Yangyang café for a dolce latte and boat ride with Mom: Cafe Dunchi

I went on a trip to Sokcho and Yangyang with my mom, and on the last day, after lunch, it felt like a shame to just head home. So our final stop was 'Cafe Dunchi' (카페 둔치) on the Namdaecheon river in Yangyang!

Namdaecheon is famous for its views, with flower fields, reed beds and even a park golf course, so it gets plenty of visitors. The view around Cafe Dunchi is especially good, so I'd really recommend going on a nice day +_+ It's a floating café on the river, and you can even ride an electric boat from there~ For anyone looking for things to do in Yangyang, I'll cover boat prices, parking and tips in this review.

Where is Cafe Dunchi, and how is the parking?

Cafe Dunchi is at 295 Ilchul-ro, Yangyang-eup, Yangyang-gun, Gangwon (lot address: 95-45 Josan-ri), and you can use the free parking lot in front. It sits on the lower Namdaecheon, so just turn your head and you take in the sea horizon and the mountains at once. The 1st floor is the Namdaecheon water leisure experience center and the 2nd floor is the café.

Just use the lot in front of the shop, and it's free 👍

Right next door is the Namdaecheon Salmon Ecological Park, which has a deck road and an observatory that are great for a walk. The path is lined with reeds and water silvergrass, so even just walking it makes a worthwhile stop in Yangyang. Café, boat and walk all in one go, so the route is really well packed.

Cafe Dunchi opening hours and boat hours

The café is open daily 10:00–21:00, with last order at 20:30. Boats run 10:00–18:00, so if you want to ride, go during the day. Reservations, takeout and delivery are available, and group seating works for 4–20 people.

Dolce latte and café latte with my mom on the 2nd floor

We ordered one iced dolce latte and one hot café latte. First-timers, head up to the 2nd-floor café first, have your drinks and desserts, and enjoy the Namdaecheon view. Calm river water spreads out outside the window, and Mom and I just relaxed and took it all in 💙

They say the beans come in small batches, often, from a roastery in Gangneung, the coffee city. The cheong (fruit syrup) used in the drinks is made in-house, and desserts like yanggaeng and almond tuile are handmade too. Hearing the beans are received fresh made each cup feel more trustworthy. There are blankets for anyone who gets cold, so a chilly autumn day is no worry.

Cafe Dunchi menu and prices

Coffee starts at ₩5,500, and desserts start at ₩3,000 for the handmade kohakuto. Here are the drink and dessert prices.

• Iced Americano ₩5,500
• Café latte ₩5,500 / iced café latte ₩6,000
• Handmade lemonade ₩7,000
• Freshly baked egg tart (1 pc) ₩4,000
• Handmade yanggaeng (sweet bean jelly) (small) ₩6,000 / (large) ₩11,000
• Croffle ₩7,500
• Handmade kohakuto ₩3,000

The egg tarts are baked every morning and sold only that day. If you go with a kid, I think sharing one dessert each and then heading down to the boat would be perfect.

Why Cafe Dunchi is good for kids

The electric boats at Cafe Dunchi aren't fast, so kids can ride without being scared. Depending on the season, you can apparently also see salmon and Amur ide (hwang-eo) that return to Namdaecheon leaping above the water. For kids it's a living nature experience, so I highly recommend it as a family trip stop in Yangyang. Rest at the café, ride the boat, then stroll the ecological park, and it's plenty for a half-day out in Yangyang.

How much are the electric boat and the sailboat?

Electric boat (self-driven)

The electric boat at Cafe Dunchi is a self-driven experience, ₩30,000 for a 1–4 person boat and ₩35,000 for a 1–6 person boat, for 30 minutes.

• Electric boat (1–4 people) ₩30,000 per boat / 30 minutes
• Electric boat (1–6 people) ₩35,000 per boat / 30 minutes

It's an electric motor boat, so it isn't fast, and they say it's safe even with kids. You can bring drinks onto the boat, so riding with a coffee in hand makes the mood even better haha A coffee on the river, this was honestly my first time finding something like this to do in Yangyang.

Yellow-sail boat (hwangpo dotbae)

The Namdaecheon yellow-sail boat (hwangpo dotbae) ride needs at least 8 people and takes up to 12. The ride lasts 20 minutes.

• Child (13 and under) ₩6,000
• Teen (14–19) ₩8,000
• Adult (20 and over) ₩10,000

For families or groups, the yellow-sail boat would be a different kind of Yangyang activity too.

Driving the Namdaecheon electric boat myself

After relaxing on the 2nd floor, we went down to the 1st floor, put on life jackets and took the electric boat. The view from the 2nd-floor café and the view from the boat feel completely different.

Namdaecheon from the boat was just mysterious. Feeling the quiet autumn atmosphere in the middle of the river was so, so good.

It would be such a waste to visit only the café. If you come to Cafe Dunchi, definitely take the boat too! For anyone looking for an unusual thing to do in Yangyang, nothing beats it.

Tips for visiting Cafe Dunchi

• Boats run only until 18:00, so if you go late in the afternoon you may not be able to ride.
• It's on the river, so it can get quite windy. Bring a jacket in autumn and winter.
• Cherry blossoms in spring and reeds and silvergrass in autumn are spectacular, so the scenery changes with each season.
• The yellow-sail boat needs 8 or more people, so for a small group I recommend the electric boat.

Thanks to this, we wrapped up the very end of our Sokcho–Yangyang trip with Mom in a really fun way. Next time I want to come back in spring when the cherry blossoms bloom and ride the boat again. If you're looking for places to visit in Yangyang, Gangwon, or something fun to do with kids in Yangyang, I highly recommend Cafe Dunchi 👍