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When the Camellia Blooms (동백꽃 필 무렵) aired on KBS2 from September to November 2019. Gong Hyo-jin plays Dong-baek, a single mother who runs a bar in the small harbor town of Ongsan, and Kang Ha-neul plays Yong-sik, the local police officer who falls for her. It streams on Netflix.
Ongsan is fictional. VisitKorea and the press place it in Guryongpo, a fishing town on the east coast of Pohang, so this stop is confirmed.
Why visit Guryongpo
When the Camellia Blooms is set in Ongsan, a small harbor town where Dong-baek runs a bar and Yong-sik polices the streets. Ongsan is fictional — but its streets are real. VisitKorea and the press place it in Guryongpo, a fishing town on the east coast of Pohang, and its old Japanese-era house street is the drama’s main filming location. Walking it, you are walking Ongsan: wooden houses from the 1920s and 1930s, a working harbor at the end of the street, and a town that still lives off the sea.
That is the appeal of this guide in a sentence: it is one street, and it is worth the trip. In the 1920s and 1930s, fishing families from Japan settled in Guryongpo and built wooden houses along one street. Pohang City preserved about 450 meters of it as a history street, and VisitKorea says the drama used it as Ongsan. The street has a modern history museum in a former family house; VisitKorea notes it is closed on Mondays and free to enter. People still live and run shops here, so keep noise down and do not go into private yards.
The street is also a history lesson you can walk. The houses were built by Japanese fishing families who settled here when Guryongpo was a fishing port with close ties across the sea, and Pohang City’s preservation keeps that layer of the town visible instead of paved over. The modern history museum in a former family house is the place to start: it puts the street you are about to walk into context. VisitKorea notes the museum is closed on Mondays and free to enter, so plan a Tuesday-to-Sunday visit if you want to go inside.
Guryongpo also rewards the rest of the day. The harbor sits at the street’s end, the town is a working fishing port, and Pohang’s other drama stop — Cheongha Gongjin Market from Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha — is covered in our Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha guide; VisitKorea pairs the two. Pohang City also announced media art on the central stairs up to Guryongpo Park and a Café Camellia project on the street in 2023. One town, two dramas, one very walkable day.
The walk itself is the point. Start at the street, look in at Camellia, climb the park stairs for the poster view over the harbor, and finish at Hoho Myeonok, the real restaurant behind the drama’s fictional gejang house.
Visiting the street
- Guryongpo Japanese House Street — a street of wooden houses built by Japanese fishing families in the 1920s and 1930s, preserved by Pohang City as a history street. Free to walk; the modern history museum on the street closes on Mondays, according to VisitKorea. The street’s address is 153-1 Guryongpo-gil, Guryongpo-eup, Nam-gu, Pohang (VisitKorea). People live and run shops here, so keep noise down and do not go into private yards. The drama dressed one alley as a gejang street — the signs and flower-crab models are set dressing, not a real gejang village (per CEO Magazine and Travel Sketch). The Furusatoya teahouse and the fronts of the drama’s rice-cake shop and Sherry beauty salon still stand on the street (per CEO Magazine).
- Camellia (까멜리아인구룡포) — Dong-baek’s pub from the drama, at 133-1 Guryongpo-gil. VisitKorea lists it as now operating as a select shop and café selling coffee, desserts and souvenirs, with drinks served on the second floor of the Japanese-style wooden building. The building is the city’s Munhwa Masil cultural space (see stop 2).
- Guryongpo Park Stone Stairs — the stone stairs in the middle of the street, climbing to Guryongpo Park. KTO names them as the place famous for the scene of Dong-baek and Yong-sik sitting on the stairs with the sea view, and CEO Magazine identifies them as the background of the drama poster. From the top you look down over the harbor and the East Sea. The climb is steep; KTO notes wheelchair users should go around the sides by road.
- Hoho Myeonok (호호면옥) — the Chinese restaurant that CEO Magazine identifies as the real building behind Baekdu Gejang House, the fictional gejang restaurant run by Yong-sik’s mother Deok-soon. The drama used its exterior with the sign swapped. It is a working restaurant selling galbitang and naengmyeon — eat there rather than just photographing it.
- Guryongpo Port — the working harbor at the street’s end, about 200 m on foot from the Guryongpo transfer center (per VisitKorea). A working port: keep clear of boats and loading areas, and watch the sea from the shore.
- Guryongpo breakwater — a walk out along the breakwater passes trick art and the red lighthouse that appeared in the drama teaser (per Travel Sketch).
Plan your trip
Guryongpo is a day trip from Pohang city, and Pohang is the base. From Seoul, KTX runs to Pohang Station, and SRT runs from Suseo to Pohang; check the official timetables on Korail and SR. From Pohang Station, take bus 9000 from the 포항역 (Pohang Station) stop and get off at 구룡포환승센터; Guryongpo Port is about 200 m on foot (per VisitKorea, checked Sep 29, 2026). Check the official timetable on the Pohang bus information system before you go.
Give the street half a day including the harbor, and the full day if you pair it with Cheongha. For a ready-made itinerary, see our 1-day Pohang route, which covers both Pohang drama stops. For lodging, base yourself in Guryongpo itself or in Pohang city center, where there is more choice.
When to go. The street is best in spring, summer and autumn. Summer brings the harbor at its busiest and the east-coast beach season; spring and autumn bring milder walking weather. Gyeongju, inland from Pohang, is another possible base for the trip if you are combining the coast with Silla-era sights — but Pohang city center keeps you closest to the bus to Guryongpo.
How we checked
A spot is confirmed when two independent sources name it as a filming location; it is reported when the sources trace back to a single origin; it is fan-spotted when only fan sources connect it to the drama. Guryongpo Japanese House Street is confirmed: VisitKorea, Kukmin Ilbo and Pohang City tourism all name it as the drama’s Ongsan setting. The park stairs are confirmed: KTO, CEO Magazine and Travel Sketch all name them as the poster and scene stairs. Camellia is confirmed: VisitKorea’s place listing names it as Dong-baek’s pub, and CEO Magazine and Travel Sketch identify the building as the city’s Munhwa Masil cultural space where the exterior was filmed. Hoho Myeonok is reported: CEO Magazine names it as the real Baekdu Gejang House, with Travel Sketch corroborating the shop. Dong-baek’s house is left out because it appears to be a private home, Guryongpo Port because no source names the port itself as a filming location, and Homigot because no source ties it to the drama. Spot status was last checked on the dates shown on the card; we re-verify periodically and update when places close, change, or gain new sources.
Photos: All photos on this page are verified location photos, not drama stills: the hero and street photos are CC BY 4.0 (Mobius6 / Wikimedia Commons), the Camellia photo is KOGL Type 1 (VisitKorea), and the stairs photo is CC BY-SA 4.0 (Altostratus / Wikimedia Commons). Each is credited on its card.
Sources
All sources for this guide
Accessed Sep 27, 2026 (Asia/Seoul) unless noted.
- VisitKorea — Guryongpo Japanese House Street
- VisitKorea — Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha and When the Camellia Blooms filming locations in Pohang
- Kukmin Ilbo — Guryongpo Japanese House Street
- Pohang City tourism — Guryongpo Japanese House Street
- Netflix — When the Camellia Blooms
- Korail — Train timetable
- Pohang City — Bus information system (checked Sep 29, 2026)
- Korail — Train timetable (checked Nov 6, 2026)
- SR — SRT routes (checked Sep 29, 2026)
- VisitKorea — Camellia (까멜리아인구룡포) (accessed Oct 20, 2026)
- VisitKorea (KTO accessible travel) — Pohang course: Guryongpo Park stone stairs (accessed Nov 6, 2026)
- CEO Magazine (CEONEWS) — When the Camellia Blooms filming locations in Guryongpo (accessed Nov 6, 2026)
- Travel Sketch (여행스케치) — When the Camellia Blooms filming locations in Guryongpo (accessed Nov 6, 2026)
- Korea.kr (policy news) — Guryongpo: Hoho Myeonok, formerly the Daedeung Inn (accessed Nov 6, 2026)
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