Chuncheon (춘천)

Chuncheon (춘천) is the Provincial Capital City of Gangwon Province and, being located in a basin in the centre of many lakes, rivers and mountains; the city’s Korean tag line is appropriately ‘The City with Clean Lakes’ or ‘The City Surrounded by Water’. Chuncheon is famous, among other things, for it’s ‘dak galbi’ (닭갈비 - Korean chicken dish), International Mime Festival, and it’s many tourist spots – including Namiseom Island, a filming location for the famous Korean romance drama, ‘Winter Sonata’.

Like the rest of Gangwon-do, Chuncheon’s weather goes through four distinct seasons – being cold and snowy in Winter, hot and humid in Summer, and warm and beautiful in both Spring and Autumn. In addition, the large number of lakes in the surrounding areas can make for many foggy days too. It’s close proximity and good transport links to Seoul make Chuncheon a popular destination for trips out of the capital. It is also possible to easily travel to other cities in Gangwon-do such as Wonju, although Chuncheon is not as well connected to the East coast by train as it is to Seoul and the West.

Chuncheon is a fairly large city (population around 265,000), but has a small country feel to it too, with many places to visit outwith the main downtown area. The city is growing rapidly, with increased transport links to Seoul making it a feasible commuter city; and several universities are also based there.