Inside North Korea’s Benidorm-style beach resort with tight controls on visitors

The resort includes all the elements of a sunshine holiday, from a beach to waterslides, yet only carefully vetted people will be able to put their feet up and enjoy a stay in the secretive country

When you look at photos of the Wonsan Kalma resort, it could be any hotel in a destination beloved by Brits, from Spain to Turkey, Portugal or Greece. Seemingly carefree tourists queue for colourful waterslides, float on inflatables, and frolic on sandy beaches.

But the images aren’t from any tourist destination likely to be on your bucket list. Rather, they come from the secretive state of North Korea, who in summer 2025 launched a state-built coastal tourism project on its east coast. And despite being promoted by Kim Jong Un as a way to turn the country into a tourist hotspot, it’s unlikely to be welcoming British sunseekers anytime soon.

For start, the Foreign Office currently advises against all but essential travel to North Korea.

Meanwhile the resort has mostly been open to domestic visitors, with a few international visitors from Russia allowed to enjoy its facilities. Bookings are tightly controlled, with pre-planned itineraries and official guides mandatory, meaning it’s a less than spontaneous travel experience. Visitors are unlikely to want to leave the guard-patrolled zone by themselves anyway, as it’s reportedly close to military and missile testing sites.

The resort is found in the coastal city of Wonsan, which sits on a long stretch of sandy beach. It’s long been a stop on tours of North Korea for the small number of foreign visitors who’ve been allowed through its borders. Back in 2018, Kim Jong Un announced an ambitious project to create the Wonsan Kalma Coastal Tourist Zone, which was initially slated to have a number of luxury hotels and facilities to rival the world’s top resorts.

A typhoon in 2020 set back construction, before the resort, which state media reports can hold 20,000 tourists, eventually opened last summer. Photos of the opening event, supplied by local media appear to show Kim Jong Un waving to an enthusiastic crowd in front of a grand firework display.

A Russian visitor, Anastasia Samsonova, described her break at the resort to the BBC in an interview last July. She said the trip was tightly controlled, with any deviation from the itinerary needing to be approved by North Korean officials.

Anastasia also revealed that she was asked to dress modestly, and that she was not allowed to photograph construction sites. However, she did enjoy the quiet resort, where the beach was cleaned and levelled perfectly every morning for guests.

She also told the BBC that the food included “lots of meat”, including sweet and sour dishes, and that a beer cost just 60 cents (around 44p). Souvenirs that tourists could pick up included Olympic clothing emblazoned with the North Korean team’s logos, and toy rockets draped in the country’s flags.

Specific details of the resort are sparse, with only glossy photos released by the government to offer a glimpse of what it’s like. Photos of a waterpark and people enjoying pools have been released, as well as some of locals heading out to the beach with inflatables.

A Russian travel website, which appears to be offering trips to the area from June to September describes its itinerary as: “Sea and experience: morning beaches of Wonsan, comfortable hotels, delicious dinners, and then vibrant Pyongyang with its panoramas, arches, fountains, and metro. Easy logistics, a Russian-speaking guide, all inclusive. The perfect mix of relaxation and exciting discoveries—book now!” An eight-day trip will set Russian visitors back 45,000 Rubles, around £415.

The resort attracted criticism during its construction phase by human rights groups concerned about the treatment of workers. There were allegations of forced labour, as well as poor pay and conditions, and there were concerns around the secrecy surrounding its construction.

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