New Year Sunrise in Korea: Tour vs KTX to Jeongdongjin
Last Updated on October 23, 2026
Quick Answer
No KTX can put you on Jeongdongjin beach before sunrise on 1 January. The earliest KTX arrives at 09:00, and sunrise there was 07:39 on 1 January 2026 (the 2027 table is not out yet). A 01:00 bus tour from Seoul arrives at 04:50 but misses the midnight sandglass turning. Korail opens seats two months ahead at 07:00, which by its rule means 31 October for 31 December trains and 1 November for 1 January.
The Full Answer
Four places compete for “the first sunrise” every year: Jeongdongjin (정동진) and Naksansa (낙산사) on the east coast, Homigot (호미곶) near Pohang, and Ganjeolgot (간절곶) near Ulsan. The real decision for a visitor from Seoul is this: do you take a night tour that drops you on the beach at 04:50, or do you take a train the day before and stay overnight? Each option fails in a specific way, and none of the fourteen English pages checked for this article describes either failure.
On 23 October 2026 I opened Korail’s November 2026 KTX and regular-train timetables and counted the Jeongdongjin stops. I read Korail’s ticket-purchase page, the Gangneung city notice for the 2026 New Year event in Korean (all four lines of it), the Yangyang county press release and Korean news coverage of the Homigot and Ganjeolgot events, and the Seoul tour listings on Trazy and GetYourGuide.
The 2027 sunrise table, city notices and 1 January train schedule do not exist yet (checked 23 October 2026). The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI, 한국천문연구원) published the 2026 table in late December 2025; the city and rail notices came out in mid-December. Treat this page as the structure of the problem and re-check the numbers when those appear. Where a source is a news report relaying an official statement, the text says so; for Homigot, Ganjeolgot and Naksansa I could not open the primary 2026 notice.
Which Spot Sees the Sun First
KASI’s table for 1 January 2026 gives these times for the coastal spots people travel to (sea level; a viewpoint 100 m up sees the sun roughly two minutes earlier, per the Korean coverage):
| Place | Sunrise on 1 January 2026 (KASI) |
|---|---|
| Dokdo (독도) | 07:26 |
| Ganjeolgot, Ulsan (간절곶) | 07:31 |
| Homigot, Pohang (호미곶) | 07:32 |
| Haeundae Beach, Busan (해운대) | 07:32 |
| Seongsan Ilchulbong, Jeju (성산일출봉) | 07:36 |
| Jeongdongjin, Gangneung (정동진) | 07:39 |
| Gyeongpo Beach, Gangneung (경포대) | 07:40 |
| Naksan, Yangyang (낙산) | 07:42 |
The order itself is not a secret: the Korea Herald (24 December 2025) gives Ulsan’s 07:31 and the Korea JoongAng Daily (28 December 2025) gives Jeongdongjin’s 07:39. Wording elsewhere is wrong: one popular English guide calls Homigot “the literal first place on the Korean peninsula”, and a tour listing for a Jeongdongjin departure sells “Korea’s first sunrise of 2027”. By KASI’s 2026 table, Ganjeolgot beats Homigot by a minute and Jeongdongjin by eight. Jeongdongjin is a good place to watch the sun; it is not the first.
Weather moves the real sunrise too: in 2026 Homigot’s sun rose at 07:38, five minutes late because of cloud (Gyeongbuk Maeil, 1 January 2026).
Why No Train Gets You to Jeongdongjin Before Sunrise
In the KTX timetable that takes effect on 1 November 2026, Korail’s Gangneung-line trains stopping at Jeongdongjin station run like this from Seoul:
| Train | Departs | Arrives Jeongdongjin | Runs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 841 | Cheongnyangni 07:05 | 09:00 | daily |
| 843 | Seoul 10:59 | 13:08 | daily |
| 845 | Seoul 15:01 | 17:11 | daily |
| 847 | Seoul 18:20 | 20:29 | daily |
| 849 | Seoul 19:50 | 21:58 | daily |
A few extra trains run from Friday to Sunday (the first leaves Cheongnyangni at 09:37), but 841 remains the earliest arrival: 09:00, one hour 21 minutes after the 2026 sunrise. From Seoul Station itself there are only the four daily trains in the table.
The usual workaround is the first Gangneung train and a change. Train 801 leaves Seoul at 05:06 and reaches Gangneung at 07:03. The regular trains from Gangneung that reach Jeongdongjin before sunrise are:
| Train | Gangneung departs | Jeongdongjin arrives |
|---|---|---|
| 1822 | 05:46 | 06:02 |
| 1852 / 1862 | 06:30 | 06:47 |
| 1782 | 06:52 | 07:08 |
All three have left before 801 arrives; the last one goes 11 minutes before the KTX gets in, and the next regular train (08:55) reaches Jeongdongjin at 09:11. A taxi from Gangneung station is the only other way. I could not measure the taxi time, and the Korea Expressway Corporation’s 2026 forecast had the east-coast approach most crowded between 05:00 and 07:00 (Korea JoongAng Daily, 28 December 2025, relaying the corporation), so do not plan the morning on it.
Local tip — The earliest KTX that stops at Jeongdongjin arrives at 09:00, and the first Gangneung KTX arrives at 07:03, 11 minutes after the last regular train that would have reached the beach before sunrise. In the November 2026 timetable, “take the KTX that morning and watch the sunrise at Jeongdongjin” does not work. None of the fourteen English pages checked gives a single Jeongdongjin train time. One says you can “arrive by train and see the sunrise right away”, which is true only if you arrive the day before. These are standard-schedule times: Korail published extra New Year trains on 16 December in 2025, so the 1 January 2027 schedule may differ. Check it in mid-December.
If you want the train option, it is a stay-overnight plan: train 849 from Seoul Station reaches Jeongdongjin at 21:58, in time for the midnight events. From Busan, the Donghae-line KTX that opened on 30 December 2025 runs from Bujeon station to Jeongdongjin.
Local tip — From Busan, KTX 755 (Bujeon 19:40) reaches Jeongdongjin at 23:18, in time for the midnight sandglass turning, but no Busan-line train arrives before sunrise: the earliest is 11:26. So Busan travelers have the same choice as Seoul travelers. The Gangneung city office credited the new Gangneung–Busan KTX and the longer Gangneung–Cheongnyangni line for a rise of about 19% in 2026 visitors (CBS, 1 January 2026, relaying city figures). No English page checked mentions the new line.
The Night Tour: What It Gets You and What It Skips
Trazy’s Seoul listing for 1 January 2027 (Friday) gives a full timetable, which I read: meet at Dongdaemun History & Culture Park station exit 10 (동대문역사문화공원역 10번 출구) and depart at 01:00, arrive at Jeongdongjin or Naksansa at 04:50, watch the sunrise between 07:30 and 08:30, leave at 12:30 and be back in Dongdaemun at 16:00. The listing is ₩95,000 per adult (as of 23 October 2026), minimum one person. GetYourGuide lists “Seoul: 2027 New Year Sunrise Tour at Beach or Naksan Temple”: 16.5 hours, from US$68 (as of 23 October 2026), 01:00 meeting at exit 10, and free cancellation up to 24 hours before.
In practice you stand on the beach from about 04:50 until a sunrise not expected before 07:39 — roughly two hours 49 minutes of waiting, in the cold: Gangneung’s city tally recorded minus 9 degrees Celsius at sunrise on 1 January 2026.
Local tip — A tour that leaves Seoul at 01:00 cannot be at Jeongdongjin for midnight. The Gangneung event runs from 20:00 on 31 December to 00:30, with fireworks from 00:00 to 00:05, and the tour arrives at 04:50. The listing mentions a countdown at Dongdaemun, which is the Seoul countdown: see the year-end festivals guide for the Seoul options. It is a real option, with an optional pre-departure gathering at the pickup point (Trazy says individuals make their own way there until 23:30). It is not the Jeongdongjin midnight show. No listing or English guide checked states this.
The Midnight Show, and What Happens Next Morning
The 2026 Gangneung city notice (posted 21 December 2025) announces an event from 20:00 on 31 December to 00:30, with fireworks from 00:00 to 00:05, at the central plaza at Gyeongpo Beach (경포해변) and the Sandglass Park at Jeongdongjin (정동진 모래시계공원): stage performances, a New Year countdown, traditional games and a wish tree. It says nothing about the sandglass turning, any morning programme, or traffic and shuttles.
The sandglass turning (회전식) appears in the city’s press release as relayed by News1 and others on 29 December 2025; all of those reports say midnight on 31 December, about five minutes, as the last grain falls. That is a second-hand source, not the notice itself. For the morning the same press release says only that staff will be concentrated during the sunrise hours of 07:00 to 08:00 for safety, and that some hazardous spots such as the Badabuchaegil coastal path are closed.
One Korean tourism database lists “06:00–08:00” on 1 January next to the evening schedule, with no programme named and no official source behind it.
Local tip — The sandglass is turned at midnight on 31 December, not on the morning of 1 January, and the city’s own notice lists nothing for the morning. The only official morning item is safety staffing at 07:00 to 08:00. One English page says “midnight on January 1st”, which can be read either way. If your plan is “see the sandglass, then watch the sunrise”, you need to be in Jeongdongjin for both, which means an overnight stay and not the 01:00 bus. Call the Gangneung tourism policy office on 033-640-5130 in December to ask whether anything has been added for 2027. The 2026 turnout was about 300,000 people in Gangneung (130,000 at Gyeongpo, 110,000 at Jeongdongjin, 60,000 elsewhere), per the city’s tally relayed by CBS.
Booking: Korail Seats Open Two Months Ahead
Korail changed its ticket window on 1 October 2026. Its purchase page says tickets can be bought from 07:00 two months before departure, and gives the example that tickets for 28 April go on sale on 28 February. The change was announced by the transport ministry and Korail on 20 September 2026 (Money Today, Financial News relaying the announcement).
Korail does not name the New Year dates. By its example rule, a train on Thursday 31 December 2026 opens on Saturday 31 October at 07:00, and a train on Friday 1 January 2027 on Sunday 1 November at 07:00. Those dates are a calculation from the rule, not a Korail statement, so confirm on korail.com.
Local tip — KTX seats for the New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day trains open on 31 October and 1 November (by Korail’s two-month rule, 07:00 each day), not in December. The older “about a month before” figure still appears in guides, including our own KTX booking guide, which was written before the October 2026 change; the window described here is the current one. Demand is real: the Korea JoongAng Daily reported on 28 December 2025 that most Seoul–Gangneung trains for 31 December were sold out on Korail’s site. The same pattern for 2027 is plausible, though I cannot prove it.
The 2026 precedent for extra trains is Korail’s 16 December 2025 press release: eight extra KTX trips across 31 December and 1 January on several lines including the Gangneung line, on sale from 18 December at 13:00. I could not find their timetable, so I do not know whether any reached Jeongdongjin before the sun. Nothing has been announced for 2027.
Tour or Train and a Night in Gangneung: The Comparison
| Seoul night tour (Trazy 2027 listing) | Seoul KTX plus a night | Busan KTX plus a night | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reaches Jeongdongjin | 04:50 on 1 Jan | Day before: train 849 at 21:58 | Day before: train 755 at 23:18 |
| Wait before sunrise | about 2 h 49 min | about 9 h 40 min if you arrive at 21:58 | about 8 h 20 min if you arrive at 23:18 |
| Midnight sandglass and fireworks | No | Yes | Yes |
| Return after sunrise | Bus leaves 12:30, Dongdaemun 16:00 | Train 842 at 10:32 | Train 752 at 09:53 |
| Where you sleep | On the bus | You must find a room, or stay outdoors | Same |
| When you book | Listing says up to two days ahead | 31 Oct / 1 Nov at 07:00 | Same |
The 10:32 and 09:53 trains in the table are the first out after sunrise (reaching Cheongnyangni at 12:23 and Bujeon at 13:36); the 07:33 departure to Seoul leaves six minutes before the sun comes up. No source I found says when rooms near Jeongdongjin fill for 31 December; JoongAng wrote in 2025 only that they were “quickly selling out”, so check availability on the day your train booking opens.
From Seoul, the GetYourGuide New Year sunrise tour to Jeongdongjin or Naksansa is the same kind of 01:00 departure from the same exit, and if you would rather start from Busan, the Busan countdown and Homigot sunrise version is listed for the same night.
The Other Spots, Briefly
Jeongdongjin and Gangneung
Jeongdongjin station is about five minutes’ walk from the sandglass park (per one travel site). Gyeongpo Beach, the other official site, sees the sun at 07:40; train 801 reaches Gangneung at 07:03, but the time from Gangneung station to Gyeongpo was not measured for this article.
Homigot (Pohang)
The 2026 festival (the 28th), as local papers relayed the Pohang city programme, had a 23:20 evening show, a midnight lighthouse light show and a 06:50 drum-and-dance performance on 1 January. Three road sections totalling 2.9 km were closed from 14:00 on 31 December to 10:00, and about 50,000 people were expected. Korean reports say the 2024–25 official event was cancelled after the Muan aircraft crash (Gyeongbuk Maeil, 1 January 2026, relaying), so a festival can be cancelled on short notice. I did not find the Pohang city notice itself, and there is nothing for 2027 yet.
Ganjeolgot (Ulsan)
The earliest mainland spot by KASI, and the hardest to reach by car. In the 2026 edition the Ulsan police restricted vehicles in stages: the venue approaches from 18:00 on 31 December, wider roads at 22:00, further junctions at 03:00 and 05:00 on 1 January. Ulju county ran a drone show and fireworks at 05:00, with shuttles from park-and-ride lots. These come from news reports of the police announcement (Newsis, 30 December 2025), not from a notice I could open. The route from Ulsan KTX station was not researched; an older parking and shuttle notice that circulates online is from the 2024–25 edition, so do not reuse it.
Naksansa (Yangyang)
The thinnest evidence of the four. The Yangyang county press release of 30 December 2025 covered safety and traffic only: a control room at Naksan Beach, 15 locations closed, volunteer traffic control. It said nothing about a bell-ringing, a New Year service, or a 1 January opening time for the temple, and Naksansa’s own notice board had no 1 January notice on 23 October 2026. So there is no official source for when the temple grounds open on the morning of 1 January. The Trazy tour lands there at 04:50; whether the group goes inside or waits on the beach is unconfirmed. Ask the temple or the operator before you pay.
Haeundae, Seongsan, and Dokdo
Haeundae sees the sun at 07:32; our Busan Sky Capsule guide has a section on the New Year’s Day sunrise schedule (its 2027 timetable had not been published as of 3 October 2026), and the Busan attractions guide covers the rest of a Busan trip. Seongsan Ilchulbong on Jeju is a separate ticketing question; our Seongsan Ilchulbong guide says to check the 1 January access control. Dokdo, at 07:26, is not a practical trip.
What You Need to Know
- KTX cannot reach Jeongdongjin before sunrise. Earliest arrival is 09:00 (November 2026 timetable); sunrise was 07:39 on 1 January 2026.
- The 01:00 Seoul tour arrives at 04:50 and misses the midnight turning and fireworks. The countdown in the listing is Seoul’s.
- Korail seats open two months ahead at 07:00: 31 October for 31 December, 1 November for 1 January (by the rule, not stated by Korail).
- Every sunrise time here is 2026. KASI publishes 2027 in late December.
- Homigot was cancelled once, Ganjeolgot closes its roads from 18:00 and Naksansa has no official notice. All three claims rest on press reports of the 2026 edition.
Practical Tips
- Decide whether you want the midnight show before anything else. If yes, you need a train and a bed; if no, the night tour works.
- Be ready at the booking window. Set an alarm for 07:00 on 31 October and 1 November, and have your Korail account working before then.
- Plan for minus 9. Gangneung recorded that at New Year 2026. Pack accordingly.
- Sort out local transport before the night. The T-money card guide covers the subway and bus legs at either end.
- Get a Korean-compatible data plan before a night trip. See our eSIM and SIM guide for the options.
- Re-check three notices in December. The Gangneung city event notice, Korail’s extra trains and the KASI sunrise table.
- Check rooms the day your train opens. I found no data on when Jeongdongjin rooms sell out.
For a different Gangwon winter day out, see the Pyeongchang Trout Festival guide. For a Seoul New Year’s Eve, see the Seoul Sky Bridge ticket guide and the year-end festivals guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I take a KTX to Jeongdongjin and see the New Year sunrise?
Not on the same morning. The earliest KTX arrival at Jeongdongjin station is 09:00 (the November 2026 timetable, from Cheongnyangni), and sunrise there was 07:39 on 1 January 2026. You would need to arrive the day before, for example by train 849 from Seoul Station, which arrives at 21:58.
Where is the first sunrise in Korea on 1 January?
Among the mainland spots in KASI’s 2026 table, Ganjeolgot in Ulsan came first at 07:31, then Homigot and Haeundae at 07:32. Jeongdongjin was 07:39 and Naksan 07:42. Dokdo was earlier at 07:26. The 2027 table is published in late December, so check it.
What time does the sandglass turn at Jeongdongjin?
In the 2026 edition, the city’s press release (relayed by the news) said midnight on 31 December. The city’s own notice listed the event as 20:00 to 00:30 with fireworks from 00:00 to 00:05 and did not mention a morning programme. Check the 2027 notice in mid-December.
When do KTX tickets for 31 December and 1 January go on sale?
Korail’s rule since 1 October 2026 is 07:00 two months before departure. By that rule, 31 December trains open on 31 October and 1 January trains on 1 November. Korail’s page does not name these dates, so this is our calculation.
Does the Seoul sunrise tour include the midnight show at Jeongdongjin?
No. The Trazy Seoul listing departs from Dongdaemun at 01:00 and arrives at Jeongdongjin or Naksansa at 04:50, long after the midnight show. The countdown mentioned in the listing happens in Seoul.
Is the tour or the train better for the New Year sunrise?
It depends on the midnight show. The tour reaches the beach before sunrise without a room but skips the show. The train works if you arrive the day before and can sleep nearby, and then you get the show. The listings I read give a 24-hour free cancellation (GetYourGuide) so the tour is the lower-risk booking until the 2027 notices appear.
Do I need to book anything for Homigot or Ganjeolgot?
For the 2026 edition I found no reservation system at either. Both closed roads for the night, so the transport plan matters more than a ticket. Homigot’s 2024–25 official event was cancelled, so confirm the 2027 event with Pohang or Ulju authorities in December.
Related Questions
- How do I book a KTX ticket as a foreigner?
- What are the best year-end festivals and countdowns in Korea?
- Can I book the Busan Sky Capsule for the New Year sunrise?
