Mount Seorak And Goseong Dmz Observatory From Sokcho

Most DMZ tours run from Seoul to the western side, by the coachload. Tony showed me the other end of the same line, on the East Sea coast near Goseong, and I can't imagine the crowded version offering half of this. I was Tony's only guest, and since I'd already spent two days exploring Seoraksan, he happily reshaped the itinerary around my interests. Instead of starting at the border, we started with the history that explains it: the Sherwood Hall Memorial, Kim Il-sung's villa, and Syngman Rhee's cottage around Hwajinpo Lagoon. We walked unhurriedly along the water, and Tony kept pointing out details I'd have walked right past. By the time we reached the Unification Observatory, the view north meant something: the Virgin Mary and Maitreya Buddha statues, the abandoned road and railway leading toward Mount Kumgang. Logistics were invisible: water waiting in the car, tickets and checkpoint registration already handled. Tony even added the newly opened Songjiho Sea-Sky Trail at the end. Knowledgeable, open, unhurried. If you want to understand the division rather than just photograph it, go east, and go with Tony.

I was the only guest booked that day, and Tony still ran the full tour just for me. I'd already spent two days in Seoraksan, so he reshaped the itinerary around the eastern DMZ instead, and it became one of the most thought-provoking days of my trip. Everything was quietly taken care of: a bottle of water waiting in the car, tickets and checkpoint registration handled before I even had to think about them. But what really stood out was how attentive Tony was to my interests. Visits to the Sherwood Hall Memorial, Kim Il-sung's villa, and Syngman Rhee's cottage gave me a much deeper understanding of the region's complicated history. We walked unhurriedly along Hwajinpo Lagoon, and Tony kept pointing out details I'd have walked right past on my own. At the observatory, we saw everything from the Virgin Mary and Maitreya Buddha statues to the abandoned road leading north. He even added the newly opened Songjiho Sea-Sky Trail as a bonus. Open, knowledgeable, easy to talk to, and genuinely happy to let you set the pace. Highly recommended.

We had a wonderful and interesting day with Tony. After a punctual Pick-up in a comfortable Minivan including water for the day, we visited the Seoraksan National Park and walked the trails to Sinheunhsa Tempel and to Bisongdae Rock. Tony made sure to take our Fitness Level into account and recommended further trails to explore on our own. We then went to the DMZ and Tony gave us a lot of interesting Information to go along with the exhibition. Generally, Tony shared a lot of interesting facts about our visiting points throughout the day. He never rushed us and encouraged US to take our time with everything. At the end of the day Tony gave us more sightseeing and restaurant tips and made sure to prepare us for the rest of our stay in Sokcho. We definitely recommend booking this experience!

This combo of sights were the best in the area. Tony was a great driver and balanced time wonderfully on our later arriving ship. He was very informed and didn’t overload us with too much extraneous info but offered just enough for us to really enjoy the day. We were traveling with a German couple from the ship, and we really enjoyed our day!! We wanted to offer him a gratuity in local currency and asked for help in locating an ATM — and after trying 2, we were unable to withdraw funds for some reason. If any guide deserved a tip, it was Tony but all we can do is offer a 100% great review. Thank you, Tony!!!!

Tony, our guide, was very communicative and friendly. He met us exactly as promised, and took us to the appropriate locations. He was informative, although he did have a bit of a heavy accent. However, his English was much better than our Korean. 😎

We thoroughly enjoyed Tony's Eastern DMZ Tour. Tony was an excellent tour guide, very nice and friendly. His car is very clean and comfortable. Tony picked us up on time from the cruise ship and provided a lot of information about the places, we were visiting. There was no rush at all, we had enough time at the DMZ, which is really worth a visit, and in the Seoraksan Natioalpark, which is truly amazing. Thank you for the wonderful day. Highly recommended.

Tony was awesome! I was the only one on the tour so it felt very personalized. Highly recommend to anyone!

Thank you so much Tony. Given that I am only person on the tour, you still operates the tour. It was great experience.

My partner and I booked this tour with Tony spontaneously, and everything went perfectly from start to finish. He picked us up right on time directly from our hotel, which made the whole experience very convenient. The tour was fantastic! Tony shared a lot of interesting information about the history of the DMZ, and he always gave us enough time to explore each stop without feeling rushed. Visiting Seoraksan National Park was definitely one of the highlights of the day. Tony was friendly, knowledgeable, and attentive to our needs throughout the tour. We really appreciated how flexible and accommodating he was. We highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting the area!

Tony is an excellent guide who will do its best for ensuring you get to see what you want and to accommodate to your needs. He understands well the historical places and tells you relevant information wherever you go and pass by. Besides, we were also able to have very pleasant small talk on topics outside of the tour contents. Overall, it was a wonderful experience and I recommend to take this tour if you like history, nature and politics

We had a fantastic day with Tony. He was friendly, spoke excellent English, and had extensive knowledge of the area and its history. We would never have been able to experience this trip on our own. As we had already visited Seoraksan National Park, Tony took us to the Sherwood Hall Cultural Space in Hwajinpo and Hwajinpo Castle. We thoroughly enjoyed both sites. The tour also included the DMZ Museum and the Goseong Unification Observatory, which were fascinating and well worth visiting. Tony made the day informative, enjoyable, and stress-free. We highly recommend this tour.

Tony is a wonderful, considerate and perfectly reliable guide, who led us safely through Seoraksan national park and made sure we were able to understand the complex history behind the DMZ, providing insightful information along the way and competently answering all of the many questions we asked him. Our tour took place on a rainy day. Tony came prepared with umbrellas, raincoats, towels and drinks to combat the weather and made sure that we always felt as comfortable as possible. At Seoraksan national park, the first part of the tour, he provided us with a recommended selection of trails that suited our hiking experience level. He let us choose our desired tour and accompanied us all the way. Afterwards, he took the time to show us around more hidden areas of the park, which we would have never found on our own. These little detours provided us with many stunning views and enabled us to marvel at impressive examples of Buddhist architecture, which we would have never experienced without him. Along the way, he provided us with insightful background information on the things we saw. On the second part of the tour, Tony took us to the DMZ and all the connected attractions of the property (museum, observatory, …). Since most of the signage, videos and other information at the DMZ are in Korean, he made a great effort to explain all the little details and intricacies of this important part of Korean history to us, again, competently answering all the questions that we had. Especially on this part of the tour, it became evident how crucial a local Korean guide is to somebody who does not speak Korean in order to truly understand the DMZ. All in all, this was by far our favorite tour during our journey through South Korea as it offered a fantastic mix of stunning nature, marvelous architecture and fascinating history. Tony contributed majorly to this experience. Born and raised in Sokcho, he is a true local who understands the area and its history. He was always happy to answer all of our questions, made sure that we got the absolute most out of the tour and provided us with some great further recommendations for our time in Sokcho.

Tony was an excellent guide — knowledgeable, kind, and very thoughtful throughout the trip. The itinerary felt highly personalized, and he made it possible to visit places that would have been very difficult to reach as a foreign traveler without a car. I especially appreciated the historical context he provided during the tour, which made the experience much more meaningful. This was a great way to explore Sokcho, Seoraksan, and even other places in the Gangwon-do area including Yanggu, and I would definitely contact Tony again for future trips in Gangwon-do.

Tony gave us a great, personalized tour. He took a lot of time to answer all our questions and made sure the itinerary was exactly what we wanted.

It was a great experience. First the national parc was Fabulous with loads of hicking possibilities. Then Tony driver us to the DMZ. Very Impressive. We spent a great day with Tony who’s very friendly and knows a lot about history. Thank you Tony

Tony was an excellent guide and went over and beyond to cater to your needs. We had 6 people so he organised a bigger can hire to accommodate us . We enjoyed a hike in the Seoraksan mountains , a quick lunch at a lovely quiet surf beach and great time spent at the museums and observatory at the DMZ. He was very knowledgeable and allowed us lots of time to explore the area. He offered helpful tips re transport options from Sokcho to Seoul .

This was the 2nd consecutive day tour with Tony where I was the only person booked but he still went ahead, which I respect. This one focused on 2 sites, the Seorak National park and the DMZ observatory so there was plenty of time at both. The National park was beautiful in the spring sunshine and we had a nice walk around and lunch. The DMZ excursion to the observatory was more sobering but there is a lot to see including the museum where you learn a lot about the history and this unusual area. Doing this in the Sokcho area rather than nearer Seoul probably makes it a quieter and more pleasant experience and it’s also by the sea. I really appreciated Tony who is very kind, calm, a safe driver and informative about the sites. After spending 2 days together without others it was like being friends at the end!

Proper full day tour, all places visited as advertised. Toni very attentive host, decent English never rushed. Honored the tour even though I was only person that day.

We got picked up right at the terminal. The driver even brought umbrellas and had towels in the car for us since it was raining. We made 3 stops. Sherwood Hall cultural center a fascinating museum about a family of American doctors that brought health care to rural South Korea. The DMZ observation tower and museum and the 625 museum all about the Korean War. Our guide/driver stayed with us the entire time, answered questions and interpreted signs and people as needed. It was a bit of a drive in each direction but a great day of knowledge and emotions.

Tony led an outstanding tour, saw more than we anticipated and catered to our interests. It was a rainy day, and he offered cancellation/refund, but we decided to press on as we would only be in Sokcho that day, and it was pretty amazing. Great vehicle and commentary with good English, highly recommend.

Wonderful day tour with Tony from Sokcho to Hwaamsa Temple in Seoraksan National Park with optional grueling 2 hour hike up to a peak with beautiful views and back down to temple. Then to DMZ zone on this coast - very interesting to see this view rather than the normal one from Seoul. Great views from the observation tower and then the DMZ museum, really emphasizing the desire for unification. Tony was wonderful guide and driver. We had three people in this personalized tour. Highly recommend.

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour today with Tony! We could choose when our tour started between 9am - 1pm with a direct pick up (and drop off) from our hotel in Sokcho. Tony spoke good English and was very friendly. We drove to the Goseong DMZ observatory, the DMZ museum, followed by a self-paid North Korean lunch at Abai village (which was delicious) and finished with a visit to Sokcho city museum (which also contained the displaced refugee village). Our day started at 9.30am and we were finished by 4.30pm. Tony helped us to translate (including our lunch orders) and answered any questions we had. We were Tony’s second tour group, but the whole experience was seamless. At no point did we feel rushed while reading the museum exhibits or eating lunch. Overall, we were glad to have Tony as our guide today. We highly recommend going with Tony. Please note it appears to be very challenging to reach Goseong DMZ observatory and the DMZ museum without a car as the area is controlled by the South Korean military. Tony made the whole experience effortless - he filled in some forms and got us through a military checkpoint without any delay. We considered getting a taxi and public transport, but found both alternative options to be too tricky (a taxi was as expensive as the tour + it would’ve been v challenging finding a taxi going back) and public transport doesn’t travel as far as the Goseong DMZ observatory. Going with Tony meant we could see more. PS: Tony saw how interested I was in the Korean War and sent me some recommendations about a Korean War exhibit in Seoul after the tour - again, very sweet of him to do so!

We thoroughly enjoyed our tour today with Tony! We could choose when our tour started between 9am - 1pm with a direct pick up (and drop off) from our hotel in Sokcho. Tony spoke good English and was very friendly. We drove to the Goseong DMZ observatory, the DMZ museum, followed by a self-paid North Korean lunch at Abai village (which was delicious) and finished with a visit to Sokcho city museum (which also contained the displaced refugee village). Our day started at 9.30am and we were finished by 4.30pm. Tony helped us to translate (including our lunch orders) and answered any questions we had. We were Tony’s second tour group, but the whole experience was seamless. At no point did we feel rushed while reading the museum exhibits or eating lunch. Overall, we were glad to have Tony as our guide today. We highly recommend going with Tony. Please note it appears to be very challenging to reach Goseong DMZ observatory and the DMZ museum without a car as the area is controlled by the South Korean military. Tony made the whole experience effortless - he filled in some forms and got us through a military checkpoint without any delay. We considered getting a taxi and public transport, but found both alternative options to be too tricky (a taxi was as expensive as the tour + it would’ve been v challenging finding a taxi going back) and public transport doesn’t travel as far as the Goseong DMZ observatory. Going with Tony meant we could see more.

I had the absolute best day with Tae Hyung (aka Tony). It was a jam packed day, 1pm - 6pm, such a great price for what you get to experience. He was so nice and knowledgeable and as a solo traveller made me feel completely comfortable. Super easy to talk to and ask questions. We started by heading to DMZ, which unfortunately was misty, but we still had a great time. We saw museums, Abli folk village, had a drink and chat by the beach as the sun began to set and ended with a ferry ride across back to my hotel. I can’t recommend this enough! It was so nice to chat with a local and learn about the history of this wonderful place and Korea. Only wish I started my trip with this wonderful tour instead of ending with it. Thank you Tae Hyung! I’ll see you again next time I’m in Sokcho 😊

I recommend this tour to all tourists who are in Sokcho. Tony was very kind and helpful, as well as exhaustive in explanations. Perfect tour to spend a pleasant day! The private transfer is very convenient.