A small lakeside village in Switzerland, known as a filming location for the Korean drama "Crash Landing on You" that aired in 2019-2020, continues to attract tourists from around the world.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday (local time) that fans of the popular Korean drama "Crash Landing on You" are still traveling to see the Swiss lakeside pier.
The destination drawing crowds is Iseltwald, a small town near Interlaken. The village appears in scenes where North Korean officer Ri Jeong-hyeok (played by Hyun Bin) plays piano while reminiscing about his brother during his time studying in Switzerland. It is also where South Korean heiress Yoon Se-ri (played by Son Ye-jin) happens to hear Ri's piano performance while traveling in Switzerland.
The lakeside pier where Ri Jeong-hyeok's piano was placed has become a must-visit photo spot for tourists.
An American couple who visited Iseltwald last October said they waited two hours to stand on the pier. The couple reportedly spent the time chatting with drama fans from Korea and Japan.
Once on the pier, they played the drama's soundtrack and took commemorative photos while soaking in the atmosphere. "It was a really sweet and romantic moment," Stephanie said.
Titia Weiland, a manager at the local tourism office, told the Washington Post, "This was originally a functioning pier, but hardly anyone used it. It became famous because of the drama, and now it has become so well-known that people even come to watch others visiting the pier."
According to the tourism office, before the drama aired, Iseltwald attracted visitors mainly during summer for Alpine hiking or lake boating. However, following the drama's broadcast and the resumption of travel after the COVID-19 pandemic, the village with a population of about 400 began receiving up to 1,000 tourists per day starting in 2022.
The small village, lacking the capacity to handle large crowds, experienced congestion from the surge in tourists. In response, the village limited tour buses to two every two hours and deployed 120-seat double-decker buses on the express route between Interlaken and Iseltwald.
In 2023, the village installed turnstiles at the pier and began charging an admission fee of 5 Swiss francs (approximately 9,000 won) per person. Last year, pier admission revenue reached approximately $307,000 (about 450 million won), which is used for facility maintenance including waste disposal and restroom cleaning.
However, Weiland noted that many visitors now take photos next to the pier rather than entering it, so revenue is not exceptionally high relative to the number of tourists.