Alpensia Resort: Pyeongchang's 2018 Winter Olympics Home

Alpensia Resort (알펜시아 리조트) is a large mountain resort complex in Daegwallyeong-myeon, Pyeongchang County, Gangwon Province, sitting at an elevation of 700 to 1,300 metres in the Taebaek Mountain range. The resort was purpose-built to host the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Paralympics, providing venues for alpine skiing, biathlon, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, Nordic combined, and the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies. Post-Olympics, the facilities have been converted into a public resort offering ski slopes, an indoor water park, golf courses, concert halls, and luxury hotels.

Pyeongchang bid three times over twelve years to host the Winter Olympics before the IOC awarded the 2018 Games to the region in 2011. The choice of Pyeongchang — a relatively small agricultural county — was intended to boost regional development in Gangwon Province and to grow winter sports participation in East Asia. The Games were held in February 2018 under exceptionally cold conditions and were notable for the inter-Korean march under a unified flag at the opening ceremony. The construction of the KTX Gyeonggang Line specifically for the Olympics reduced travel time from Seoul to the resort to under two hours, making it permanently accessible for weekend visitors.

Winter visitors can ski and snowboard on the Olympic slopes, some of which are maintained at competition standard. The Olympic Museum within the resort documents the 2018 Games with medals, equipment, and video installations. Year-round attractions include the Alpensia Music Festival — an outdoor classical music event held each summer against the mountain backdrop — and an indoor water park that operates through all seasons.

The resort is most crowded on January and February weekends — book ski slope access and accommodation well in advance. The KTX train from Seoul to Jinbu Station takes 1 hour 40 minutes, from which a shuttle bus reaches the resort in 20 minutes. Summer visits offer a peaceful alpine environment with significantly discounted accommodation rates.