If you are looking for some place to have a romantic weekend with your partner, a good place worth checking out is Gangwon-do’s Jeongdongin Beach located just south of Gangneung:

Ask any Korean and they will know this beach instantly due to it being famous for being one of the best places to watch the sunrise over the East Sea (Sea of Japan):

My wife and I spent a winter weekend at Jeongdongjin Beach before and we had an absolutely great time watching the sun come up over the tranquil ocean:

Fortunately when my wife and I went to the beach to watch the sunrise, the crowd was not really that large:

That is compared to the crowds that frequent the beach now due to the huge festival held here on New Year’s Day now:

Here is run down of what the New Year’s Festival includes:

The festival basically consists of a Farewell event on December 31 and the New Year’s event on January 1. From around 7 pm or 8 pm until midnight on December 31, visitors can look forward to a dance contest, a choir performance, and other entertainment by famous vocalists and dance groups. These entertaining and fun-packed programs are the perfect way to say farewell to the previous year.

On January 1, colorful fireworks accompanied by lively music will signal the coming of the New Year. Everyone on the beach will sing along to celebrate the New Year, and exchange greetings with others. Audiences will see plenty of entertainment, including a saxophone performance, a drum combo performance, a concert, and sports dancing. As the festival reaches its peak, visitors will be invited to take part in a singing contest. All participants will take away a souvenir gift. There is also a special time to make a solemn wish for the New Year as the sun comes up.

For some you this might be worth checking out. However, if you want the beach to yourself then avoid New Year’s because the crowds are huge. My wife and I had a great time just watching the sunrise over the ocean without being bothered with crowds:

What has made this beach so famous as a romantic destination is its appearance in the once popular Korean drama Hourglass:

At the same time you can easily find lots of similar beautiful spots on that seashore but they are not as well-known as Jeongdongjin. It became famous after a few touching scenes of a popular (at the time) Korean drama “Hourglass” were filmed there. That is why the souvenir shops of that area are full of various modifications of hourglasses.

In the middle of the small but nice park situated near the Jeongdongjin beach, there is one very special hourglass, which became probably the main attraction and symbol of the area. Opened on the first day of 2000, that hourglass is more than eight meters in diameter.

It contains eight tons of sand and it takes exactly one year for the sand to move from the upper part of to the lower one. So the hourglass is being turned upside down at 0:00 on the first of January attracting thousands of people to the area to celebrate the beginning of a new year. [Korea Times]

After finishing watching the sunrise my wife and I concluded the morning by eating some fresh fish brought in that morning from the local fishermen:

Watching the sunset at Jeongdongjin followed by eating raw fish for breakfast is a sure sign I have spent way to much time in Korea.