congested. I highly recommend taking National Road 7. Much of the highway from Seoul to Gangneung is fantastic as well.
Motorcycle trip sounds cool. Some parts of the highway are a little inaccessible, but the majority of it’s still very much in tact. We drove it. All those pics are from right off the old highway.
In recent years Hwy. 7 as a coastal road is being converted to an expressway. I some areas the old windy highway is no longer accessible, but the coastal road is still connected by stretches of the new highway. However, if you really stay along the coast, be prepared to be slowed through every village by obstacles in the road such as parked trucks, fishing nets, and kelp laid out to dry.
P.S. I did this trip by motorcycle in Spring of 2010.
Thanks David! One has to be careful in some parts, especially along the rocky shoreline further north. As for Cheonggan-jeong, it does refer to the eight gan spaces as you mentioned. Perhaps a little misleading from a design standpoint. That info’s from the sign but I also referred to the KTO site.
Great photos, Gregory! I’m glad you got to do that trip (in good weather) — it certainly is one of Korea’s epic drives — tho you didn’t mention the continual dangerous sloping/twisting curves that must be negotiated, even while drivers are distracted by the stunning scenery… perhaps that’s seen as a “thrilling” aspect?
But BTW, you describe Cheonggan-jeong as “octagonal” — judging from your photo & my memory, it’s not, it’s square instead of the typical rectangle — it does have eight gan spaces between its pillars, perhaps leading to a mistaken translation on its info-sign…?
Thanks Steve! Was glad to finally make the trip happen this year. Just an awesome part of the country.
Great read and pictures. I actually saw this on CNNGo before you put up the link!