Gangneung café for individually wrapped sand treats: Gangneung Sand

I visited Gangneung Sand Main Branch (강릉샌드 본점), near Ojukheon. Two places come up when you search for Gangneung Sand Main Branch, but this is the one near Ojukheon. I could buy delicious desserts in the white building, and the packaging was just perfect for travel gifts. If you need a gift while you are in Gangneung, I think this would be such a great place to visit. I have bought and eaten lots of Paris Baguette sand cookies, but after trying these, I did not feel the need to go to Paris Baguette anymore. I highly recommend these Gangneung sand treats, individually wrapped in a pink box that makes them easy to enjoy one at a time.

Gangneung Sand Main Branch location and visitor information

The address is 31 Seonggokgoyang-gil 5beonan-gil, 1F–3F, Gangneung-si, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province. It is open daily from 09:30 to 19:00, and parking is available. Takeout, group visits, Wi-Fi, reservations, separate men's and women's restrooms, and a waiting area are available, but pets are not allowed.

A Greek-style white building and the café interior

The white building was so striking—it felt like I had come to Greece. Isn't the building beautiful and exotic? It looked so pretty for selfies out front, too. Buy some delicious desserts and snap a selfie while you are there! Try taking photos against the lovely backdrop. You know the joy of traveling: in the end, photos are what remain. Take lots of pretty pictures together.

Once inside, the space also reminded me of Greece, just like the exterior. The white-and-blue décor felt clean and refreshing. It was spacious and tidy.

I took mine away, but it would also be nice to sit in the café and enjoy a tasty sand dessert with a cup of tea.

They have received so many awards that there was a whole display of them in one corner. Seeing that made me feel confident about packing some up.

Gangneung Sand and Neoege-ro Gotgam have both received many awards.

Gangneung Sand flavors and how to buy them

You cannot mix flavors when purchasing Gangneung Sand; each box is sold as a single flavor. There were six flavors: coffee, dried persimmon, strawberry, black sesame, Chodang corn, and sweet potato.

If you are wondering which flavor to choose, check the staff picks before buying. I want to try all six flavors.

How to store the sand desserts

Room temperature 14 days / refrigerated 30 days / frozen 90 days

Sand box draw event

There was a sand box draw event.

Trying the boxed coffee and strawberry flavors

I was curious about the other flavors too, but I packed up the most famous coffee flavor and the strawberry flavor, which had such great reviews. The packaging had colored stickers for coffee and strawberry, so it was easy to tell which flavor was which.

They go so well with the sea, right?

When you open the box, there are 10 individually wrapped pieces like this. The packaging is so neat and perfect for gifting, right? They were also great to carry around and eat as a snack one by one. I absolutely love having coffee with a small dessert, so they were totally my thing.

The individual wrappers were labeled so you could tell the strawberry and coffee flavors apart, too.

Lift up the cookie part and you can see it is filled with cream. Maybe it is because they use premium gourmet butter, but it was not rich in a heavy way at all. The gentle coffee aroma spread through it, and it was so delicious.

The strawberry one was also full of cream, yet so fresh and not heavy at all—it was delicious. Having it with coffee made all my stress melt away. I kept eating them; they were crisp, sweet, creamy, and so tasty that it was not easy to stop.

Both flavors were delicious and could not go wrong, so I felt the other flavors must be done well too. Next time, I plan to buy Chodang corn, black sesame, and the other flavors as well. But I cannot give up strawberry and coffee! I can already picture my future self packing up a huge amount from here again.

Which flavors should you choose for a first visit?

• Two things not to forget at Gangneung Sand: get the coffee flavor and get the strawberry flavor.
• Both flavors I tried were so delicious that I think the other flavors will be great too.
• Still, both of my choices were a success, so if it is your first visit and you are wondering what to buy, I think these two are well worth trying.
• The signature flavor at Gangneung Sand Main Branch is coffee.

Extra benefits and online ordering

Write a receipt review on Naver Place and you will receive a canned Americano.

You can also purchase Gangneung Sand online through the Naver Smart Store.

Overall

Gangneung Sand is delicious and makes a great gift. Both the coffee and strawberry flavors were so good that I am curious about the others and need to go back. They are perfect with coffee; the downside is that they are so tasty, I keep wanting more.