Gangneung café near Gyeongpodae with a bamboo grove: Cafe Giwa

Cafe Giwa (카페기와) is a hanok café near Gyeongpodae in Gangneung ✈️ Every single flower planted in the garden is arranged so prettily it just tugs at your heartstrings — this Gangneung hanok café has that effect. Let's take a look around bit by bit 👀✨

What does Cafe Giwa look like? A café inside a 100-year-old hanok

Yep, hanoks really do make you go "wow..." just from the outside! This old hanok house apparently stood quietly on this same spot for about 100 years. Cafe Giwa was made by renovating that very hanok!

There are two entrances total — one through a side path, and one through the parking lot. Personally, I loved coming in through the parking lot and getting hit with that unforgettable hanok view! I'd recommend entering from the parking lot side and leaving through the side path, so you get to experience both different routes.

Parking at Cafe Giwa: a large private lot near Gyeongpodae

The best part was definitely the spacious private parking lot!!! A lot of nearby cafés either have no private parking or barely enough space to fit a car, making parking a hassle — but Cafe Giwa has plenty of parking space, so there's zero worry about that!

Cafe Giwa menu: Giwa black latte and mung bean flower latte

They have everything from hand drip coffee to several signature menu items. I ordered the signature drinks that seemed to be made with local specialty ingredients — the Giwa black latte and the mung bean flower latte!

For dessert, there are 5 kinds of cake total, plus a toast with mugwort injeolmi (sweet rice cake with mugwort) inside! If you like mugwort, I'd definitely recommend ordering that one! Crispy on the outside with mugwort inside makes a perfect match — crispy-chewy paired with mugwort ice cream, sweet and impossible not to love.

Inside Cafe Giwa: rafters, coffee tools and the bamboo grove out back

From the moment you step in, Cafe Giwa's quiet, old-world atmosphere pulls you in. You can tell it's a genuinely old roof-tile house — I loved that the tiles here and there haven't crumbled and the original character has been so well preserved!

Once you step inside, you'll see the coffee tools on display that show just how serious Cafe Giwa is about coffee. This is a café where you can genuinely look forward to the hand drip!

Toward the back of the café there's a bamboo forest as the backdrop behind the hanok, giving off a totally different vibe! The space is also separated inside, so it'd be great for group gatherings or if you're visiting with a larger group. The back area feels more relaxed and gives a different mood than the front!

They kept the original rafters just as they were from the old house. Because it's a converted hanok, it has that old-fashioned charm along with a cozy interior — the unified deep brown color scheme gives off a calm feeling. I saw some reviews saying it's a shame the interior pieces don't all match, but I actually liked seeing those well-worn, mismatched touches — it made the place feel even more warm and lived-in!

There are retro props scattered around too, giving off the feeling of stepping back 100 years in time!

Honest verdict on Cafe Giwa: signature lattes underwhelm, the mood lingers

I ordered the signature menu but it didn't quite live up to my expectations... it was a black sesame latte, but I felt like it would've been better if it were ground more finely! Still, the old-world atmosphere unique to Cafe Giwa stuck with me longer, and I liked that. The spaces styled in the front yard clearly take a lot of effort, which made them look even prettier, and they came through beautifully in photos too!