10 K-Dramas for a Summer Escape

Summer Scent (2003)

An absolute classic starring two amazingly talented actors, Song Seung Heon and Son Ye Jin, Summer Scent is the third installment of season-themed drama series, Endless Love, directed by Yoon Seok-ho. It follows Yoo Min-woo (Song Seung Heon) as he struggles to move on from the tragic loss of his first love, Seo Eun-hye. He meets Shim Hye Won, a florist, who reminds him so much of his lost love.

Photo Credit: KBS

Summer Scent (2003)

This is because after years of suffering from a terrible heart disease, Hye Won gets a heart from a donor… who happens to be Eun-hye. When she’s around Min Woo, Hye Won finds her heart (Eun Hye's heart) oddly beating faster. Conflict arises when her feelings for Min Woo grow, and get in the way of her relationship with her fiance, Jung-jae. Things get even more complicated and heartbreaking as time goes by, but ultimately love prevails. Watch this and grab the tissues!

Photo Credit: KBS

The Heirs (2013)

This teen drama follows a group of privileged high school students as they’re being groomed to take over their families’ business empires, overcoming difficulties and growing every step of the way. Kim Tan (Lee Min Ho), a wealthy heir to a large conglomerate, was exiled to the United States by his brother who is trying to take control of the business. There, he meets Cha Eun Sang (Park Shin Hye) who had been living there to look for her sister. He’s engaged to Kim Ji-won’s Yoo Rachel but that doesn’t stop him from developing feelings for Eun-sang. When he returns to Korea, his former best friend Choi Young-do (Kim Woo-bin) starts picking on Eun-sang to irritate Tan, and in the process falls for her, too.

Photo Credit: SBS

The Heirs (2013)

It’s not like we need to give you more reason to watch this team drama apart from it starring Lee Min-ho, Park Shin-hye, and Kim Woo-bin in their younger years, and all the gorgeous scenes shot against a sunny California backdrop, next to the ocean.

Photo Credit: SBS

The Heirs (2013)

And, we can't not spend the summer daydreaming of Kim Tan driving us along the Pacific Coast in a convertible—we need that in our lives, PLEASE!

It’s Okay To Not Be Okay (2020)

Written by Jo Yong and directed by Park Shin-woo, this romance drama stars Kim Soo-hyun, Seo Yea-ji, Oh Jung-se, and Park Gyu-young and is ultimately a healing drama, for its characters, as well as its viewers. It follows Moon Gang-tae, a selfless psych ward caretaker who lives with his older brother Moon Sang-tae (Oh Jung-se) who has autism. While working in a hospital, he meets children’s book writer, Ko Moon-young, who is rumored to have antisocial personality disorder.

Photo Credit: tvN

It’s Okay To Not Be Okay (2020)

Things transpire which lead to Gang-tae (and Sang-tae) moving back to Seongjin City (the city where they all lived when they were young). Moon-young, who had developed an obsession for Gang-tae once she realized their pasts overlap, follows them. The trio slowly begin to heal each other’s emotional wounds through time, unraveling the truths in the past, seek comfort from each other, and find ways to move forward in their lives. As things get better for the characters, internally and externally, they decide to take a fun road trip and camp out in their trailer… enjoying life like they hadn’t been able to before.

Photo Credit: tvN

Doctor Stranger (2014)

When he was younger, Park Hoon (Lee Jong-suk) and his father were tricked and sent to North Korea. While there, Hoon trained to become a doctor by his father and eventually became a genius cardiothoracic surgeon. He’s in love with Song Jae-hee, and when his father passes, plans to flee to South Korea with her but lost contact with her in the end. In South Korea, he works at top hospital Myungwoo University Hospital, meeting a woman who looks exactly like Jae-hee, Doctor Han Seung-hee, who claims to not know him at all.

Photo Credit: SBS

Doctor Stranger (2014)

In Doctor Stranger, we particularly love the biking scene through the fields with Hoon and Jae-hee, the innocence and bliss of their relationship punctuated by spring flowers and blooms. We also love the summery scenes outdoors, something we all miss while we’re staying safe at home.

Photo Credit: SBS

Lovestruck in the City (2020)

It’s been months since this drama ended but we’re still not over Park Jae-won’s status as the ultimate boyfriend of our hearts! This short form romance drama follows a mockumentary style of telling the real love stories of young people. The main characters are Park Jae-won (Ji Chang-wook) who is a 32-year-old architect with a passionate and honest personality, and Lee Eun-o (Kim Ji-won), a 29-year old freelance marketer who lives a relatively ordinary life but has an alter ego, Yoon Seon-a.

Photo Credit: Netflix, Kakao Talk

Lovestruck in the City (2020)

They meet in Yangyang Beach one summer, Eun-o as her alter-ego, and end up having a whirlwind romance, even “getting married” atop Jae-won’s trailer and living together every moment of their time by the seaside.

Photo Credit: Netflix, Kakao Talk

Lovestruck in the City (2020)

We loved the scenes frolicking by the beach, the ramen shop, and surfing, especially—making us want to spend some time by the coast ourselves.

Photo Credit: Netflix, Kakao Talk

Scent of a Woman (2011)

Lee Dong Wook by the beach? Sign us up! Kidding aside, we love this classic romance melodrama because it encourages honoring your true, authentic self and finding your own happiness. It follows Lee Yeon-jae (Kim Sun-a), a single woman in her thirties who is meek and timid, working as a low-level clerk. After enduring false accusations of stealing from a client, alongside a terrible diagnosis of gallbladder cancer, she musters up whatever courage she has left, resigns, and embraces her remaining six months to live.

Photo Credit: SBS

Scent of a Woman (2011)

She takes her first vacation, splurging on clothes and flying first class to Okinawa, Japan, where she runs into Kang Ji-wook (Lee Dong Wook), the man of her dreams. At first, he’s cynical, cold, and jaded, until he falls in love with Yeon-jae. Together, they go on a series of adventures, both comical and sweet, as she sets out to cross off each item on her bucket list.

Photo Credit: SBS

Something in the Rain (2018)

If you’re looking for romance, look no further than this sweet masterpiece starring Son Ye Jin and Jung Hae-in, exploring the relationship of two people as they go from acquaintances to being a couple. It follows Jin-ah, a district supervisor in her 30s for a coffeehouse franchise, and Joon-hee, an animator in his twenties working as a videogame developer. When he returns from working overseas, he reconnects with Jin-ah, who happens to be best friends with his sister since childhood.

Photo Credit: JTBC

Something in the Rain (2018)

The series explores and portrays an intimate look into how they fall in love, struggle with the difference in age, and find the courage to go public with their relationship. We love the scenery of Jeju Island (known as the ‘Hawaii of South Korea’) in this drama, especially in the romantic climax scene by the coast.

Photo Credit: JTBC

Legend of the Blue Sea (2016)

This must-see drama stars Jun Ji Hyun and Lee Min Ho in a fantasy, romance story of the ages. It’s funny, it’s light, and it’s got so many beautiful scenes shot in Spain. It follows Shim Cheong, a mermaid from the Joseon Dynasty who had fallen for a nobleman in the past. In the present day, she has become human and sticks close to the nobleman’s doppelganger, Heo Joon Jae, as she tries to make sense of life on land.

Photo Credit: SBS

Legend of the Blue Sea (2016)

We love the scenes of them going around Girona, getting a breathtaking view of the sea, wide plazas, and several famous sites for architecture and design. We miss being by the beach and getting to swim, so the scenes with the chic hotel with the pool built into the cliff, really take the cake in vacation goals!

Photo Credit: SBS

Encounter (2018)

Nothing screams warmer weather more than falling in love in the midst of salsa dancing at night and walking on the beach, taking in the sun at any time of day—two things that this romance melodrama packs a lot of. Starring Song Hye-kyo and Park Bo-gum, it follows two people brought together by fate: a woman who seems to have it all, and a young man who seems to have nothing.

Photo Credit: tvN

Encounter (2018)

Cha Soo-hyun is a daughter of a rich politician who has lived her whole life following what everyone had asked of her. She was married to another rich family, only to divorce her husband due to his incessant cheating. She takes a business trip to Cuba, where she meets Kim Jin-hyuk, a free-spirited guy, and finds herself spending lots of time with him. They are undeniably attracted to one another, and their love story unravels even as they both head back to South Korea.

Photo Credit: tvN

True Beauty (2020)

Based on a webtoon of the same name, this coming-of-age romance drama centers on highschool student Lim Ju-kyung (Moon Ga-young) who had been bullied and discriminated against all her life because of her ugly appearance. She learns how to use makeup by binge-watching makeup tutorial videos on the internet, mastering the artistry before transferring to a new school. Her self-makeover turns her into a gorgeous “goddess” and she becomes popular among her peers, yet she still considers herself ugly and her greatest fear is that they may one day see her real face. Her handsome classmate, Lee Su-ho (Cha Eun Woo), with whom she has accidentally run into with her bare face a few times at a comic book store they both frequent, recognizes her beyond the makeup.

Photo Credit: tvN

True Beauty (2020)

Turn to this drama if you’re in the mood to escape in something that will deliver the feel-good fuzzy feelings, so long as you don’t mind some typical cliches in your usual romcom. It makes for a great drama to binge in the warmer season overall, but especially in episodes 8 and 9 where they all go on a field trip to the countryside—complete with bus ride moments, ghost hunting at night, and a heart-stopping, sweet confession and kiss in the woods!

Photo Credit: tvN