The fictional seaside town of Gongjin is stitched together from real villages around Pohang — and the city has kept the drama signboards up for visitors.
North and south Pohang filming sites are roughly 47 minutes apart by car before stops. The city taxi tour covers a northern route; Guryongpo is a separate southern trip. For a Seoul day trip, choose one cluster. Allow two days or an overnight stay for both.
The village market at the centre of Gongjin life — Bora Supermarket, Cheongho Hardware, Oyun's bar and the lanes where most of the town's daily business happens.
💡 The market renamed itself after the drama, so search for 청하공진시장, not 청하시장. Shopfronts are kept year-round, but they are photo sets — only Gongjin Banjeom is a working restaurant. The five-day market itself runs on dates ending in 1 and 6, and it is a morning market.
2Ship on the Hill, Sabang Memorial Park
The surreal boat on a grassy hilltop from Du-sik's backstory and the drama's poster — placed for filming and kept as a permanent photo spot.
Taxi or local bus from Pohang Station toward the Chilpo coast. From the car park it is roughly 30 minutes up on the gentler forest road, or a much steeper stair route of about 355 steps.
💡 The boat is named Sunim-ho, and you cannot climb aboard it. This is the one location on this list that is properly signposted: there are markers from the car park entrance and a board at the top identifying seven filming spots. Wear real shoes for the climb, and pick a clear day — the sea-and-hills panorama is the payoff. The park itself is always open; the memorial hall inside is free, 09:00-18:00, and the toilets shut at 18:00.
3Wolpo Beach
The beach in the lost-shoe scene where Hye-jin and Du-sik first meet, and where Du-sik surfs.
💡 Fans often search for this as 'Yongduri', but that is a different stretch of sand south across the stream — and it is fenced off, reserved for a POSCO training centre. Wolpo Beach itself is public: 1.2km of sand, free parking, a surf crowd, and an official swimming season that ran 11 July to 23 August in 2026. Sunrise here is spectacular, and it pairs easily with the market 10 minutes away.
💡 These are private homes in a lived-in neighborhood — photograph from the street only. Pair with Guryongpo's Japanese-era street and its famous gwamegi (half-dried fish).
5Red Lighthouse, Seokbyeong-ri Breakwater
The red lighthouse behind many of the leads' walks and Hye-jin's early scenes with Seong-hyun.
💡 The breakwater is windy year-round — mind hats and phones.
What the sources show
🔎 Last checked · September 2026
We compare official notices, location records and Korean-language visitor reports. Specific opening hours, fares and access can change; check the linked operator information before travel.
North and south are a full hour apart
The locations split into two clusters and Naver puts 47 minutes of driving between them. Of the trip reports we read, exactly one person covered both in a day by car — and still arrived in Guryongpo at 17:30 to find the shops shut. One did it by bus and taxi, skipping Cheongha Market and the lighthouse, and ended by advising an overnight stay. Everyone else split it across two days. Treat this as two half-days, not one loop.
Pohang runs an official taxi tour of this drama
The city's tourist taxi has a Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha route: Cheongha Gongjin Market, the Yun dental clinic at Cheongjin harbour, Sabang Memorial Park and Space Walk. ₩80,000 for three hours, ₩125,000 for five, up to four people, and you can build your own route instead. Book by phone on 054-270-2373 — the app booking was suspended. Guryongpo is not on this route; it sits on the separate southern one.
The city tour bus no longer does this drama
From October 2021 Pohang ran a dedicated Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha city-tour course for ₩6,000. A May 2026 restructure folded everything into a single route that goes to Guryongpo, Homigot and the markets — Cheongha, Wolpo and the lighthouse are on none of the current courses. Weekday departures need ten bookings and are cancelled automatically below that, which one visitor discovered in August 2026 with four in their party.
What the taxi actually costs
Fares outside the city centre run at about 1.5 times the meter, and several visitors recorded it. Sabang Memorial Park to Pohang Station came to ₩21,300; the park to the city was ₩34,000 for 24km against an app estimate of ₩21,800; Homigot to Guryongpo was ₩18,150. One visitor could not get a ride-hail car at all around Sabang and Igari. Budget ₩40,000-90,000 in taxis a day if you are not driving.
Yongduri is not the beach you are looking for
English pages, this one included until today, place the meeting scene at 'Yongdu-ri'. Wolpo Beach is registered in Wolpo-ri; the Yongdu-ri sand is a separate stretch across the stream, fenced off as a POSCO training centre and closed to the public. Which stretch the drama actually used is not settled even in Korean sources — so go to Wolpo Beach, which is public, and do not go looking for Yongduri.
The hilltop boat is a real climb, and you cannot board it
The boat is named Sunim-ho and sits at about 126m on Mugeunbong peak. Two routes go up: a forest road of roughly 700m, about 30 minutes each way, and a stair route of some 355 steps that every source agrees is steep. A visitor logged the full loop from the car park at 1.5km and 29 minutes. You cannot climb onto the boat itself.
This is the one place that is actually signposted
Sabang Memorial Park has drama markers from the car park entrance and a board at the summit identifying seven filming spots — the only official signage we could confirm anywhere on this trail. We found no drama signboard or photo zone at Wolpo Beach or the red lighthouse. Pohang did award a contract in late 2025 for 'Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha tourist site' electrical work, but the location was not named.
People live at the red lighthouse
Seokbyeong-ri is a working village, and residents have put up notices asking visitors not to photograph and fenced off part of it. Two more dramas have since filmed there, so the traffic has gone up rather than down. Park by the breakwater, keep to the harbour front, and do not point a camera into the lanes.
Based on: 52 Korean-language pages read on 9 September 2026 — 20 on getting around Pohang, 32 on the individual locations, excluding search-result pages
Some Gongjin storefronts were temporary builds: the Bora Supermarket facade came down after filming (Pohang later added replicas nearby), and the dental clinic interior was a set — only its building exterior is real. The market, beach, boat and villages above are all genuine.
Plan north and south Pohang separately
Pohang is 2.5 hours from Seoul by KTX. The spots split into a northern loop (Cheongha Market → Wolpo Beach → the hilltop boat) and a southern loop (Guryongpo village + lighthouse) — A car can link both clusters in a long day, but the visited shops may be closed by the time you reach Guryongpo. For public transport, spend one day in the north and another in the south.
Frequently asked questions
Where was Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha filmed?
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha was filmed mainly around Pohang on Korea's southeast coast. The fictional seaside town of 'Gongjin' is stitched together from real spots there: Cheongha Market, Wolpo Beach in Cheongha-myeon, Guryongpo Village and the hilltop boat at Sabang Memorial Park.
Was Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha filmed in Jeju?
No. Even though it looks like a Jeju seaside village, the drama was not filmed on Jeju Island. Almost every location is around Pohang in Gyeongsangbuk-do — the market scenes were shot at Cheongha Market, about 40 minutes from Pohang Station.
Is Gongjin a real town?
Gongjin is fictional, but it is built from real places near Pohang. The clearest 'Gongjin' spot is Cheongha Market, where many shops kept their drama signboards and a 'Gongjin Market' marker and squid statue now greet visitors.
Where is the beach where Hye-jin and Du-sik first meet?
The lost-shoe meeting scene and Du-sik's surfing were filmed at Wolpo Beach in Cheongha-myeon — about 15 minutes from Cheongha Market and 40 minutes from Pohang Station. Fans often search for it as 'Yongduri', but that is a separate, fenced-off stretch belonging to a company training centre.
Can you visit the leads' houses in Guryongpo?
Yes, but from the street only. Hye-jin's red-brick rooftop house and Du-sik's sea-facing home are private residences a minute apart in Guryongpo Village — photograph from outside and keep noise down out of respect for the people who live there.
How do you get to the filming locations from Seoul?
Take the KTX from Seoul to Pohang (about 2.5 hours), then local buses or taxis. The spots split into a northern loop (Cheongha Market, Wolpo Beach, the hilltop boat) and a southern loop (Guryongpo village and the red lighthouse), about an hour apart. Korean visitors who tried both in one day did it by car and still skipped stops; those relying on buses and taxis consistently recommend staying overnight.
