K-Drama OSTs and the Real Places Behind Them: A Korea Travel Guide

There's a specific kind of chills you get when a familiar OST starts playing through your headphones and you realize you're standing in the exact spot where the scene happened. I've chased down a handful of these locations myself over a few trips to Korea, and I can say with total confidence: the song hits differently when you're there in person. Here's a rundown of the most iconic K-drama OSTs, the shows they belong to, and the real places you can visit to relive them.

1. Goblin — "Stay With Me" (Chanyeol & Punch)

📍 Location: Jumunjin Breakwater, Gangneung

If you've watched Goblin, you already know the moment I mean — Kim Shin's first meeting with Ji Eun-tak, with that soaring, melancholic track swelling in the background. That scene was filmed at the Jumunjin Breakwater on Korea's east coast, about two hours from Seoul near Gangneung.

I made the trip out there specifically for this, and it's worth saying: it's a quiet, working harbor, not a manicured tourist set piece, which somehow makes it more moving. Standing on the breakwater with the wind coming off the water, phone playing the OST, I finally understood why this scene became so iconic. Pair it with a stop in Gangneung proper for coffee — the city has become a bit of a café pilgrimage site in its own right — and you've got a full day trip from Seoul by KTX.

2. Crash Landing on You — "Then, My Beloved" (Baek Ye Jin)

📍 Location: Along the Han River, Seoul

Crash Landing on You's soundtrack is one of the most streamed in K-drama history, and this particular track plays during some of the quieter, more devastating moments between Yoon Se-ri and Ri Jeong-hyeok.

A lot of the Seoul-set romance in this show was filmed around the Han River, particularly near Banpo, where the Rainbow Fountain Bridge lights up at night. Walking along the river path at dusk with that OST playing is genuinely one of my favorite low-key Seoul evenings — no ticket, no line, just a bike rental and a good sunset. If you want to combine it with something else, Bukchon Hanok Village isn't far and shows up in several other dramas as well.

3. Descendants of the Sun — "Always" (Yoon Mi Rae)

📍 Location: Seoul's Hospital Districts & Studio Locations

This one's a bit different because most of the drama's dramatic "Uruk" scenes were actually filmed in Greece and other locations outside Korea. But the emotional Seoul-based moments — hospital corridors, quiet apartment scenes — used real hospital and studio locations around the city.

The soundtrack (especially "Always") became such a massive hit on its own that it's worth listening to even without the visual reference. If you're a completionist chasing filming spots, ask locally in Seoul's hospital-adjacent neighborhoods, but honestly, the bigger draw here is simply revisiting the OST — it holds up remarkably well almost a decade later.

4. It's Okay to Not Be Okay — Original Score

📍 Location: Yeongyang County, North Gyeongsang Province

This show's score leans instrumental and atmospheric rather than pop-vocal, which fits its fairy-tale visual style perfectly. A lot of the more whimsical outdoor scenes were filmed in and around Yeongyang County in North Gyeongsang Province — a much quieter, less touristy part of Korea than Seoul.

If you're the kind of traveler who likes getting off the beaten path, this is a genuinely refreshing detour: rolling countryside, small-town Korea, and none of the crowds you'll find at Bukchon or Myeongdong. I'd recommend renting a car for this one, since public transport out that way is limited.

5. Reply 1988 — "Deep in My Heart"

📍 Location: Ssangmun-dong Alleyways, Dobong-gu, Seoul

There's no big pop OST moment here — the magic of Reply 1988 is in its ambient, nostalgic soundtrack and its setting in Ssangmun-dong, a real residential neighborhood in Dobong-gu, Seoul. I'll admit this is one of the more understated pilgrimage spots on this list: narrow, stair-lined alleys, ordinary houses, nothing flashy.

But if you grew up on this drama the way a lot of fans did, walking these streets with the score playing quietly is a strangely emotional experience. It's also, coincidentally, the same neighborhood used for the opening scenes of Squid Game — a strange but real overlap between two completely different shows.

6. Itaewon Class — "Aloha Oe"

📍 Location: The Streets of Itaewon, Seoul

Itaewon Class leaned into its neighborhood setting hard, and the soundtrack's mellow, indie-rock energy matches the real Itaewon streets almost perfectly. The actual "DanBam" bar from the show was a set, but the surrounding blocks — the slopes, the international restaurants, the late-night energy — are all real and walkable.

I spent an evening just wandering this neighborhood with the OST on, and it's one of the few times a drama's soundtrack and its real-world setting matched up so closely that it felt like I was inside an episode.

7. Squid Game — "Way Back Then"

📍 Location: Ssangmun-dong / Yangjae Station, Seoul

Squid Game doesn't have a conventional love-song OST, but its haunting instrumental score and the eerie children's-game motifs (that whistled tune, in particular) have become globally recognizable on their own.

The quieter, "before the games" scenes were filmed in the same Ssangmun-dong area as Reply 1988, while a well-known ddakji-recruitment scene was filmed at a real Seoul subway platform near Yangjae Station. Visiting after watching the show is a genuinely strange feeling — these are completely mundane, everyday Seoul locations that suddenly carry a lot of psychological weight.

8. The Glory — Original Score

📍 Location: Provincial Schools and Seoul

The Glory's score is deliberately restrained and cold, mirroring its revenge-thriller tone, and much of the school-set drama was filmed at real, working or decommissioned Korean schools outside central Seoul.

This one's less of a classic "song and location" pairing and more of a mood pairing — if you visit any quiet, slightly worn Korean high school building, you'll understand the atmosphere the show and its score were going for.

💡 Practical Notes From a K-Drama Traveler

A few things I picked up doing this myself:

On-Location Reality: Most of these locations are free and open to the public since Korean dramas are filmed on location far more often than in studio sets, so you're genuinely walking through real neighborhoods.
Navigation Tip: Search [drama name] + 촬영지 (filming location) on Naver Map before you go — it's far more accurate for Korea than Google Maps.
Local Respect: Be respectful once you're there; a lot of these are still residential areas where people live their everyday lives, not attractions built for tourists.

Recommended 1-Day Itinerary: Start in Bukchon Hanok Village in the morning, head to the Han River for lunch and a walk along Banpo, and end the day at N Seoul Tower on Namsan for sunset, headphones in, whichever OST feels right for the mood you're in.

It's the closest thing to living inside a K-drama that Seoul has to offer.