Originally Posted by
monahos
A more adventurous option would be to drive down the western coast of Korea, which has its share of beaches. The infrastructure does not cater to foreigners, but I have great memories from hosted trips to the area in the 70's, driving through lush rice fields, fragrant pine trees, and staying in rented bungalows literally on the beach (which I understand mostly made way to concrete resorts). Careful with ebbing tides, as they can be very strong in the Yellow Sea.
My experiences are from 2000 - 05 but it still is somewhat problematic to simply get to the beachside restaurants and spas if you do not speak Korean or have local friends. Two Cholla Southern Province cities, namely Mokpo on the SW coast and Yeosu on the S coast have especially high rated Korean sashimi and crab/lobster restaurants.