Crash Landing on You Filmed Here — and It's Purple Right Now

Muneungbyeolyucheonji (무릉별유천지) in Donghae, Gangwon Province is one of those places that looks too cinematic to be real — which is exactly why Korean drama and variety show crews keep coming back. The site was a limestone quarry mined from 1968 until it was converted into a tourist destination, opening in November 2021. What was left behind: two emerald lakes, Cheongokho and Geumgokho, whose water turns that uncanny green because dissolved limestone minerals refract light differently. The depth reaches up to 30 meters in places. It reads less like a Korean countryside park and more like a set designer's dream.

The drama credentials are real. Crash Landing on You, Judge from Hell, and Seven Escape all filmed here — the landscape is distinctive enough that you'd clock it immediately if you've watched any of them. Variety shows including Penthouse, House on Wheels, and 2 Days 1 Night have also used the location, so it has that layered familiarity for anyone who's spent serious time in the Korean TV rabbit hole. Coming here feels less like a tourist stop and more like walking into a scene you've already watched.

Right now, through June 21, the site is running its Lavender Festival — theme: "Starlight Blooming Lavender." The lavender garden covers an area equivalent to three soccer fields, planted with English lavender, sweet lavender, and French lavender varieties. The evening program is the real draw: landscape lighting mixes with moonlight over the purple field, and the Dumiru Observatory gives you a full aerial view of the garden below. It's the kind of night shot that earns its own reel.

Daytime programming includes bubble shows, acoustic busking, a DJ set, and a singing bowl meditation session — so there's a full day's worth of activity even if you're not an adrenaline person. But if you are: the Sky Glider drops you from a height attached under eagle-shaped wings at over 80 km/h, there's a 300-meter roller coaster-style zipline through a pine forest, an off-road luge on old quarry roads, and an alpine coaster on a curved elevated rail. The combination of "lavender field at dusk" and "quarry-turned-thrill-park" is genuinely unusual — it works for a couple's trip and a group trip equally.

For overseas visitors planning a Gangwon leg: Donghae is on the east coast, so this pairs well with a Sokcho or Gangneung stop rather than a day trip from Seoul. The festival window is tight — June 13 to 21 only — so if your travel dates overlap, this is worth building an itinerary around rather than treating as a maybe. The lavender blooms and the emerald lakes together in the same frame is the kind of visual that doesn't need a filter.

No but the Crash Landing on You location pull alone would get fans here — the lavender festival on top of it is just the timing working in your favor.