Daegwallyeong Sea of Clouds

About this spectacle

From the high mountain pass of Daegwallyeong in Gangwon Province, visitors witness one of South Korea's most dramatic atmospheric phenomena: a rolling sea of white cloud filling the valleys below while the ridge itself remains in clear sunlight above. The effect is most powerful in the early morning hours when temperature inversions trap moisture in the lowlands, creating the illusion of a vast ocean between the mountain peaks. The silence, broken only by wind across the exposed ridgeline, heightens the sense of floating above the world. Autumn mornings, when cool nights and warm days intensify the inversion, and occasional winter mornings after snowfall, offer the most spectacular displays. The landscape around the pass — open grasslands used for grazing, wind turbines turning slowly on the ridges — frames the cloudscape with a distinctly pastoral, high-altitude character.

When to go

Jan — Dec, peak Sep — Nov

Getting there

Nearest airport: GMP. Nearest city: Gangneung.

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