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11/27/2024
Location
Old Bar, NSW
AU
Gday,
Planning on heading over to the world cup round in south korea, anyone here from South Korea?
Looking on advice for:
1. Things to do for a mountain bike mad family
2. Would you stay at the resort or is the public transport great and be better to stay elsewhere
3. Must see things and is a week outside of the world cup weekend enough time to see these things?
cheers
Resident Korean resident here
1. Things to do on bikes... RIDE!!!
The race weekend is also the start of the bike park season locally. There are three parks within an hour of each other, two within five minutes. Alpensia Bike Park is literally right next to Yongpyong. The parks here a different from Europe, smaller and still growing. Wellihilli is further west at lower altitude and has fun runs.
You could also ride in/near Seoul. We ride year round here and the outskirts of Seoul have some fantastic singletrack. Even some rock slabs with epic views on the eastern edge of the city. Go to Facebook and join ROK MTB to talk to local expats. Locals don't use Trailforks, so being social is key to riding good trails
Rental bikes don't really exist here except at the Yongpyong Resort, but the bike park is probably going to be unridable till after the race because of the XC course.
2. The town of Daegwallyeong-myeon is a five minute cab ride away from the resort. There are a few good hotels there along with one that overlooks the town. Hotels.com and Agoda have three good options in town. Then there's Alpensia Resort a few minutes away. The Yongpyong Resort is the easiest thing though. There's one hitch. The hotel's system currently won't allow bookings too early in advanced, it will show "sold out" on the aforementioned websites. The YP resort's bookings will open up for the race dates towards the end of December or early/mid January. Most of the other hotels in the area are open for booking for the dates.
Public transportation near the resort is a little tougher since it's the countryside. There is a bus that runs from town past the Alpensia Resort. There isn't a close stop though so you'd end up walking over half an hour. Best thing is to either have a rental car or use taxis. The taxi ride from town is maybe five minutes. If you take the KTX train from Seoul, you'd need a roughly 15-20 minute taxi ride to the town or resort. The YP resort has a twice a day shuttle from the KTX station.
I'd probably stay at the Yongpyong resort just to make the race weekend easy. If you're in town early, you could also stay in town for a few days and then spend the weekend at the resort.
3. The town and surrounding area has some light touristy stuff going on but it really depends on what you're looking for. You could drive down the mountain to the east and hit the beach in about 40 minutes. Water will be COLD though. If you really want to do touristy stuff, probably plan to stop in Seoul at the beginning of the week or after the race. Word is that quite a few teams/staff are trying to head over a bit early to be tourists.
Thank you. Have rooms and flights booked already but will check the Yongpyong resort in the end of December to see what available. Great info.
Lots of other great riding too , Chilbo is fun , Songnam-si are between the airport and dragon valley. Halfway across the country is GoChang and it’s fully worth the 3 hour trip to ride there.
When I lived there as a mil member I met are ride with locals and the English teachers.
Thank you!
No bike rental will mean no riding for us, but thanks for the info about the accomodation will hopefully be able to grab some rooms at the resort.
I used to live in S. Korea but that was 25 years ago. I lived primarily in Chola Do (Kwang Ju, Soon Cheon, Nam Won). Back then mountain biking was not a thing in Korea. I would love to go back and see the world cup but for sure would have to ride. I am so excited Korea will have a World Cup!!
Keep an eye on Australian Giant rider Sasha Kim’s instagram as he looks at the scene in South Korea.
Can you touch on the subject of what airport to fly into. Rental car situation, especially when transporting bikes
Flying into Incheon International is the most likely airport.
Rentals, you can get any SUV/Van rental. Anything in the Hyundai and Kia range should be pretty readily available along with a few other brands. The local vans of choice are the Kia Carnival and the bigger Hyundai Staria and Starex. DO NOT be tempted to get an 11 seater. The vans are all the same size regardless of the number of seats. Having more than 9 seats means you need a different license as they're classified as larger/heavier vehicles with more passengers.
Buses are super easy here when it comes to bikes in bags. The KTX trains won't allow unbagged bikes. On the subway, you can bring a bagged bike on anytime on any line, but bikes in general are restricted on certain lines and days of the week.
Some locals are booking other hotels right now for low rates and penalty-free cancellation policies, waiting to see what Yongpyong's rates will be. On top of being the host venue, it's a holiday weekend, so better to book sooner than later.
I'm also looking at going and this is really helpful information. Thank you.
Been 15 years since I lived there. The only advice I would give is to eat as much BBQ as you can and avoid the soju. The hangover isn't worth it! You'll have such a blast. It's the best kind of culture shock going to Korea.
One of our ambassadors/videographers (and former EDR racer) Sascha Kim is half South Korean, half Australian. He's checking out the venue now so we have a better idea of what to expect. Logistics are going to be extremely challenging. Sascha's Instagram is saschakim1 if you want to check him out.
The trick is to just eat so much BBQ, kimchi, and rice cakes that it soaks the Soju up. Its doable. I know 😁
Plenty of other options.
I just got back from Korea and really enjoyed Soju
I skipped the soju, but the Cass was a flowing.
For anyone traveling to Korea for the World Cup, I thought this guy's channel gave incredible suggestions for things to do in Seoul. Really cool non-touristy stuff that would totally give you the vibe of the place.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbCKm4EcjXY
Flights and accomodation booked and we should be getting the rental car sorted this week. Does anyone know if there are any strange driving rules in SK? I remember the first time I went to NZ and it took me a while to realise why I was getting honked when turning left at junctions, you were supposed to give way to vehicles turning right at the time. 🤣
As far as I can see tickets aren't on sale yet. I'll be keeping a close eye and posting here when I see them, but if anyone else on here sees them please post in case I drop the ball.
You might need an international drivers license. I needed one for Italy this summer or I wouldn’t have been able to get a rental car.
Which is super easy. Just go to AAA and takes about 15 minutes to take your picture and check your info.
Already in hand, but thanks for the heads up.👍
Driving in Korea is mostly fine. People like to hyperbolize how bad it is. It's not that bad, but STAY FROSTY and drive defensively.
Excuse chatgpt cleaning up my notes.
Navigation apps warn you — obey the posted limit and you’re fine.
Rule of thumb:
100 kph road → stay ≤110 kph
80 kph road → stay ≤90 kph
Your speedometer reads slightly low, so you have some margin.
School zones are 30 kph. No exceptions. Tickets are common.
Average-speed highway cameras
Cover as little as 3km. I've seen as long as 25km.
Navi shows your average speed — keep it within 5–10 kph of the posted average at most.
2. Left turns at lights
If there are multiple signals, you usually must wait for a left-turn arrow.
If you see 비보호, you may turn left when the intersection is clear.
No sign = wait for the arrow.
3. U-turns
Only in marked U-turn lanes.
Allowed on a left-turn arrow or at a red light when pedestrians block oncoming traffic.
4. Navigation
Use it carefully and consider a backup.
Naver Maps or Kakao Map work best.
Pay close attention at intersections, ramps, and interchanges.
Ramps are color-coded to help guide you on the navigation
Do not miss your exit. The gaps between exits are often few and far between. Yongpyong's exit is the last one before hitting the coast. It's almost an hour round trip if you don't stop for lunch or coffee at the beach, so I've heard, totally not because I did it.
5. Right turns in cities
People can get pissed if you just blow through while they're walking through, and a camera might tag you for a ticket.
You must stop fully unless you have a green right-turn arrow.
If pedestrians are crossing, wait until they reach the sidewalk.
If the crosswalk is empty but the pedestrian light is green: full stop, then go.
6. Parking & CCTV
Heavy CCTV enforcement in busy areas.
Illegal parking tickets go to the rental agency and they'll add up for a nice credit card charge a month later.
Oh yeah, people can take some serious offense to being honked at. So there's always a slight chance of hostility.
#3 U-turn lanes , probably the best part about driving in Korea.
For the people who don’t know , you don’t have to wait till you pull all the way forward to make your U-turn at a light. It completely and totally makes sense the way they do it.
Then also driving in Korea, the only place people have gotten mad at me for for running a red light.
Did the Mona YongPyong open up? I have not been able to get anything there yet
https://www.discoverk.com/en/main
This is the official website for the event. It looks like they're only allowing room booking through this link. Agoda and Hotels.com are listed as sold out.
Are these events ticketed? I cant see any information on the UCI site?
Usually there are sections near the finish line that you need tickets for but the rest of the course is free. They are most likely going to be sold through the organizers site closer to the race
Went to Lenzerheidi in 2025 and the whole event was ticketed from Friday - Sunday, this did include access on the gondola on the DH days. Thursday practice was free to enter however if you wanted to access the DH course via the gondola you needed to purchase a ticket for that.
There was a VIP area (at a cost) with better views of the finish area, food and beverages.
Interesting... we have flights and accomodation booked so really need to make sure we get a ticket if its the same or i'll be in trouble
I have never heard of an event selling out and people where buying tickets at the gate on the day.
Went to La Thuile and MSA last year. Both were ticketed for just around the finish line and of course you’ll need to a ticket if you want to take the gondola but you could just walk up and watch trackside. For MSA it was tix below the finish line, from the finish line up was free.
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