ContentsView article sectionsAbout this Weekend ItineraryTrip Plan by Winter FriendDAY 1: Departure + McDonalds or StarbucksDAY 1: Grab a Hearty LunchDAY 1: Arrive Near YongPong Ski Resort and Rent GearDAY 1: Check-in at Dragon Valley HotelDAY 1: Get Your Lift TicketsDAY 1: Get Your Board and BootsDAY 1: Hit the SlopesDAY 1: Dinner in TownDay 1: Go To Bed EarlyDay 2: Wake up Early and Grab a Buffet BreakfastDay 2: Morning SkiDay 2: Lunch at the Ski Slope Food CourtDay 2: Head home around 12:00 or 1:00 pm to to beat trafficDay 2: Grab Dinner Before Getting Back to the HouseJoin the Pyeongtaek Travelers GroupVolunteer with South of SeoulTo clarify, we are the lazy people in question. Hopefully, our laziness helps others follow in our footsteps. Here is our favorite Yongpong ski resort itinerary. About this Weekend Itinerary Recently we took a ‘housemates trip’ to Gangwon-do in order to get back into snowboarding after two of us had to take a few years off due to injuries. That means this ski trip itinerary was tested by intermediate snowboarders of varying levels of physical functionality. We were terrified the trip would end in disaster (more injuries) but nothing like that happened. We were all able to comfortably snowboard within our abilities and the trip was perfect. We HIGHLY recommend that anyone thinking about hitting the slopes in Korea takes this as the sign to give it a try. Trip Plan by Winter Friend Sometimes our house doesn’t have the energy to plan things for our group. During such times, Winter Friend and the associated travel planners save our butts. We do a bank transfer and they send us the plan for the day or a weekend. If you are like us, we recommend using a company like Winter Friend as they have connections with the right places. We gave them money and they made the magic happen. Plus, they also have some pre-planned trips with leaders that you can join. Seriously though, they have some great deals including a bus that goes from Seoul to Yongpyong if you don’t have a car. For us, we usually mix and match the Winter Friend plan with our own journey. That means we will let them organize the hotel, lift tickets, tell us where to rent gear, etc. Then we coordinate our own transportation and meals. That’s because we need the flexibility to research the area for our South of Seoul community. Here is what our mix and match Winter Friend snowboard weekend looked like. DAY 1: Departure + McDonalds or Starbucks Since this trip was about being lazy, we didn’t make breakfast. Instead, we went to the drive-through on the way out of town. Both McDonald’s and Starbucks offer breakfast sandwiches and coffee. You are about to spend all day on the slopes so you don’t need to be cutting calories today. DAY 1: Grab a Hearty Lunch Gangwondo is filled with great places to grab lunch. We usually go with Korean food since our favorite meals come from Gangwondo, on this trip we didn’t break with tradition. We also didn’t plan ahead. Instead, we took the back roads through the mountains and found a place along the way. Not the fastest way to the resort, but certainly the most beautiful. All I wanted was a handmade tofu meal on a cold winter’s day. Tofu in Korea is not seen as a vegetarian dish. It’s simply delicious food. That means most tofu meals will also include meat. In this case, it was elements of seafood. As soon as I saw this spot I was like, “Stop the car and go back. That place is going to be unique and delicious. ” As always, I was right. I have a six-sense for fabulous Korean food. However, if you aren’t obsessed with Korean food like we are, Gangwondo also has many wonders such as White Crow Brewing. This is a perfect spot for beers and lunch. DAY 1: Arrive Near YongPong Ski Resort and Rent Gear Before going to the resort we needed to get your snowboard pants, jacket, goggles, etc. (Assuming you don’t have any) We had Winter Friend set this up for us so that we didn’t need to spend time choosing a gear shop. The costs for our outfits included 15,000 won for pants and jacket, googles 15,000 won, and helmet around 4,000 won. We also didn’t have gloves right for snow and ended up buying some at the shop for 18,000 won. The great all worked great. Quite happy. In the future, we will also rent our boards here because they have 24hr rentals (on this trip we rented from Yongpyong Ski Resort) which means you can keep the gear all night for morning skiing. Also, the gear rental shop gave all of us bags to hold the gear which made the whole day MUCH easier. This thoughtful addition to the experience was a welcome surprise. DAY 1: Check-in at Dragon Valley Hotel Keep in mind, actual room check-in isn’t until 3:00pm. However, Dragon Valley Hotel will let you check in early and then text you when the room is ready. That way you can get on the slopes as soon as you arrive and go straight to your room after you finish. We like Dragon Valley Hotel because you exit right out into the lifts, they have an affordable breakfast buffet (19,00 won), and comfortable beds. We like things to be simple and easy. DAY 1: Get Your Lift Tickets The ticket office is only a one-minute walk out the door of Dragon Valley Hotel. You can purchase lift tickets from either an automated ticketing kiosk or a human-assisted one. The automated ticketing kiosk is in English. DAY 1: Get Your Board and Boots If you decide to rent boards at the ski resort, you can also pick these up before or after you lift tickets. Give yourself about 1 hour to go through this whole process. You will need to store … Continue reading Dragon Valley Hotel and Yongpong Ski Resort Weekend Itinerary for Lazy People