I spent a month long trip in South Korea, mainly in Seoul, but during that time I also took a 3 day trip out to JeJu Island.
I honestly loved it and could’ve easily spent more time there. We purchased cheap flights with T’Way Air from Gimpo airport to Jeju and it was a quick flight (approx. 1hr 10mins)
There’s a cab/ taxi area outside of the airport (we followed the people) and you can get a cab from there.
Where To Stay in Jeju
I’m all about “the tried and true”, so we again just used Air B&B to pre-book a place to stay. The place was a one room and it had a good view of the city from the balcony — it was a really nice place. It was spacious, the bed was comfortable. Pretty quiet. The internet wasn’t that great, but there were coffee shops near by with better internet (like Tom’s). And overall, I don’t have any big complaints about the place, there’s only two weird things:
- They ONLY had hand-sized towels. So that was a bit odd. But you could have as many as you like.
- The curtains have a weird mesh in the middle, so even when they are fully closed, you’re going to get light. Which defeats the purpose of the curtains.
The place might technically be called Urbanstay, but it was in Jeju Yeongdong off of Yeondong 6-gil and Noyeon-ro. And this seemed like a pretty decent spot.
Transportation on Jeju
The island is MUCH bigger than we both thought. So we rented a motorcycle. I definitely think that having some form of your own transportation would be good on Jeju. It seemed like some parts of the island you would be very out of luck finding your way back if you didn’t have your own transportation. Although, maybe if you were using an app to call a taxi then maybe. IDK, it just seemed like having a scooter, motor bike, or maybe a car (parking might be an issue though) was the best thing to do. The bike was perfect for us, but holy crap did it get cold while riding at night. Definitely needed some wind-proof gear & gloves.
Food in Jeju
We seemed to have a much easier time finding food on Jeju. But the best food we had was definitely the black pork, and these little orange breaded dudes (no idea what they are actually called but the cart was by this abalone restaurant). So those two things I highly recommend, and if you really like seafood then this is definitely the place to try things. We did do an abalone stew, it was ok IMO, but the place had really good reviews.
There’s also a group of Korean women divers who dive deep, and have been doing it for generations, not to mention some of them are in their 80s. Anyways, it’s a cool thing to see and I believe that you can eat at the little restaurant that is down by the water.
Things To Do on Jeju
There are so many things to do here. Like I said before the island is actually quite big so we only really did one quadrant. I wish we would’ve had more time to hike, particularly Hallasan. There’s plenty of natural beauty, hikes, cities, museums, and really cool things to see. And honestly just driving around the island was quite nice as well. I’m not sure if it’s because we were there in November but it was not crowded at any of the places we went to. I made a Google Maps list of things I wanted to see on Jeju, so if you’re interested in that go check it out. But here’s an account of the things we actually saw that I would recommend:
Kimnyeong Maze Park
This place was pretty fun. You do have to pay to get in, and you could very easily spend a couple of hours here. We had a late start to our day, so we sort of had to rush through, and I wish we could’ve just taken our sweet time. But we made it to the end and rang the bell! P.S. watch out for the bushes by the snack shop, they “spit” water at you, which was no bueno in winter. lol
Manjanggul Lava Tube
This is another one that you have to pay to see, but the caves were pretty interesting. It didn’t take too long to walk through.
Seongsan IIchulbong
This is like 1,000 steps (literally stairs), to the top. So if you’re out of shape this might be challenging, but I didn’t think it was too bad you do feel a quad burn LOL. The view at the top was quite nice of the crater, and they have a sitting area up up there so you can relax (and eat more little orange dudes). The diving ladies are at the bottom of this hiking area as well just FYI. I can’t remember if this was something that we paid for, but I kind of think you typically have to.
Jeju Stone Park
This was easily one of my favorite things that we did. You very easily could spend an entire day here. The one big down side was there was no food really. There’s a little shop by the infinity pool that may sell some snacks, and even on the outside there is a coffee place but no food. This seems like a huge missed opportunity for the park IMO, but at least you’ll know you need to plan accordingly by bringing your own food. There’s a bunch of cool and different sections here. It’s quite expansive, which is why you very easily could be here all day.
Parking was free but you do have to pay an entrance fee.
Cheon-Wang Sa Temple
It was a fun drive up to this temple. Korean architecture is pretty intriguing. And when we got here there was chanting that echoed through the building and out into the front area, which made for really relaxing vibes. It was a nice peaceful place to stop. And there was even some hiking trails nearby, but we didn’t try any of them due to time.
Should You Visit Jeju Island?
My vote would be for a yes! Three days definitely wasn’t enough time. Seems like a 5-7 day trip would probably allow you to see most of the island and do some cool hiking trails. We went during the early part of November, so it was relatively mild in the day, but it did get quite chilly at night. However, this time of year made it so that there were no crowds which was nice. If I go back to South Korea, then I would love to visit Jeju once again.
Have more questions about my trip? Ask in the comments below!
