I took a trip to Chungju Lake and Danyang. The first day was mostly in Chungcheon and the rest of the trip was exploring Danyang, which included hiking Seobaeksan, driving to a huge temple, and watching paragliders while sat at a coffee shop in the surrounding hills.

DAY 1 OF 4-DAY TRIP to Chungju Lake & Danyang

The day before my trip, I got a call from Lotte Rentacar asking if it was okay to give me a free upgrade; no problem! My original car was to be a Kia Morning, and they had a nice Avante waiting for me in Hongdae. Nice. A much more powerful car and a solid ride.

Cable car

I stopped at some roadside services on the way to pick up some red bean paste steamed buns then continued onto my first planned stop, Cheongpung Cable Car (청풍호반케이블카). I do tend to go to easy to get to touristy spots when I first enter a new area; probably tourist info centres around, at least on fun things to do, and probably a good place to grab some refreshments scope out the area. The drive around the north part of the lake afforded some lovely views and there seemed to be quite a few places to stop and relax.

The cable car station was full of other family activities like a film museum, arcade, and other things I can’t recall! The ride up was great and the views were fantastic; my favourite type in Korea, consisting of water and lush looking green hills and mountains.

The obligatory plaza area at the top had the usual refreshments options and sculptures, etc, but also a novel time capsule structure where people put messages inside a sealed plastic containers then store them in a set of Perspex boxes; the pictures will do a better job of explaining!

I tried to scope out Seobaeksan mountain and think I could see it. I spent some time up here as it was quite pleasant and the weather, while hazy, pretty nice. I had another steamed bun then decided on my next move and searched Naver maps for a suitable coffee stop.

Cafe Modan (카페모단)

I drove down to Cafe Modan (), a small coffee shop in a small village about half way along the length of the cable car route. The village of Cheongpung-myeon (청풍면) was lovely actually; peaceful but not rundown, slightly hilly without being tough, and with perfect views over the lake. The coffee shop itself was nicely decorated and had a roof terrace. I think it also had accommodation too. I sat on the roof and truly enjoyed the lake; I think I could easily stay a night or two here. I contemplated checking out the monorail attraction but decided to head to Danyang instead and get checked in before it got too dark to drive.

Danyang

The drive was fine and luckily there was a free public car park less than one minute walk from the hostel. I was staying at Factory G. Ssang (팩토리지쌍) , a simple guesthouse next to the river. I checked in entirely without having to meet anyone, just using text messages and notes left around the hostel. So much trust in this country still pleasantly amazes me!

I strolled around a bit the town a bit looking for likely spots for stuff to do and places to eat. I could see instantly that this was a tourist destination and geared towards paragliding, young people fun, walks and museums. I visited Danyang Gugyeong Traditional Market
(단양구경시장) and walked around but didn’t see anything open that piqued my interest, plus at that time in the evening, places were shutting (covid regulations). I ended up havig a burger at Lotteria then grabbing a few cans of beer to drink by the river. After that I watched a bit of Netflix and got ready for my Seobaeksan hike in the morning. All-in-all, a pleasant day and good start to the trip.

Places visited this trip (click the ‘door’ icon to see a list):