“A City That Tastes Good All Month Long” ... Gangneung Turns into a Food Festival Hub in October

【Financial News | Gangneung—Kim Gi-seop, reporter】A food festival featuring noodles, tofu and coffee will continue throughout the month in neighborhoods across Gangneung, starting with a bread festival bringing together 58 local bakeries.
According to Gangneung City on the 8th, four festivals will be held in succession from the 9th to the 25th around Gangneung Ojuk Hanok Village, Wolhwa Street, Chodang Sundubu Street and Gangneung Coffee Street: the 2nd Bread-Baking Village, Ojuk; the 5th Gangneung Noodle Festival; the 4th Chodang Dosirak (Joy); and the 18th Gangneung Coffee Festival.
The first event is “Bread-Baking Village, Ojuk,” taking place at Ojuk Hanok Village from the 9th to the 11th. Fifty-eight local pastry and bakery businesses will take part, presenting their signature breads and desserts, and a signature bread awards event will select a bread to represent Gangneung. Visitors can make bread using local specialties, and there will also be baking shows and classes by master bakers, performances and photo zones set against the backdrop of hanok houses. The event runs daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
From the 15th to the 18th, the stretch from the former KEPCO site to Wolhwa Bridge on Wolhwa Street will be transformed into a noodle-food district. Now in its fifth edition, the Gangneung Noodle Festival—renamed from the former Gangneung Noodle Festival—will bring together Gangneung’s signature noodle dish, jang-kalguksu, as well as jajangmyeon, jjamppong, noodle dishes from around the world and fusion fare.
There will also be plenty to enjoy, including cooking shows, busking, a hands-on noodle-making experience, noodle coloring and meal-kit making. The festival runs from noon to 9 p.m., except on the final day, the 18th, when it ends at 6 p.m.


For one day, on the 17th, the Chodang Gourmet Road Festival, Chodang Dosirak (Joy), will welcome visitors around Chodang Sundubu Street. Plans include a gourmet flea market featuring Chodang tofu and local ingredients, a Chodang food show, a hands-on millstone tofu-making activity, a children’s art exhibition and a Chodang treasure hunt. Around 30 booths focused on food, desserts, crafts and activities will also be set up. The festival stands out as a resident-led event, with residents, merchants, small-business owners and local chefs, led by the Chodang-dong Residents’ Autonomy Committee, directly handling everything from planning to operations.
The first session, featuring food and hands-on activities, runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with the opening ceremony at 10:30 a.m. A second-session concert will take the stage from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The venue is in front of the promotional hall at Gangwon National University’s Gangneung Campus (Donghwa Garden). Visitors can park at Gangneung Church or the Gangneung Chodang Tofu parking lot.
The food festival series will culminate with the 18th Gangneung Coffee Festival, held for five days from the 21st to the 25th on Gangneung Coffee Street and across the city. A flagship Gangneung festival included in the 2026–2027 Culture and Tourism Festivals and Local 100, it will present 23 programs across three categories this year under the slogan “Coffeeful Gangneung.” The festival will strengthen programming that brings together Anmok’s seaside and coffee, while expanding its stages across Gangneung.


During the festival, coffee programs including 100 People, 100 Flavors; All Kinds of Gangneung Coffee; and The Barista’s Table will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. On the sandy shore of Anmok Beach, the “A Starry Night” program invites visitors to enjoy coffee with the night sea and music, while “Anmok’s Discerning Coffee Radio” offers conversations about Gangneung through coffee. The festival is hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province and Gangneung City, and organized by the Gangneung Cultural Foundation.
Gangneung Mayor Kim Jung-nam said, “We designed the festival route to connect the entire city, starting at the hanok village, passing through Wolhwa Street and the Chodang alleys, and reaching Anmok Sea. We’ll make sure that visitors can savor the full range of Gangneung’s flavors—from its 58 local bakeries to the tofu festival organized directly by residents—and that the extra time they spend here brings vitality to neighborhood businesses.”

[email protected] Kim Gi-seop Reporter