Gangwon-do

View of Yongpyong from Alpensia

Yongpyong

Gangwon-do, South Korea’s remote northeastern province, is the spiritual home of Korean skiing; the country’s first resort, Yongpyong (Dragon Valley), was built here for good reason. The Taebaek Mountains (Korea’s principle range) run down the east side of the peninsula, and are at their greatest in Gangwon-do; the province is home to many of the country’s highest peaks – and its best ski resorts.

Map showing borders of South Korea's Gangwon-do province

Leading the way are High1 and Yongpyong, Korea’s two standout resorts – if you only go to one resort in Korea, try to make it one of those two. The latter, Yongpyong, is one of three resorts (along with Alpensia and Phoenix Park) situated in Pyeongchang County, which between them will host most of the mountain events for the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics (the remainder will be at the purpose-built Jeongseon Alpine Centre in neighbouring Jeongseon County).

Olympic halfpipe & snowboard cross setup at Phoenix Park

Phoenix Park during the Olympics

The Pyeongchang resorts, Jeongseon, and High1, are in the east of Gangwon-do, a long way from the Seoul area, but there’s also a handful of resorts closer to the capital in west Gangwon-do; Oak Valley and Welli Hilli Park are just outside the city of Wonju (Gangwon-do’s largest city), Vivaldi Park is just a 90-minute bus ride from Seoul, and Elysian Gangchon is actually on the Seoul Metro system (and so is listed both here and under the Seoul Area resorts).

Here are the locations of all the Gangwon-do ski resorts (see below map for resort reviews):

Map showing locations of the ski resorts in South Korea's Gangwon-do province

Map showing locations of the ski resorts in South Korea's Gangwon-do province

1. High1
2. Yongpyong & Alpensia
3. Jeongseon Alpine Centre (venue for Pyeongchang 2018 only)
4. Phoenix Park
5. Welli Hilli Park
6. Oak Valley
7. Vivaldi Park
8. Elysian Gangchon

There’s also the recently re-opened O2 Resort, which is located just outside Taebaek town (to the east of High1 on the map)


About

Hi I’m Simon, British snowboard addict & travel blogger presently based in NE Asia. I run this site to help international visitors plan their trips to Korean ski resorts; you might also be interested in my travel blog, especially the Korea sightseeing and Japan snowboarding content

If you’ve found the site useful and would like to shout me a coffee (or beer!), this button’s for you ;)

Buy me a coffeeBuy me a coffee

Subscribe to the Snow Guide Korea mailing list:




Travel insurance with winter sports cover from World Nomads:

Top