Gunsan

Gunsan

We had a unique day planned today. We were going to make use of our Pyeongchang rail pass and take a train down to a smaller city along the west coast of Korea. Gunsan would be our destination today. This part of our trip was inspired by a Korean travel show called Battle Trip. On this show a K-Pop girl group went on a very cool day trip to Gunsan and we wanted to emulate their itinerary.

I was excited for this trip because we were riding on the “Golden Train“. This was a unique train that would replace seats with heated floors and foot baths, so it was almost like a “spa train”.

Unfortunately, we left our place late and we weren’t able to get a taxi in time for the train. We were pretty bummed, but decided to hop aboard a regular train anyways since there were still things we wanted to see out there.

Train station Brunch!

Train station Brunch!

Cafe Mine

Upon arriving we took a bus into the center of the city. There was a specific coffee shop that we saw in the show that we wanted to visit called Cafe Mine. It took us a little time to find it but it was a pretty cool shop and offered the opportunity to grind your own coffee in an old stone grinder. Suzy and I opted for this and enjoyed the unique experience and the great tasting coffee.

After spending a bit of time enjoying the cafe, we walked around the neighbourhood around the coffeeshop. It was a neat mix of older Korean buildings and and small artisanal stores.

Gyeongamdong Railroad Town

From here it was a short taxi ride to the Gyeongamdong Railroad Town. At first, I thought that the railroad town would be a celebration of that form of transportation. However it’s actually a series of buildings with storefronts built along an old railroad track. At first I thought it was a little tacky, but once I got into the thick of it, I started to appreciate the charm it has. It was a holiday in Korea and there were lots of families and kids running around. There were places where you could rent historical school uniforms and walk up and down the tracks.

There were also places where you could buy candy and little snacks that you could grill and eat. All in all it was a really neat experience, and not something that I was fully expecting.

Cheesy Short Ribs!

Our final stop before catching the night train back to Seoul, was dinner! Our goal was to get to this cheesy short rib plate we had seen in the show and were eager to try. It was a quick 15 minute walk from the railroad town and after a little bit of circling we were seated and ready for dinner! I’m not sure if this place has a website, and it was a bit difficult to find, but I will link the Instagram page here.

We ordered the cheesy short ribs along with a stew. When the food came out it looked AMAZING! Everything tasted so good and by the time we were done we were completely stuffed! If you ever find yourself in Gunsan, definitely give this place a try!

Sadly, it had been a very full day and we had a 3 hour train ride back to Seoul. We caught a cab back to the train station and hopped aboard the train bound for Seoul. Thankfully it was an uneventful ride and we ended up sleeping most of the way. Tomorrow we’d be exploring Seoul itself and discovering what this huge city had to offer!