The Korea Travel Log

Throughout the past year, The Korea Travel Log has introduced listeners to 51 beautiful travel destinations in Korea that are less known to the public.

Today, the six producers of the program wanted to share the places that truly stood out to them during their visits throughout the year.

The area around Songcheon in Daegwallyeong, PyeongChang County is hosting the 26th Daegwallyeong Snow Festival. The celebration of ice and snow features various snow sculptures as well as fun activities such as ice sledding, ice slides, and traditional games. Visitors will also be treated to local specialty dishes that will warm up their stomachs.

Sokcho in Gangwon-do Province is a charming city. It is surrounded by the majestic Seoraksan Mountain and is home to Lake Yeongnang and Lake Cheongcho. Its port that vibrates with energy since early morning and the blazing sunrise beyond the horizon make Sokcho even more attractive as a travel destination. Let's embark on a winter trip to Sokcho on this week's The Korea Travel Log!

There is a very special village in Sokcho, located on the east coast of Gangwon-do Province. It's Abai Village, where North Koreans who had fled the Korean War from Hamgyeong-do Province at the northeastern end of the Korean Peninsula settled down. The North Koreans built their community on the barren beach where nobody had lived before the Korean War. Let's set off on a little different trip today to Abai Village.

Jeongseon, Gangwon-do Province, one of the three origins of Arirang. Jeongseon is a small town located deep in the mountains, where only a patch of sky is visible through the tall peaks. Let's set off on a winter trip to Jeongseon, a town closest to the sky where an Arirang of its namesake was born.

Ski resorts in Korea are packed with colorfully-clad skiers and snowboarders swooshing down the slopes. Interests in winter sports have spiked in the run up to the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, further driving up the number of people, including foreign tourists, visiting the ski resorts in Gangwon-do Province. Let's visit one of the most popular ski resorts, Hongcheon Vivaldi Park Ski World, to enjoy the excitement of winter sports and experience the Olympic atmosphere.

If you happen to visit Hwacheon in Gangwon-do Province this winter, be sure to look around one of Korea's most iconic wintertime festival. Since its start in 2003, the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival has become the most well-known winter event in Korea, drawing more than one million visitors from home and abroad. The festival offers a variety of fun activities, such as ice fishing, sledding, ice soccer, and skating, as well as great food.

Coal mines and miners at one time were the powerful engine that drove Korea's phenomenal economic growth. Sadly, the once-busy industrial site, which opened in 1964 and had flourished until its shutdown in 2001, stands empty and silent today. A few years ago, however, the old, abandoned mine was resurrected as a cultural and artistic venue named Samtan Art Mine, where the mine's dynamic yet heart-breaking history inspires unforgettably poignant works of art.

The Woljeongsa temple stay program, popular among Koreans as well as foreigners, provides a special chance to experience a day at the Buddhist temple. This week's episode highlights the temple stay program at the millennium-old Woljeongsa Temple located in PyeongChang ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.

Seonjaegil hiking course stretches from the fir tree forest in front of Woljeongsa Temple in Odaesan Mountain to Sangwonsa Temple. Walking on the millennium-old forest road gives hikers a chance to enjoy the dense evergreen forest and a sparkling clean mountain spring and look back on year 2017. Visit this beautiful trekking course in the Odaesan National Park near PyeongChang, Gangwon-do Province ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympic Games.