Gyeongbuk
Bicycle Path
Look! Up ahead. Hills and crabs.
The Gyeongbuk Bicycle Path (동해안자전거길 (경북)) follows the shores of North Gyeongsang Province (경상북도) along Korea’s East Coast.
Though short, the route includes steep hills, high and low angle seaside views, and close encounters with fishing towns.
Yeongdeok County
(영덕군)
4.5 hours
Uljin County
(울진군)
- Time 4.5 hours (1 day)
- Length 76 km (47 miles)
- Elevation 104 m | 0 m (341 ft | 0 ft)
- Difficulty 🚲🚲🚲🚲
- Certifications Gyeongbuk Path, Grand Slam
City-to-City Path Breakdown
Curve around rocky outcrops, up hills, and by giant sea creature statues.
Bike Path Overview
The Gyeongbuk Path follows the lower east coast of Korea. A short path, the steep hills near Yeongdeok offer a challenge to bikers of every level. Don’t be afraid to walk the steep inclines and take in the views.
The Course
Municipalities
The Gyeongbuk Bike Path crosses one province and two counties. Here are brief breakdowns of each.
- North Gyeongsang Province (경상북도) is one half of the old Gyeongsang Province. It’s most tourist-soaked city is Gyeongju. Known as Korea’s open-air museum, the old Silla capital claims countless ancient relics and museums. The largest province by area, the conservative region birthed several famous leaders and scholars, like Yi Hwang (이황; ₩1,000 bill).
- Yeongdeok County (영덕군) gained fame for its countless snow crab restaurants, festivals, and monuments. The rural county also sports a parade of beaches, including the winding Goraebul Beach (Whale Beach), which spans six seaside towns.
- Uljin County (울진군), like its southern rival, earned its reputation with by catching and cooking up snow crabs. The district also owns many natural and historic sites, like Buryeongsa Temple and Valley, Baegam Hot Springs, and famed hiking trails and caves.
Elevation
Bike Path Types
Certification
The Gyeongbuk (East Coast) Bicycle Path contains five (5) certification centers.
Collect all stamps and receive the Gyeongbuk (East Coast) Bike Path certification. The route counts towards the Grand Slam certification. There isn’t an East Coast certification.
Certification Centers
Here is a complete list of certification centers along the Gyeongbuk (East Coast) Bike Path.
North Gyeongsang Province
Highlights
The Saejae Bicycle Path is one of the shortest (100 km) certification paths. However, it offers plenty of scenic mountain vistas and historic treasures.
The Crabs of Ganggu Port
More to come.
More to come.
Sunrise Park
More to come.
More to come.
Goraebul Beach
More to come.
More to come.
Deunggisan Skywalk
More to come.
More to come.
Golden Snow Crab Park
More to come.
More to come.
Wolsong Pavilion
More to come.
More to come.
Mangyang Service Area
More to come.
More to come.
Uljin Sweet Fish Bridge
More to come.
More to come.
How To Get There
The Gyeongbuk (East Coast) Bike Path passes tourist and port towns along North Gyeongsang Province’s shores. Its train lines don’t accept full-size bikes. And no metropolitan city subtracts subways from the transportation equation. That leaves only one option:
Intercity Bus
The towns that occupy East Gyeongbuk Bike Path aren’t population hotspots. Unless you live in Seoul, you might need to take connecting intercity buses, with nearby cities acting as transfer hubs.
The Start
It’s complicated.
As of this writing, the Gyeongbuk Bike Path begins on the southern border of Yeongdeok County (영덕군), right above Pohang City, halfway up the North Gyeongsang Province coast.
This differs from other certification paths in Korea, which start and end with certification centers.
The first stamp booth on the Gyeongbuk Bike Path, Sunrise Park (해맞이공원), rests 22.4 kilometers north of the border (directions).
(Why the discrepancy? Route builders plan to extend the path through Pohang, Gyeongju City, and down into Ulsan Metropolitan City.)
Let’s simplify and make the bike path’s start line Yeongdeok’s southernmost bus terminal.
Yeongdeok Terminal
Yeongdeok Bus Terminal (영덕터미널) is the largest in Yeongdeok County. It serves folk in downtown Yeongdeok, which lies 11.1 kilometers south of the Sunrise Park Certification Center (directions).
The terminal is jonghap (종합), which runs both intercity (timetable) and express (timetable) buses to Seoul, Incheon, Daegu, and more provinces.
Local buses frequent North Gyeongsang counties, including useful routes along the coastal bike path: Ganggu, Yeonghae, Hupo, Pyeonghae, Uljin, and Pohang. Buses flowing north on the Gangwon (East Coast) Bike Path drive to Samcheok, Donghae, Gangneung, and Sokcho.
One problem. Yeongdeok Terminal sits 5 kilometers inland. To get to the seaside bike path, you can either:
- Follow a two-lane road 5.5 kilometers east over a tall hill (directions).
- Follow another two-laner 6.9 kilometers south to the port town of Ganggu (directions).
- Or take one of the 17 daily, ten-minute buses from Yeongdeok Terminal to the port town of Ganggu (timetable).
What do I recommend? Second or third option. The first option is shorter, but climbs a 102-meter hill. Second option avoids climb. The third trims away the extra cycling.
Plus, Ganggu’s got crabs. Crab parks. Crab restaurants. Crab bridges. Spectate your heart out.
Ganggu Terminal
Tiny Ganggu Town, known for crabs galore, is the Gyeongbuk Bike Path’s best current starting point. It’s pocket-sized Ganggu Bus Terminal (강구버스터미널) is the southernmost in Yeongdeok County and rests only 250 meters away from the cycling route (directions).
Sharing space with a convenience store and restaurant on the eastern edge of town, the terminal runs buses to a handful of local towns and cities, including Yeongdeok, Pohang, and Daegu (timetable).
If coming from distant lands, Dong Daegu (timetable; 12 buses) and Pohang Intercity (timetable; 15 buses) Bus Terminals each send buses to Ganggu Bus Terminal.
The End
Uljin Bus Terminal (울진종합버스터미널) lives in Uljin County, North Gyeongsang Province’s northernmost district.
The terminal rests just 1.5 kilometers from Uljin Sweet Fish Bridge Certification Center (울진은어다리 인증센터) cycling route’s finish line (directions).
The small intercity terminal offers routes to Seoul, Busan, Daegu, and cities and towns on the North Gyeongsang and Gangwon Provinces’ coasts (timetable).
A Complicated Finale
Like its start, the Gyeongbuk Bike Path’s end is complicated.
Technically, the Gangwon and Gyeonbuk Bike Paths don’t connect. Planners are still connecting the neighboring province’s coastal bike paths.
So officially, between Uljin Sweet Fish Bridge and Imwon (임원인증센터) Certification Centers — the last on Gyeongbuk and the first on Gangwon — there lies undesignated bike road.
What do cyclists usually do?
If they’re just riding the Gyeongsang Bike Path, they collect the Uljin Fish Bridge stamp, hop on an Uljin Terminal bus, and sail home.
If they’re continuing onto the Gangwon Bike Path, riders may either:
- Skip the gap and take a bus to Hosan Bus Stop, 6.7 kilometers south of the Imwon Certification Center, the Gangwon Bike Path’s start.
- Or, they cycle the gap.
If you cycle the gap, you won’t notice much of a difference. its coastal roads, hills, and picturesque ports look and feel like any other section of the east coast’s bike paths.
The Others
The Gyeongbuk Bike Path only passes two districts: Yeongdeok and Uljin County. Their largest terminals offer the best points of entry.
However, between each county’s downtowns, three mini shoreside settlements offer mini terminals:
Each are useful entry and exit point. But because of their aging, shrinking population, service in these port towns varies.
Pohang
The largest city on North Gyeongsang Province’s coast is Pohang City. It holds separate intercity (timetable) and express (timetable) bus terminals in its downtown.
Sitting south of Yeongdeok County, as of this writing, Pohang doesn’t host any part of the Gyeongbuk Bike Path. Its terminals, however, provide excellent transfer points.
Pohang Intercity Terminal connects to both Ganggu (Start), Yeongdeok (Start), and Uljin (end) Bus Terminals.
(Unlike other cities, Pohang’s express and intercity terminals sit 2.6 kilometers apart; directions.)
Some intrepid cyclists start the East Coast Route from Pohang, riding north to the Gyeongbuk Bike Path, plowing past the gap, then snaking up the Gangwon Bike Path to the DMZ.
The route through Pohang lacks stamps and passes heavy industry. But it also offers photo-worthy seaside views and villages.
Gyeongbuk Bus Terminals
Find a complete list of intercity bus terminals on the Gyeongbuk Bicycle Path below.
- Pohang Intercity Terminal — <small>(포항시외버스터미널)</small> — Transfer
- Pohang Express Terminal — <small>(포항고속버스터미널)</small> — Transfer
- Ganggu Bus Terminal — <small>(강구버스터미널)</small> — Start
- Yeongdeok Bus Terminal — <small>(영덕터미널)</small> — Start
- Yeonghae Bus Terminal — <small>(영해버스터미널)</small>
- Hupo Bus Terminal — <small>(후포공용시외버스터미널)</small>
- Pyeonghae Bus Terminal — <small>(평해버스터미널)</small>
- Uljin Bus Terminal — <small>(울진종합버스터미널)</small> — End
Woryeong Bridge (월영교) or Woryeonggyo spans the Nakdong River a kilometer downstream from Andong Dam. Measuring 387 meters long and 3.6 meters wide, Woryeong is Korea’s longest wooden bridge.
Two dams comprise the Nakdong Estuary Bank (낙동강하굿둑) near the Nakdong River’s end. They block the two streams flowing around Eulsukdo Island. The east dam crosses from mainland Busan to Eulsukdo and over to the Gimhae Delta.