Yangyang Wellness Hotel “Potalaka Naksan Beach” Brings Donghae Sunrise and the Mercy of Avalokiteshvara
The morning at Naksan arrives first with the sound of waves. Before the darkness fully lifts, the sea pushes up a reddish glow, and when you stand facing that light, the mind that tossed and turned all night gradually settles. On this spot in Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province’s Yangyang Naksan Beach—next to the thousand-year-old temple Naksan Temple—“Potalaka Naksan Beach Wellness Hotel” opened its doors on July 1.
Potalaka looks different from the face of a familiar sightseeing hotel. It is a wellness-focused hotel that brings meditation and healing, along with nature and Buddhist culture, into one space. It also offers a training-style retreat space—something rarely seen in the Buddhist community. As travel has been shifting from experiences where people hurriedly see as much as possible to trips that come back refreshed and restored, this hotel turns the very act of staying into a practice.
“Potalaka,” the Name of an Ideal Realm Where Compassion Resides
The hotel name Potalaka comes from Sanskrit. 《LANGLE_BRACKET__Flower Garland Sutra〉》 In the chapter on entering the Bodhisattva Dharma realm, it is said that the place where Bodhisattva Munsu (Seonjae Dongja) walked in search of a teacher and met Avalokiteshvara was called Potaraka Mountain (補陀洛迦山). The hotel holds in its name that very land of compassion where Avalokiteshvara is said to remain.
Naksan Temple, facing the East Sea, is a representative site of worship of Avalokiteshvara, preserving stories that Uisang Daesa met Avalokiteshvara. In the name Potalaka, there is a wish to connect the spirit of the Avalokiteshvara faith that lingers in Naksan with today’s wellness culture. While travelers rest and look out at the sea, they can encounter a pilgrimage of Avalokiteshvara sites, meditation, and healing of the mind all in one place.
Rooms Put to Sleep by the Waves, Awakened by Sunrise
Potalaka spans five floors above ground and has 10 rooms. Options include a Forest Standard Ondol (floor-heated room), as well as twin and double rooms facing the forest. They continue into ocean-view premium doubles and twins with the East Sea in full view, as well as spacious Forest Family Suites and Ocean-View Wellness Suites. On the top floor, the fifth level, there is the Potalaka Sunrise Suite for taking in the morning sun in full, and the Forest Signature Suite, which covers 72㎡.
The rooms are designed around natural materials and comfortable layouts, aiming for a sense of psychological stability. They use a 100% goose-down bedding set on Simmons beds, and they stock top-of-the-line vegan products for amenities ranging from shampoo to body wash. The air inside the room is tuned to stay calm enough for you to read books, meditate, and relax while listening to the sound of the waves.
During Your Stay, Wellness You Experience With Your Whole Body
Potalaka’s day is filled with programs. Its signature program, sunrise yoga, wakes your body as you watch the East Sea and the sunlight at the time when the sun rises. After that come meditation and mindfulness with a professional guide, hatha yoga and stretching to loosen stiff muscles, and sound therapy that follows the gentle resonance of singing bowls. There is also tea meditation, where you settle your mind while savoring five types of tea, from green tea to black tea.
The yoga studio on the fourth floor is a space that represents the hotel. Through wide windows, you can see the East Sea at a glance, and the room is spacious enough for as many as 60 people to practice yoga together. At the lounge bar, open from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., guests wrap up the day with tea and light snacks.
Table Settings and Poetry (詩), Another Face of Healing
Potalaka’s biggest asset is the East Sea itself and Naksan Beach. Guests can enjoy walking meditation along the beach in front of the hotel, and depending on the season, they can participate in forest-path walking, sea meditation, and breath practices suited to their physical condition.
Even meals are a pillar of healing. Mindful Kitchen serves healthy dishes using seasonal ingredients from Yangyang. On the weekend breakfast buffet, you can find a wellness bibimbap based on temple cuisine and tofu baked with sancho oil. The table setting reflects the Buddhist belief that food itself is part of practice—translating that mindset into today’s food culture.
In the basement level 1, the Mu-san Gallery displays works by Seoraksan Dang Mu-san Great Venerable (Jo Hyeon, 1932–2018). He was the chief monk at Sinheungsa and Baekdamsa, and also an opening poet who pioneered Korean sijo poems. He is the monk who left a stupa tower in front of the sea-water Avalokiteshvara statue at Naksan Temple. In the guest rooms, the hotel also provides a mind notebook where you can copy poems by Han Yong-un and those by Mu-san, so guests can record the lingering feelings of wellness with their fingertips. Across the property, it has filled spaces for rest—from the fitness center and sea-water sauna to the book café, the Tea Lounge “Kam,” and the Café Udaya.
“I hope healing comes just from staying”
Representative Seonil Venerable explained Potalaka as more than a simple lodging facility, saying it is a space where guests experience compassion and healing. He said that, down to even the most minute details, the hotel looked to embed the value of compassion in every element that makes up the property—from the facilities and scenery to the food and wellness programs. The hotel places weight on letting visitors naturally gain a sense of inner stability and healing while they stay.
Seonil Venerable also said he wants to create a space that anyone can visit comfortably, regardless of religion. Even people who were not particularly interested in Naksan Temple, he said, can learn the meaning of compassion through the time they spend staying at Potalaka and awaken the compassion that lies dormant within them.
All of Potalaka, Packed Into One Night—All Through July
Compassion is not far away. It is already complete inside you. In front of the quiet sea of Naksan where Avalokiteshvara abides, Potalaka welcomes its first guests. For those who will join in the start, the hotel operates its “Grand Opening Wellness Package,” which includes all the wellness offerings Potalaka has—limited to July only—for one month.
This is the single package designed so that guests can experience Potalaka’s wellness naturally during their stay, without having to choose separately. The operating period runs from July 1, 2026, through July 31.
Sunrise yoga, held each morning timed to the moment the sun rises over the East Sea, is the first greeting of the day at Potalaka. In that time when the sea meets the sky, it is easy to move your body slowly and wake your mind.
The grand opening package is offered only during the month of July and may be closed early depending on room availability.
A New Milestone for Korea-Style Wellness Tourism
Global tourism is rapidly shifting toward wellness tourism. Amid a new trend in which travel aimed at restoring physical and mental health beyond rest is taking root, Potalaka presents a Korea-style wellness model that ties together Buddhist meditation and the spirit of compassion, devotion to Avalokiteshvara, and the natural beauty of the East Sea. With surrounding tourism resources—from Naksan Temple and Uisang Dae-sa to Hongryeonam and Naksan Beach—blended together, guests can enjoy a stay-type trip that combines sightseeing, practice, and rest.
