Gangneung is the capital of Korea's east coast, and it has a reputation for coffee that is nearly as strong as its reputation for beaches. The city sits where the Taebaek mountains meet the East Sea, with a long, bright shore of fine pale sand, and the water here is clear and cold, with surf in summer that draws swimmers and surfers. From July to August the beaches are crowded, with umbrellas and families, and in the other months they are wide and quiet, with the odd surfer in a wetsuit and the sound of waves.
The coastline has several distinct personalities. Gyeongpo, the main beach, lies beside a lake and a pine grove, and it has been a retreat for officials and poets since the Joseon dynasty. Anmok Beach has a street of cafes with views across the sand, where baristas make coffee by the cup with a pride unusual in a seaside town. Further north, Jeongdongjin is the place Koreans go to see the sunrise, with a railway station that stands right on the beach and a hotel built in the shape of a ship on the cliff above.
Gangneung is a city with a lot of history. Ojukheon, a house in a bamboo grove, is the birthplace of the Confucian scholar Yi I, known by his pen name Yulgok, and of his mother, the painter and calligrapher Shin Saimdang, who is on the fifty-thousand-won banknote. The town also has a famous speciality, soft tofu, cooked in a village where the tradition of making it with seawater goes back centuries. The city's food is dominated by seafood, with raw fish, squid and the sweet, tender crab of the East Sea.
Riding the coast road, Route 7 and the quieter roads beside the sea, is a joy. The road is flat or gently rolling, with long views, and the traffic is heavy only at holiday weekends. Speed cameras are frequent, so keep to the limits. Fuel is no problem in the city, which has a population of nearly two hundred thousand, and there are petrol stations along the coast. Watch for sand on the road near the beaches and for wet patches from sea fog. The best months are May, June and September, when the water is warm enough and the crowds are thin.