Pyeongchang is a county rather than a city, about forty thousand people spread across the TAEBAEK MOUNTAINS in Gangwon province in the east of South Korea, and it hosted the 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. Much of it sits on the DAEGWALLYEONG plateau at around seven hundred metres and above, which makes it one of the coldest inhabited parts of the country and gives it the reliable snow that the Games were awarded for. In summer it is the place Koreans go to escape the heat, a difference of ten degrees or more from Seoul, with alpine meadows, sheep pasture and some of the best hiking in the country.
BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE: PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA IS NOT PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA. The two names are routinely confused, and this is a documented problem rather than a pedantic one: a Kenyan official flew to Pyongyang by mistake in 2014, and the 2018 organisers restyled the name as PyeongChang, with a capital C in the middle, specifically to force the distinction in print. THEY ARE DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. Pyeongchang is in South Korea, which the FCDO places under no travel restriction of any kind; Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea, to which the FCDO advises against all travel and which cannot be visited on an ordinary itinerary. If you are booking a flight, a train or a room, make sure the word you have typed is PYEONGCHANG and the country is the Republic of Korea.
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What Is Here
THE SKIING IS THE OLYMPIC INFRASTRUCTURE AND IT IS GOOD RATHER THAN ALPINE. YONGPYONG is the largest and oldest Korean resort and held the Olympic slalom and giant slalom; ALPENSIA held the jumping, the sliding events and the cross country, and has the ski jump tower with a viewing platform at the top that is worth going up in any season. Korean resorts run long hours including floodlit night skiing, which is a genuine feature rather than a consolation: skiing at nine in the evening under lights is normal here. The verticals are modest by European or North American standards and the snowmaking is extensive and reliable. The second photograph is what most of it looks like, which is to say beginners on wide groomed pistes, and Korean resorts are unusually well set up for people learning.
ODAESAN NATIONAL PARK AND WOLJEONGSA ARE THE REASON TO COME IN SUMMER AND AUTUMN. Odaesan is a major national park with peaks over 1,500 metres and one of Korea's most significant Buddhist landscapes. WOLJEONGSA, founded in the seventh century, is approached through an avenue of enormous old fir trees that is one of the most beautiful walks in the country, and it holds a nine-storey octagonal stone pagoda that is a national treasure. SANGWONSA, further up the valley, is the trailhead for the climb to Birobong. The third photograph is the interior work in a temple of this kind: gilded figure against painted mural.
DAEGWALLYEONG IS A HIGH PASTURE AND THAT IS UNUSUAL IN KOREA. The SKY RANCH and the sheep farm on the old pass are open grassland at altitude with wind turbines along the ridges, which looks nothing like the rest of the country and is why Korean visitors come in large numbers in summer. The old Daegwallyeong pass road itself is a historic route down to the coast and the HANWOORI and trail paths along it are walkable.
AND THE COAST IS CLOSE, WHICH DECIDES A LOT OF ITINERARIES. GANGNEUNG is about thirty to forty minutes down the mountain on the KTX or by road, on the East Sea, which means you can ski or hike in the morning and be eating raw fish by the sea in the afternoon. Gangneung held the Olympic ice events and has the arenas, plus Gyeongpo beach and a serious coffee culture.
THE OLYMPIC LEGACY IS MIXED AND WORTH KNOWING. Some venues are in active use, the Alpensia and Yongpyong resorts are busy commercial concerns, and some purpose-built facilities have struggled to find a use since 2018, which is the ordinary fate of Winter Games infrastructure. Do not expect a continuous Olympic park; expect working ski resorts with Olympic history attached.
When to Go
December to February is the ski season and it is seriously cold. Daytime highs commonly below freezing and night temperatures well below it, with wind on the plateau that makes the felt temperature far lower. THE 2018 GAMES ARE THE USEFUL REFERENCE: organisers handed spectators blankets, heat packs, windproof ponchos and hot packs, and some events were delayed because of wind. Snow is reliable, helped by extensive snowmaking.
July and August are the escape-the-heat season and this is Pyeongchang's quiet second identity. Ten degrees or more cooler than Seoul, green and walkable, with the caveat that the FCDO records heavy rainfall across the country in the summer rainy season, usually June and July, with landslides possible in hilly and mountainous areas. Odaesan is hilly and mountainous.
LATE SEPTEMBER TO EARLY NOVEMBER is the best hiking window and the Odaesan autumn colour in October is exceptional. Spring is late up here: expect snow into March and the fir avenue to be bare until May.
AVOID SEOLLAL AND CHUSEOK and the Korean school holidays if you want the slopes to yourself, because this is where the capital comes.
Getting There
The KTX from Seoul takes about an hour and a half and this is one of the great conveniences of Korean travel. The line was built for the Olympics: trains run from Seoul and Cheongnyangni to JINBU station for Odaesan and Woljeongsa, and to PYEONGCHANG station and on to Gangneung. An hour and a half from the capital to a ski resort is better than most countries manage.
FROM INCHEON AIRPORT there are direct services and buses, so you can land and be in the mountains the same day without going into Seoul.
THE COUNTY IS LARGE AND SPREAD OUT AND THE STATIONS ARE NOT AT THE RESORTS. This is the thing to plan. Jinbu and Pyeongchang stations are connected to the resorts, the national park and the ranch by local buses and resort shuttles, and the frequencies are modest rather than urban. CHECK YOUR ACCOMMODATION'S SHUTTLE before assuming a bus, and in winter a taxi from the station is a normal and not expensive solution.
DRIVING IS COMMON HERE AND CARRIES A WINTER WARNING: mountain roads, ice and snow, and the national rule that you must carry BOTH an international driving permit and your own licence, which cannot be obtained after you have left home. Winter tyres or chains are the practical requirement on the passes.
The Pyeongchang Packing List
Severe winter cold with wind chill on an exposed plateau, deep snow, a cool wet summer, and real mountain hiking.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and this is the destination in the batch where a merino wool base layer for women is not a convenience but the foundation of the whole system. A Pyeongchang winter day is sitting still on a chairlift in wind at minus fifteen, then working hard down a slope, then standing in a queue: WOOL HOLDS ITS WARMTH WHEN DAMP AND SYNTHETIC BASE LAYERS CHILL YOU THE MOMENT YOU STOP MOVING, which is the entire difference between a good day and a miserable one. Add the heavyweight merino base layer for January and February, which here is the correct weight rather than an indulgence, and Smartwool Merino 250 base layer bottoms under ski trousers.
A waterproof insulated ski parka for the slopes and the plateau, which needs a hood that works in wind rather than a fashionable one.
A merino beanie and insulated winter gloves. ON THE WIND CHILL POINT SPECIFICALLY: exposed skin is what suffers here, so a hat that covers the ears and gloves you can keep on while using a phone are the two items people most regret skimping on, and a neck covering of some kind matters as much as either.
Waterproof insulated snow boots for everything off the slopes, because the villages, car parks and temple paths are packed snow and ice for months.
Not linked and worth packing: HEAT PACKS, which every Korean convenience store sells for almost nothing and which the Olympic organisers handed out by the thousand, and which are genuinely the cheapest comfort upgrade available here; MICROSPIKES OR SIMPLE TRACTION DEVICES for the icy temple and park paths, which we have not linked only because the six-link budget is spent and the registry's traction entry is better matched to mountain ice than to a car park; SUNSCREEN AND LIP BALM, since snow glare burns and this registry holds no sunscreen entry; SUNGLASSES OR GOGGLES, which the registry also does not carry; AND A PHONE WITH DATA for the shuttle times, which change seasonally.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Pyeongchang
Emergency numbers in South Korea: 112 reaches the police and 119 the fire service and ambulance, both with English-language support, and 119 is also the mountain rescue number. 1330 IS THE KOREA TRAVEL HOTLINE, free, 24 hours, in English and several other languages, and it will interpret a three-way call with a resort, a taxi driver or a hospital, which at a destination where the shuttle timetables are in Korean is more useful than usual. 131 reaches the Korea Meteorological Administration for an English forecast, which here is a number to use daily in winter. Coverage is good in the valleys and resorts and patchy on the Odaesan ridges.
COLD IS THE DESTINATION'S OWN HAZARD AND THE OLYMPICS ARE THE EVIDENCE. The Daegwallyeong plateau is exposed, high and windy, and the 2018 Games were held in conditions severe enough that spectators were issued blankets, ponchos and heat packs and some events were postponed for wind. THE MECHANISM TO UNDERSTAND IS WIND CHILL: the air temperature might be minus ten and the felt temperature far lower, and frostbite on exposed cheeks, ears and fingers can develop faster than people expect while they are standing still on a lift or waiting for a shuttle. The practical version is to cover every piece of skin, to carry heat packs, to go inside and warm up on a schedule rather than when you are already too cold, and to treat numbness that turns to waxy white skin as a reason to get indoors immediately rather than to rub it. Check the forecast on 131 or the meteorological administration before a plateau day.
THE MOUNTAINS ARE MANAGED AND THE RULES ARE ENFORCED. Odaesan is a national park and the KOREA NATIONAL PARK SERVICE is the authority that decides what is open: it closes trails for fire risk, for ice and for restoration, gates routes seasonally, and OPERATES ENTRY CUT-OFF TIMES so that walkers are off the mountain before dark. Those are not advisory. Check the park's own notice for your trail rather than assuming, carry a light even on a short walk because winter dusk is early, and note that Birobong from Sangwonsa is a real climb in snow. Typhoons and the summer rains are the weather that changes plans. The FCDO puts typhoon season at roughly June to November and the heavy rainy season in June and July, when torrential rain causes flooding near rivers and creeks including in built-up areas, flash floods downstream of reservoirs, and landslides in hilly ground. The Korea Meteorological Administration is the forecast to watch and 131 reaches it in English. South Korea also runs CIVIL EMERGENCY EXERCISES announced by sirens, when traffic stops and people may be directed into metro stations or basements: you are not required to take part but you should follow officials' instructions, and it is far less alarming if you know in advance that it happens. THE GOVERNMENT'S EMERGENCY READY APP is worth installing on arrival, because Korean-language emergency alerts are pushed to every phone in an affected area and the app is where the English translation lives.
UK FCDO: there are NO advised-against areas in South Korea at all and the regional risks page returns nothing, which is worth stating because the division of the peninsula makes people assume otherwise. What the FCDO does cover is the DEMILITARIZED ZONE, which can only be visited on an organised tour with prior arrangement and where tours are suspended at short notice when tensions rise, and the standing advice to monitor developments on the peninsula. Crime against foreigners is low. The FCDO also notes that typhoons affect the peninsula between roughly June and November and that heavy summer rain causes flooding and landslides. ONE POINT SPECIFIC TO THIS PROVINCE: Pyeongchang is in GANGWON, which is the province the DEMILITARIZED ZONE runs through on its way to the east coast. The border is well over a hundred kilometres north of here and nothing about a Pyeongchang itinerary goes near it, but if you continue north in this province towards Goseong or the eastern DMZ observatories, those are visited on organised tours with prior arrangement and are suspended at short notice when tensions rise.
UK FCDO on crime: 'Crime against foreigners is rare but there are occasional thefts. Take extra care of passports, credit cards and money in crowded areas and in areas visited by foreigners, such as Itaewon.' It then adds the half that matters more for a woman travelling alone: 'While most reported crimes are thefts, there have been cases of assault, INCLUDING SEXUAL ASSAULT, PARTICULARLY AROUND BARS AND NIGHTLIFE AREAS. Take care when travelling alone at night and only use legitimate taxis or public transport.' So the pattern is the one this library has recorded in Turkey and Egypt in a much safer country: the risk is concentrated in drinking districts late at night rather than spread across the streets. Korean nightlife runs very late and the soju is stronger than it tastes, which is the practical link between those two sentences. Use KAKAO T to call a licensed taxi rather than taking a street car, keep your own drink in sight, and the metro and the buses are safe, cheap and busy until late.
IT IS ILLEGAL FOR A FOREIGN NATIONAL TO TAKE PART IN POLITICAL ACTIVITIES IN SOUTH KOREA, and almost no visitor knows it. The FCDO's safety and security page says, verbatim: 'Public demonstrations in South Korea are common, particularly at times of elevated political tensions. These gatherings are mostly peaceful and well-policed. Be aware that under Korean law, it is illegal for foreign nationals to take part in political activities when in the country.' Read 19 October 2026. NOTE HOW BROAD THE WORDING IS: it is not limited to organising or to violence, and 'political activities' is wider than attending a march, so the safe reading is that joining in at all is the thing to avoid. Korean protest culture is large, loud, orderly and often held in the middle of a city at a weekend, so a visitor can walk into one without looking for it. Watching from the pavement or walking past is not taking part; carrying a sign, joining a chant, wearing a campaign colour or marching is. The FCDO's own instruction is to follow media reporting on political tensions and planned demonstrations, follow the advice of local authorities, and AVOID LARGE PUBLIC GATHERINGS. The consequence for getting this wrong is an immigration matter rather than a fine, which is why it is worth knowing before you arrive rather than afterwards. South Korea's drug law is far stricter than most visitors expect and the FCDO spells out the part that catches people. It records that a conviction for possession, use or trafficking brings a long jail sentence and heavy fines, THAT THIS APPLIES EVEN TO PERSONAL USE OF SMALL AMOUNTS OF MARIJUANA, and that BRITISH NATIONALS HAVE BEEN DETAINED SOLELY ON THE BASIS OF DRUG TESTS. That last clause is the unusual one: it means the offence can be established without anything being found on you, and Korean law has been applied to its own citizens for use abroad. A visitor arriving from somewhere cannabis is legal should treat it as entirely off the table here.
US State Department travel advisory: the South Korea advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/south-korea, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Main hospital: there are local clinics and a county health centre in Pyeongchang, and the substantial hospitals are in GANGNEUNG, thirty to forty minutes down the mountain, and WONJU, where YONSEI UNIVERSITY WONJU SEVERANCE CHRISTIAN HOSPITAL is a major teaching hospital with a regional trauma centre about an hour away. THE RESORTS HAVE THEIR OWN CLINICS IN SEASON, which is the relevant fact for a ski injury, and the Korean system handles orthopaedic trauma well and cheaply by western standards. Make sure your travel insurance explicitly covers WINTER SPORTS, because a very large number of standard policies exclude skiing and snowboarding, and off-piste skiing is excluded even by many that include the rest. Dial 119 for an ambulance or mountain rescue and 1330 for an interpreter. South Korea has no reciprocal health agreement with the UK, so travel insurance with medical cover is essential, though Korean healthcare is excellent, fast and inexpensive by western standards and walk-in clinics are everywhere. Larger hospitals have international patient centres with English-speaking staff and are used to foreign patients. A pharmacy is a yakguk. TAP WATER IS SAFE TO DRINK across the country, though many Koreans prefer filtered. The real seasonal health issues are the summer humidity, which is severe, and SPRING FINE DUST, when particulate levels from the Asian dust season can be high enough that the government issues advisories and many people wear masks; anyone asthmatic should check the daily air quality index between March and May.
Official health authority: the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, covers the national disease control agency
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Seoul.
Official tourism authority: the Korea Tourism Organization, covers the country, and its 1330 hotline runs 24 hours in English and will confirm resort opening dates, shuttle times and whether an Odaesan trail is closed
Takeaways
Pyeongchang is in South Korea. Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea. Check which word you have booked.
The 2018 Games were cold enough to delay events and to hand out blankets. Dress for wind chill, not air temperature.
Woljeongsa and Odaesan are thirteen hundred years older than the Olympics and are the reason to come in autumn.
Check your insurance covers winter sports. Many policies do not.
Solo women safety assessment: Pyeongchang is a safe and easy destination to visit alone, and the KTX from Seoul in an hour and a half makes it one of the most accessible mountain destinations in this library. The FCDO says crime against foreigners in South Korea is rare, the resorts and the national park are busy with Korean families and groups, ski schools take individuals as a matter of course, and 1330 gives you a free 24-hour English-speaking hotline that will interpret a call to a resort or a shuttle operator, which matters more here than in a city because the timetables are in Korean. THE RISKS ARE ENVIRONMENTAL RATHER THAN HUMAN. Cold is the first: this is one of the coldest inhabited parts of the country, the plateau is exposed and windy, and the 2018 Olympics were held in conditions severe enough that events were delayed and spectators were issued blankets and heat packs. Dress for the wind chill rather than the thermometer, cover all exposed skin, carry heat packs, and warm up on a schedule rather than waiting until you are already too cold. The second is the mountain: Odaesan is a managed national park with trail closures, seasonal gates and entry cut-off times designed to get walkers down before dark, so check the park's own notices, carry a light and tell your accommodation your plan. The third is the one people forget until they need it, which is that MANY TRAVEL POLICIES EXCLUDE SKIING AND SNOWBOARDING: check yours explicitly before you buy a lift pass. Logistically, plan the last leg, because the stations are not at the resorts and the local buses are infrequent; a station taxi is normal and inexpensive. Nationally, it is illegal for foreign nationals to take part in political activities and drug penalties are severe. South Korea has NO advised-against areas and no regional risks page at all. 112 is the police, 119 the ambulance and mountain rescue, 1330 the travel hotline.
Reading On
Pyeongchang is the Korean mountains, and the comparison a reader wants is with the country's other high ground. The Seoraksan packing list covers Korea's most famous mountain park, north of here in the same Gangwon province, which is the rockier and more dramatic of the two and the one to pair with this for a hiking trip. West, the Seoul packing list covers the capital an hour and a half down the Olympic KTX line and the Incheon packing list the airport you can reach the mountains from directly, with its nine metre tide. South, the Gyeongju packing list the Silla capital, the Daegu packing list the hottest city in the country and the natural opposite of this one, the Gwangju packing list the city where Korean democracy was fought for, the Busan packing list the southern port and the Jeju packing list the volcanic island. For the country, the South Korea travel guide for women carries the seasons, the transport and the etiquette in full. For why wool rather than synthetic is the base layer that survives a chairlift in wind, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection. Down on the plain, the Suwon packing list covers the Hwaseong fortress wall, which is the other great walled site in Korea and a thousand years younger than Gyeongju. On the coast to the east, the city is covered in the Gangneung packing list.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
