Hi guys! Back in early October, my family and I spent a week on Jeju Island. So here is my kawaii travel guide to Jeju Island, South Korea!
About Jeju Island
Jeju Island is known for it’s wind, rocks, and women. It’s an island off the southern tip of Korea and home to the country’s tallest mountain which is also a volcano, white sand beaches, waterfalls, green tea plantations, tangerine groves, and black pigs. Jeju is also famous for women divers called Haenyeo (해녀), who played a leading role in the island’s economy, supporting their families while husbands took on a caregiver role, contributing to the matriarchal family structure of many families on the island.
In a country considered to be linguistically homogenous, Jeju Island stands out. The Jeju dialect drops the formal tone which shows deference to age and authority that the rest of Korea uses.
Because of its moderate climate and natural landscapes, it’s a popular holiday destination for Koreans and Chinese. Tourists from China don’t need a visa to come here, unlike Mainland Kora. But it didn’t become a tourist destination until the 60’s and 70’s after the Korean war.
We came to Jeju Island for a holiday, and were greeted by a typhoon which put a damper on our plans to hang out at the beach most of the time.
Luckily, Jeju has tons of little museums and miniature amusement parks.
Jeju Island was a lot bigger than we expected. Jeju has 2 main cities – Jeju City to the North, and that’s where the airport is located, and Seogwipo to the South, and it takes about an hour to get from one city to the other We stayed in Jungmun which is a resort town, and it’s closer to Seogwipo. You’ll need a car to get around. Public transportation isn’t really extensive enough to get you from here to there, so you should rent a car or go with a tour group. If you’re staying here for a few days, I’d advise you to stay in a couple of different hotels, on different parts of the island.
We stayed in Jungmun, which is a resort town for tourists. It has all the big fancy hotels, attractions like Ripley’s Believe it or Not, the Teddy Bear museum, and the Banana Milk Cafe (Yellow Cafe). But it’s kind of far from some of the UNESCO World Heritage sites and natural landscapes that Jeju is famous for.
We planned to go to the aquarium (Aqua Planet) on the rainy the day before the typhoon hit, but it ended up being an hour and a half drive from our hotel, and halfway there we decided to turn back because of the heavy rain. Instead, we headed to Hello Kitty Island which was much closer to our hotel. The storm got stronger so we headed back to our hotel and holed up to wait out the storm.
We stayed at the Hyatt in Jungmun which ended up being perfect for the hurricane. There’s a kids play area in the hotel and I think we lost power but the hotel had a back up generator. It seemed really study and nice. I’ll do a full review of hotels in another video. We were on the first floor and we were afraid that our room would get flooded so we packed up our suitcases the first night and prepared to evacuate. Luckily the storm passed without much damage and after that it was smooth sailing.
What to do on Jeju Island
1. Jeongbang Waterfall, or Jeongbangpokpo Falls (정방폭포)
The Jeongbang Waterfall is the only waterfall in Asia that falls directly into the ocean. from the parking lot, it’s about a 5-10 minute walk to the falls. Everyone seems to go on the rocks to get a picture close to the falls, but with our two kids, we felt it was too dangerous so we stayed on the paved walkway. On the way there you can eat local seafood – I don’t know if these women are haenyeo or not. But they were serving raw seafood down on the rocks. Also you can get a bottle of 100% tangerine juice in one of these festive dol hareubang (돌하르방) bottles. These are large statues made of volcanic rock resembling a mushroom, that are famous on Jeju Island.
Address: Chilsimni-ro 214beon-gil, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do
제주특별자치도 서귀포시 칠십리로214번길 (동홍동) 제주올레길 6코스
2. Hueree Natural Park (휴애리 자연생활공원)
Hueree Park is someplace that I was really looking forward to visiting. It seemed like the ultimate Jeju experience because it had tangerine picking, horseback riding, and black pigs. It was also the season for this pink muhly grass which makes for a great photo. Overall I thought this park was great for kids. But it ended up being more expensive than we expected. I think all the activities and entrance fees cost around 70,000 to 100,000 won. Also we went on a weekend and it was insanely crowded so definitely go on a weekday.
Address: 256, Sinryedong-ro, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do
제주특별자치도 서귀포시 남원읍 신례동로 256
http://www.hueree.com (Korean only)
3. Seopjikoji (섭지코지)
Seokjipkoji is a place on the eastern shore of Jeju Island. “Seopji” is the old name for the area, and “Koji” is Jeju dialect meaning a sudden bump on land. In April, it’s famous for its yellow canola flower groves. It was the filming site for a number of Korean dramas so if you are a K-drama fan, you’ll want to visit this place. It was really windy when we went so we got to experience the Jeju wind. From here you can have a great view of Seongsan Ilchunbong, a UNESCO world heritage site. At the peak of Seongsan Ilchunbong, there’s a zippo museum and cafe.
Address: 107, Seopjikoji-ro, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do
제주특별자치도 서귀포시 성산읍 섭지코지로 107
4. Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak [UNESCO World Heritage] (성산일출봉 [유네스코 세계문화유산])
Seongsan Ilchunbong is a volcanic cone, which in Jeju dialect is called an oreum. It was formed by a volcanic eruption in shallow sea water. Basically the hot magma coming out of a volcano interacts with the seawater and here it created a really steep cliff with a bowl like shape in the center. To enter park, you pay a small entrance fee and then it takes about an hour to hike to the peak. Twice a day Jeju’s women divers put on a performance here, where they do a pre-diving ritual and then go out in the water to dive for seafood. if they catch anything, you can pay to have a taste. When I went they didn’t catch anything, they said that because of the typhoon, the water was clouded with algae so they were unable to see anything.
Address: 284-12, Ilchul-ro, Seongsan-eup, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do
제주특별자치도 서귀포시 성산읍 일출로 284-12
Website: ijto.or.kr
5. Osulloc Tea Plantation/Innisfree Jeju House (이니스프리 제주하우스)
6.The tea plantation is something that I wanted to visit ever since I did the virtual reality experience at the Innisfree Green Cafe in Myeongdong. Amore pacific is a Korean conglomerate that owns Osulloc, Korea’s premier tea company, Innsifree, and a number of other Korean brands, and they have a tea plantation on Jeju Island. I must say that it was nothing like the virtual reality experience but it was interesting to see what green tea looks like in its natural state. I found the Osulloc shop to be overcrowded and had less stuff than the Osulloc shops in Seoul. I was ready to go once I stepped in there but my husband suggested that we go to the Innisfree house as well since we were there. I didn’t want to go but I was so glad we did because I loved this little Jeju women’s diver bento basket that they served and they also had this thing where you could make your own soap. All the seats were taken when we were ready to make soap so we just skipped it.
Address: 15 Sinhwayeoksa-ro, Andeok-myeon, Seogwipo, Jeju-do
www.osulloc.com
6. Jeju Haenyeo Museum (해녀박물관)
I don’t know why but I was just fascinated by these women divers, so I dragged my family to the Haenyeo museum. It was fascinating for me. It was cold and rainy and my family was done with the beach so it was fine, but unless you’re really interested in haenyeo, you probably won’t enjoy this pace a ton. There is a kids play area in the museum though and the entry fee is really cheap.
Address: 26, Haenyeobangmulgwan-gil, Gujwa-eup, Jeju-si, Jeju-do
제주특별자치도 제주시 구좌읍 해녀박물관길 26
8. Hello Kitty Island 헬로키티아일랜드
Hello Kitty Island is about 20-30 minutes from the tourist area in Jungmun. It’s a nice place if you have little kids and its rainy outdoors. There is also a Hello Kitty cafe on the second floor – the only Hello Kitty cafe in all of Korea.
Address: 340 Hanchang-ro, Andeok-myeon, Jeju-si, Jeju-do
9. Manjanggul Cave [UNESCO World Heritage] (만장굴 [유네스코 세계자연유산])
I didn’t get to visit these caves during my trip, but because it’s a UNESCO World Heritage site, I would like to check it out. The Manjanggul Cave is a lava tunnel, which is formed when the lava that was deep in the ground spouts from the peak and flows to the surface.
Address: 182, Manjanggul-gil, Jeju-si, Jeju-do
제주특별자치도 제주시 구좌읍 만장굴길 182 (구좌읍)
10. Udo Island (Udo Maritime Park) (우도(해양도립공원))
Udo Island is a mini Jeju Island within Jeju. If you don’t have a lot of time to spend touring Jeju, people advise you to come here for a taste of everything. Udo Island is known for producing peanuts. You have to take a ferry to get here, and you can’t bring rental cars on the island which is what deterred us from going, and also I heard its really crowded.
Address: 153, Udo-ro, Jeju-si, Jeju-do
제주특별자치도 제주시 우도면 우도로 153 (우도면사무소)
11. Hallasan National Park [UNESCO World Heritage] (한라산국립공원 [유네스코 세계자연유산])
Mt. Halla is Korea’s highest mountain. It seemed like a really difficult climb with children, so we opted not to do this. I wish I could have found a place to view Mt. Halla, but I didn’t really find a place to see it from afar.
Address: 2070-61, 1100-ro, Jeju-si, Jeju-do
제주특별자치도 제주시 1100로 2070-61
Beaches
1. Jungmun Saekdal Beach (중문·색달 해변)
Jungmun Beach was right by our hotel, and it was situated next to these tall cliffs. There were a lot of surfers here, and I think it’s because there are some good waves here.
2. Hyeopjae Beach (협재해변)
Hyeopjae beach is a white sand beach on the northern side of the island. we drove about an hour to get here but it was so pretty. I believe that the white sand is not natural to the area, but it really makes it look nice. The water is really shallow and you can walk for quite a ways without hitting strong waves despite the wind.
3. Geumneung Euddeum Beach (금능으뜸해변)
Geumneung beach is right next to Hyeopjae and it’s equally as pretty but a little more rocky.
4. Gwangchigi Beach (광치기해변)
Gwangchigi Beach is right near Seopjikoji and Seongsan Ilchunbo and it’s a black sand beach with a ton of beautiful mini seashells. It has these gigantic rocks covered in green moss. It’s really shallow and it felt like the cleanest and most natural of the beaches we saw in Jeju, and the least crowded.
5. Hamdeok Seoubong Beach (함덕 서우봉해변-함덕해수욕장)
Hamdeok Beach is rated as the best beach for kids because it has clean and shallow water and white sand. because of where its situated the water is usually calm and you can walk out really far in shallow water. We arrived on a windy day and it was about to rain so the weather wasn’t ideal but I think this is supposed to be just as pretty as Hyeopjae beach on a nice day.
The area around Hamdeok beach is a nice little touristy beach town. There’s a horse drawn light up Cinderella carriage ride which my girls absolutely loved. We stayed at the Artstay which was right on the beach. There are also a ton of restaurants in the area.
Concluding Remarks
Overall when staying at Jeju Island, I would say stick to the world heritage sites and natural landscapes. There are so many little tourist attractions but I most enjoyed the beaches, the waterfall, and Seopjikoji. And well if i”m honest with myself, I enjoyed Hello Kitty Island enough to make a video about it in itself, but I”m a huge sanrio lover.
I was also fascinated by the Haenyeo women divers and I really enjoyed learning about their history. My husband said they’re nothing new and you can find them in any Korean seaside town, and they’re nothing romantic to be honest but they’re a part of Jeju’s cultural heritage thats pretty much dying off. All the haenyeo are old and younger women tend to choose other careers nowadays. Now that I’ve seen most of the tourist sites, if I went back i think it would be nice to just relax on the beach while my kids play in the sand, and hang out at cute cafes. I didn’t get to go cafe hopping as much as I would have liked but let me tell you this, Korean cafe culture is not limited to Seoul. We saw some nice places on our Jeju trip too. Also I’d say the tea plantation is a really nice place to visit, but the cafe and museum can get really crowded. And if you like Japanese style bentos don’t miss the women’s diver basket.
I think Jeju island is a great place to visit if you’re looking to see another side of Korea beyond the metropolis that is Seoul. You can find cheap flights on Jeju Air, Busan Air, or Tway Air for as low as $20 each way (and maybe less). They only thing is that you will have to rent a car or go with a tour group. I definitely don’t recommend navigating the island with public transportation.
Marie’s Kawaii Guide to Jeju Island, South Korea – Google Map
Here’s a map I created on Google Maps which has just about all of the places we visited or considered visiting marked. I hope this helps you to navigate your way through Jeju!