Sweet corn cream cake at Cafe Neorae, a Sokcho sundubu-village café

While traveling in Sokcho, Gangwon-do, there happened to be a café right next to where we'd just had lunch, so instead of traveling far we decided to grab coffee there. It turned out to be Cafe Neorae, a large Sokcho café where you can look out through huge floor-to-ceiling windows at Seoraksan and Ulsanbawi rock. If you're looking for things to do in Gangwon-do and want to enjoy scenery in Sokcho that's different from the usual ocean view, this one might be worth checking out :)

Where is Cafe Neorae? Right next door to the sundubu restaurant

Cafe Neorae is a large café in the Haksapyeong sundubu (soft tofu) village of Sokcho, right next to Jinsol Halmoni Sundubu. After eating lunch there, we looked up places to go nearby and found out there was a large Ulsanbawi-view café right next door, so we stopped in after our meal. Getting back in the car to drive to a café after a meal while traveling can be a hassle, so being able to just walk right over was really nice.

The Cafe Neorae building you can spot from down the road

When you arrive at the building, you can see the big 'cafe 너래' (Neorae) sign in the upper right. The whole front of the building is made of large glass windows, so it already looks impressively open from the outside.

Cafe Neorae floor by floor: seating and atmosphere

The 1st floor of the building is the tofu restaurant, and the café takes up floors 2 through 4. Riding the elevator up, you can already see the café's signature menu items displayed.

Walking into the 2nd floor, the first thing I noticed was how open the space felt. With the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, it felt even more spacious than it actually was.

Red brick pillars, wood-tone furniture, rattan decor, lighting, and plants were placed throughout.

Rather than a flashy, over-decorated large café, it felt comfortably in tune with the natural scenery around it.

There's also a nicely set-up photo zone further inside, so I took several shots with my mom there :)

Even the staircase up to the next floor is this pretty!? Every corner of Cafe Neorae is a photo zone!

Head up to the 3rd floor and you get an even wider window view than the 2nd floor. Once you sit down, the Ulsanbawi scenery opens up right in front of you.

When I visited, the sun was shining and the sky was clear, so the whole space felt bright. Even without an official photo zone, there were good photo spots everywhere.

Ulsanbawi views from the Cafe Neorae windows and rooftop

The scenery that stuck with me most at Cafe Neorae was the Ulsanbawi view. Looking out the window, you first see low buildings, fields, and green trees, and behind that, the huge Seoraksan ridge and Ulsanbawi.

The view from inside through the windows is already good, but heading up to the rooftop opens things up even more. Blue sky peeking through big clouds, with Ulsanbawi's distinctive craggy ridge stretching below — seeing it in person felt way more refreshing than any photo.

Looking at the green scenery spread below the mountain and the imposing Ulsanbawi behind it, it really hit me that we were traveling near Seoraksan. Of course, mountain views are heavily affected by weather, so how much you can see will vary depending on the day you visit.

Cafe Neorae menu and what we ordered

Before ordering, we looked over the menu board. There was a surprisingly wide range beyond just coffee — non-coffee drinks, tea, ade, and smoothies.

There's also a variety of bread and desserts.

Cafe Neorae has its own signature menu too. Beyond the usual coffee drinks, they have items made with okara (soybean pulp), which felt like a fun twist given the neighborhood. Since we'd eaten so much tofu at lunch... we decided to save the signature drinks for next time. At the bottom of the menu board there's a notice that one drink per person is required inside the café, so keep that in mind if you visit.

We ordered an iced americano, a blue lemon ade, and a sweet corn cream cake.

Even when you're full, there's always room for dessert, right? There was no way I could walk past that sweet corn cream cake.

One bite in, and the nutty, sweet corn cream had me smiling 💛

Self-serve bar, restroom and visiting Cafe Neorae with kids

Cafe Neorae has a self-serve bar tucked to one side on each floor. A large water dispenser, paper cups, tissues, and trays were all neatly arranged in one spot, easy to use whenever needed, and it all looked well kept and clean.

I also snapped a photo of the restroom area — the gray-toned interior was clean throughout. When you're traveling, how comfortable the restroom is can matter more than you'd think when choosing a café or restaurant. There's also a diaper-changing station, so it might be worth noting for anyone traveling in Sokcho with a baby.

Is Cafe Neorae worth it for the Ulsanbawi view?

We didn't originally set out to visit Cafe Neorae specifically — it just happened to be right next to where we had lunch, so we stopped in for coffee afterward. But the Seoraksan and Ulsanbawi scenery under a blue sky is the kind of thing that's going to stick in my memory for a while. If you've always gone to ocean-view cafés in Gangwon-do, resting with a mountain view like this could make for a nice change of pace. If you're looking for things to do in Gangwon-do or a large Sokcho café near Seoraksan with an Ulsanbawi view, Cafe Neorae is worth considering :)