Korea’s highway rest areas are essential facilities that provide rest and various services to road users during their journeys. Typically located along highways, these rest areas are known as convenient places for travelers to take a break during long-distance drives. Here are key features and services of highway rest areas in Korea:
- Food and Refreshments: Rest areas offer a variety of food options, including restaurants, fast-food outlets, coffee shops, and bakeries, allowing travelers to enjoy diverse meals.
- Shopping and Convenience Facilities: Most rest areas have gift shops, convenience stores, souvenir shops, etc., providing travelers with the opportunity to purchase necessary items. Some rest areas are even expanded to the scale of large shopping malls.
- Rest and Relaxation Facilities: Rest areas provide facilities such as restrooms, rest areas with seating, shaded shelters, etc., allowing travelers to find comfort and relaxation.
- Gas Stations and Vehicle Services: The majority of rest areas operate gas stations, and some also offer vehicle services and repair facilities.
- Electric Vehicle Charging Stations: Recently, there has been an increase in charging facilities for environmentally friendly electric vehicles.
- Safety Facilities: Rest areas are equipped with emergency medical facilities, fire stations, police stations, etc., ensuring preparedness for emergency situations.
- Information Services: Some rest areas have information centers providing travelers with local information, traffic updates, weather information, and more.
Korea’s highway rest areas emphasize convenience and safety, aiming to offer travelers a comfortable and pleasant break through a range of services.
As you travel on the Yeongdong Expressway, you will come across the Pyeongchang Rest Area.
It operates separately for both the northbound and southbound directions.
This place can be considered as a dividing point for the Taebaek Mountain Range.
Text and Photos by: Mingk
Before entering Pyeongchang Rest Area,
there is a separation between Gangneung direction and Incheon direction.
Though not very large, it had almost everything you might need.
True to its nature as a rest area near the Taebaek Mountain Range in Gangwon Province,
the backside is lush with forests.
Pyeongchang Rest Area in the Incheon direction is the first rest area you encounter after crossing Daegwallyeong on the Yeongdong Expressway. With a dense forest in the background, it’s a healing place filled with phytoncides.
The first thing you encounter at the entrance is the High Shop,
a general store that gathers various car accessories and daily items in one place.
Note that there is a cash ATM at Pyeongchang Rest Area on the Yeongdong Expressway.
These days, it’s odd not to find a doll claw machine at a rest area.
But it seems that they are not hugely popular.
For children, it’s a curiosity paradise.
Mini toy machines are not only indoors but also scattered outdoors, offering various Pyeongchang Rest Area snacks like Busan fish cakes and potatoes.
The ubiquitous walnut cookies.
They were also available at Pyeongchang Rest Area in the Incheon direction.
However, their popularity seems to be gradually diminishing, probably because there are now many delicious rest area snacks available.
Inside Pyeongchang Rest Area, there are electric vehicle charging stations, gas stations, and LPG stations.
The electric vehicle charging stations seem to be getting insufficient.
There are stories of people waiting for 1 hour and 30 minutes just to charge on weekends at some rest areas.
The LPG station is separate from the gas station.
It seems that initially, only the gas station was built, and the LPG station was added later.
There is also a separate store selling local food from the Pyeongchang area.
The Baum and Nuduru ice cream store
It seemed to be the most noticeable among the Pyeongchang Rest Area snacks.
Seven Eleven convenience store
These days, convenience stores at rest areas are also occupied by well-known franchise companies.
Beard Papas
A brand I’ve never heard of before.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a franchise specializing in crispy shoe pastries, selling cookie shoes, donut shoes, etc.
Menus of Pyeongchang Rest Area restaurants.
You can choose from over 20 different varieties.
When it’s hard to choose, you usually go for the top menu.
I zoom in a bit more since it might not be visible.
Various menus from Korean dishes to tonkatsu, udon, ramen, and other essential items.
What to eat was a dilemma, so I opted for a simple coffee drink, considering that I had recently eaten milmak-guksu at a famous restaurant in Pyeongchang.
(Coming soon, a post about the famous restaurant in Pyeongchang)
These days, even simple snacks are abundant at Pyeongchang Rest Area, Seven Eleven convenience store.
From hamburgers to fish cakes, boiled eggs, pumpkin porridge, and more.
Like other nearby rest areas, the Yeongdong Expressway Pyeongchang Rest Area also utilizes solar panels on the roof of the parking lot.
✔ In fact, the Pyeongchang Rest Area on the Yeongdong Expressway didn’t have any particular standout restaurants, but due to its small size and the short travel distance, it was convenient to use various facilities all at once.
✔ There were also special chain stores such as Beard Papas and Natuur in the area.
✔ The convenience store facility is occupied by Seven Eleven. However, it’s regrettable that there are almost no 1+1 or 2+1 promotional items at the highway rest area convenience stores, which is considered a drawback and disappointing.