Cheongpung Lake Cable Car brings you to one of the best viewpoints of South Korea without hiking. Admire the view of Jecheon Lake surrounded by the mountains of Woraksan National Park.
I love hiking. I try to do one mountain trail a year (no mountains in my country). But sometimes I also like to just get to the top without too much effort.
I found a good destination for that in the Jecheon area in South Korea.
Cheongpung Lake Cable Car brings you to one of the best viewpoints of South Korea without hiking. Most cable cars take you higher up the mountain area so you can start your hike but this one brings you directly to the end point.
Cheongpung Lake Cable Car
In front of the Cheongpung Cable Car station is the CINEMA 360 Dome. The CINEMA 360 shows the lake from different perspectives and tells you more about the history of the area. You can buy a combi ticket for the CINEMA 360 and the Cable Car ride inside.
Take the short ride up with max six persons per cabin and enjoy the view. During the ride I was mainly looking at the houses below and wondering what it would be like to live there and enjoy this view more often.
Observation platform
At the top you have a 360 degree view of the surrounding area. You can see Jecheon Lake, bridges, Woraksan National Park, and many smaller mountains in the area.
The observation platform has three levels and it is quite easy to find your perfect photo spot without people obscuring the view. Take your time to hang against the balustrade and admire the view.
Most Korean tourists are crowding around the photo spots with artistic hearts anyway. The best way to deal with that is to take a picture of them from above! Korean culture in action.
Cafe with a view
At one of the levels there is a trendy cafe with indoor and outdoor seating areas. The bakery is excellent, only to be topped by the view you have from the outdoor terrace.
I easily spent over an hour up there and had a hard time leaving the observation platform. Only the thought of not seeing Danyang Dodamsambong Peaks and Guinsa Temple convinced me to take the cable car ride down.
If possible, I recommend you visit Cheongpung Lake Cable Car only when it’s not to cloudy or misty. The view will still be ok when the weather is cloudy but it won’t be nearly as beautiful.
Cheongpung Lake Monorail
Alternatively you can take Cheongpung Lake Monorail (청풍호관광모노레일) to reach the viewpoint and take the cable car down. The Monorail spans a track of three kilometers and brings you to the top of Bibongsan Mountain in about 23 minutes. The starting point for the Monorail lies somewhat west of the Cable Car station.
How to get to Cheongpung Lake Cable Car
The site is easy to get to. Navigate to Cheongpung Lake Cable Car (청풍호반케이블카); even Google Maps knows it.
By bus
If you’re using public transport, you can take the bus from Chungju train station (2.5 hours, 2 buses) or Jecheon train station (1.5 hours, 1 bus). It takes some time but your sightseeing tour actually starts the moment you leave the train station as you follow the lake in the middle of a mountain area.
By car
It takes about an hour by car from the Chungju area or half an hour from Jecheon.There is a big parking lot next to the Cable Car station.
I took our rental car from Suanbo (hot springs area just south of Chungju) on road 508 through Woraksan National Park to get to Cheongpung Lake Cable Car. A very scenic round with views of the high mountains of Woraksan National Park on the right and Jecheon lake on the left.
Thank you for the introduction with nice words about the destination!