Winter Sonata — Filming Locations & Real Places

My mom's Instagram profile photo hasn't changed in years — a tree-lined path blanketed in snow, a tunnel of trees fading into a soft haze. I asked if it was from some recent trip. She laughed and said, 'That's Namiseom Island — where they filmed Winter Sonata.'

I knew the name. Filed loosely under 'some old drama moms like.' I'd never actually watched it, though — it aired in 2002, before I was even born.

So I went digging on YouTube. Videos titled things like 'Winter Sonata's Greatest Scenes' and 'Winter Sonata's Ending, Explained' had millions of views. A drama over twenty years old, and people are still watching it like this?

I clicked through a few. The picture quality isn't as sharp as modern shows, but for some reason I kept watching. One three-second clip of Bae Yong-joon taking off his glasses had over 8,000 comments, with a caption explaining that this single moment caused a sensation in Japan.

I'd heard the stories growing up — Japanese tourists flying to Korea in tour groups just to see Bae Yong-joon. I always dismissed it as my mom's generation being a little dramatic. But watching the actual fan-meeting footage in the clips, I realized it wasn't exaggerated at all — crowds lined up at the airport gate, people crying, handmade banners.

Scrolling through the comments, I noticed people around my own age writing things like 'watched this with my mom growing up' or 'this needs a remake.' I wasn't the only one discovering it late.

남이섬 메타세쿼이아 가로수길, 겨울연가 촬영지 · Wikimedia Commons

This time I actually looked up the filming locations. That tree-lined path she loves so much — it's real. It's still there, on Namiseom, even nicknamed 'Winter Sonata Road' with an actual signpost.

Not everything survived, though. Jungdo Island, where they walk along the lake, is now the site of Legoland Korea — that whole landscape is gone. Jun-sang's house in Chuncheon was finally torn down in 2021.

When I told my mom that, she went quiet for a second, then just said, 'I see.' Between the energy I'd seen in those YouTube comments and my mom's quiet response just now, I could feel exactly twenty years sitting in the gap.

Oedo Island in Geoje, where the finale was filmed, is apparently still there. I looked up the ending clips too — everyone already knows how it goes by now, but I think that last scene is something worth watching for yourself, so I'll leave it there.

Digging into a drama from my mom's generation through nothing but clips, it still hit me: these aren't just old stories. They're real places that existed somewhere in her twenties — not scenery on a screen, but actual coordinates you can stand on.

Next time I'm at Namiseom, I want to take a photo at the exact same angle as her profile picture. This time, after actually watching the whole thing myself.