Wonsan Kalma: My trip to North Korea’s ‘Benidorm’

It was the safety guards accompanying Anastasia Samsonova’s group that steered this wasn’t a typical seaside vacation.

In July, the 33-year-old human assets employee was one of many first vacationers to remain at a brand new vacation resort in North Korea, a rustic largely closed to the skin world.

Set in an unique space on the east coast the place chief Kim Jong Un spent a lot of his youth, the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Vacationer Zone opened on 1 July.

Constructed close to a missile testing web site, the resort options lodges, eating places, purchasing malls and a water park, based on state media.

However whereas it was initially billed as being open to worldwide vacationers, up to now solely Russians, coming into in teams and organised by accredited journey businesses, have been allowed in.

Anastasia travelled there final month with 14 different individuals. The go to was tightly managed, with guides and guards accompanying them and a hard and fast itinerary that would not be diverged from with out permission from North Korean authorities.

She says the guides instructed her the guards have been wanted to “forestall conditions the place we interacted with locals and startled them”.

“Once we walked down the road, they [North Koreans] checked out us with nice shock as a result of the nation has been closed for a really very long time,” says Anastasia.

BBC Information Russian bought involved along with her after looking out the geotags of individuals on social media who had travelled to the resort, independently of any journey company or media outlet.

Anastasia says her group was additionally instructed to not {photograph} development websites and was anticipated to not put on revealing garments.

But regardless of the restrictions, she says she “loved a trip with out individuals” on almost-empty seashores with white sand.

“Day-after-day the [beach] was cleaned and levelled completely. All the things was immaculate,” she says.

“The loungers have been completely new, every thing spotless. The doorway to the ocean was very mild, so sure, it actually was an excellent seaside.”

For the reason that Covid pandemic, worldwide tourism into North Korea had been on pause to stop the unfold of the virus.

However final 12 months, the republic started permitting Russian vacationers to go to once more.

In February, it additionally began receiving vacationers from the West, together with Australia, France, Germany and the UK, although it abruptly halted this weeks later, with out saying why.

Wonsan Kalma has been touted as a key a part of Kim’s ambitions to spice up tourism within the nation.

It’s stated to have drawn inspiration from Spain’s tourism hotspot Benidorm, the place a North Korean delegation was despatched on a fact-finding mission in 2017.

However particulars of the way it was constructed have been shrouded in secrecy, and human rights teams have criticised the alleged harsh therapy of staff.

Weeks after it opened, North Korea introduced that foreigners have been “quickly” not allowed to go to – besides vacationers from Russia, an ally of the republic.

Up to now, two Russian tour teams have visited the resort, with one other at the moment there.

Every week-long journey from Russia to North Korea, together with three days on the Wonsan Kalma resort, prices $1,800 (£1,300) – 60% greater than the typical month-to-month wage in Russia.

Some adverts for the journey even reference the close by missile testing web site, describing it as a “distinctive” trip spot.

Anastasia says no missiles have been launched whereas she was there, however toy rockets have been being offered close by for $40 (£30).

Describing a typical day whereas on her journey, Anastasia says the group would have breakfast at 08:00 when a number of actions have been deliberate and 09:30 on a extra relaxed day.

When it comes to the meals they got, there was “a number of meat”, usually in candy and bitter sauce, and a dish involving finely-chopped cabbage and carrots in sauce.

She says a 500ml bottle of beer was very low-cost, costing about 60 cents on the seaside, whereas the memento of alternative for vacationers was North Korean Olympic clothes.

One other vacationer, Daria, writing on Instagram, described the resort as “very uncooked” and “not the sort of trip Russian vacationers are used to”.

“However should you’re bored with Asia, Turkey, and many others., and need one thing unique — that is it,” she added.

Nevertheless, there may be uncertainty over when the subsequent Russian vacationers shall be allowed into Wonsan Kalma.

The journey company which organised the primary three journeys to the resort, Vostok Intur, stated there was excessive curiosity in potential excursions in September, however North Korean authorities had but to comply with them.

Initially, excursions have been marketed on-line by Russian journey businesses for mid-September, however these have been later eliminated.

It isn’t simply Russians who face difficulties attending to Wonsan Kalma.

Even residents of China, which borders North Korea and is its principal ally and financial accomplice, are having difficulties accessing the resort, based on Andrei Lankov, an skilled in North Korea-Russia relations and a professor at Kookmin College in Seoul.

He says Pyongyang intentionally limits the variety of vacationers and intently controls their actions, partly so North Koreans will not examine themselves unfavourably to richer foreigners.

“Abnormal individuals would possibly start to surprise, ‘How is it that even with out our nice chief, or his son or daughter, they appear to stay so properly?'”, Lankov says.

For that purpose, North Korea has concluded it is largely higher to not have too many foreigners coming into the nation, he provides.

With journey restrictions into North Korea easing, tourism from Russia has been rising, although it stays modest in contrast with different locations.

In 2024, about 1,500 Russians travelled to North Korea for tourism, based on Russia’s Federal Safety Service border guards.

In distinction, greater than 6.7 million visited Turkey and nearly 1.9 million went to China.

Nevertheless, within the second quarter of 2025, 1,673 Russians entered North Korea as vacationers – a degree final seen in 2010, earlier than vacationer restrictions have been launched.

Wonsan Kalma is seen as key to reviving North Korea’s ailing financial fortunes, nevertheless it’s not been with out controversy.

For the reason that resort started development in 2018, human rights teams have protested the alleged mistreatment of its staff. They level to studies of individuals being pressured to work lengthy hours to complete the large mission below harsh circumstances and insufficient compensation.

The BBC has approached the North Korean embassy in London for remark.

Regardless of the challenges of attending to Wonsan Kalma, and the restrictions on what Russian vacationers can do after they arrive in North Korea, Anastasia says she hopes to return again subsequent 12 months.

“We’re really serious about gathering the entire group subsequent 12 months to go to the identical place.

“I am undecided if it is going to work out, however I’ve heard there’s additionally a ski resort close to Wonsan Kalma. So, perhaps someday I will go to that resort too.”