So I’m flying out tomorrow night to go home for 2 weeks in the USA, but I decided I should update about my Jeju trip while it’s still fresh in my head! :) I’m thinking I should post a guide on trip advisor or something, because surprisingly, before going on my trip with Allison, I didn’t find many travel guides or recommendations online. I also didn’t see many tips for getting around on Jeju, other than renting a taxi or car.
Initially, I didn’t have high hopes for Jeju. I thought it’d be cold because it’s winter, and my first thoughts of Jeju were that it wasn’t that great. My first time there was during Fulbright spring conference, and the weather had been rainy and miserable. We had also been stuck inside for multiple days with the blinds shut for presentations, and we only got 1 day to explore. I decided to give Jeju another try, because it’s a relatively cheap and popular vacation spot within Korea. After this trip though, I’ve definitely come away with a great experience! The weather was warm, and since it was off season, there were little to no crowds at the touristy spots. Things were even cheaper (especially in terms of accommodations), because it was again, winter. However, this winter has been freakishly warm, so it turned out to be the perfect time to go to Jeju.
Our vacation was relatively relaxing. We enjoy going to museums, creative activities, and exploring nature–but neither of us are hardcore outdoor enthusiasts. We wanted to check out the famous Hallasan mountain, but didn’t have time and didn’t want to hike. We were also interested in horseback riding, but the weather wasn’t great. Neither of us really enjoy hard hikes or camping, so take that into account if you want to check out the things we did on our trip!
So I’ll break down our trip into days/our itinerary, and give some advice on getting around and how we did things!~
Accommodations
A lot of people stay at hostels, but since it was off season and Allison and I weren’t traveling around Asia this winter vacation, we decided to splurge. However, “splurging” still wasn’t expensive. We spent the first night at a hotel near the main Jeju downtown area, and the other two nights at a 4 star resort in Seogwipo called Hotel Teddy Valley. Total cost? Somewhere around 240 total, so $40 per person per night. Not bad. My go to website for all accommodations (hostels, hotels, motels), is still agoda.com. I think it’s the cheapest and best website, and it’s really easy to use. You get huge discounts.
Transportation
While renting taxis and a car might be a good idea if you are staying long term and traveling with a group, it doesn’t really pay with only 2 people. It’s expensive. So Allison and I mainly traveled all over the island by local bus. They had buses from other sections of Jeju, and also had buses running throughout each area. Buses run really frequently, and obviously, they had a lot more accessible buses in the main Jeju area. In Seogwipo buses still run, but sometimes you need to make transfers to more remote locations. If there were transfers, Allison and I opted for hailing a cab. Honestly though, we traveled like 90% bus and 10% taxi. I think in the 3 nights and 4 days we stayed, we only took a taxi 3-4 times.
Taxis are really easy to find if you are exploring tourist attractions, but if you ever find yourself stranded, I was surprised to see how many taxi drivers were using kakao taxi. It’s an app on your phone that is extremely helpful. You input your info, and nearby taxis will come to get you. I’m seeing more and more taxi drivers use it, even drivers in Seoul now. You can click here to read more about how it works.
Anyway, overall, taxi drivers and people on Jeju in general are soooo friendly. I was shocked by how nice they were. The drivers offered us advice on places to go, how to get there, and things to eat. One taxi driver even took us to a museum and came in with us because he could buy us discounted tickets as a Jeju citizen. Another taxi driver even had a full conversation in English with us. I was thoroughly impressed. Jeju is really nice, and the people are very kind. But in general, I think it can be hard to get around or go places without having at least basic Korean speaking abilities. People in bigger cities obviously know and use more English, so I think getting around Jeju without Korean would be a bit of a challenge.
Making an Itinerary
Allison’s cote recommended using earthtory, which is an amazing website/app. You can plan everything on it, and view your itinerary as text and a map. It lists accommodation locations, and even shows you all of the tourist locations. You can simply click and select what you want to do, and map it all out. This site is great!
Day 1: Airport Arrival, Diamond Hotel, Yongyeon Bridge, Dragon Head Rock, Jeju Mokgwana, Jungang Shopping Mall, Samyang Black Beach
We flew out from Gimpo Airport in Seoul, and arrived at Jeju International Airport in the morning. Most buses run through the airport, so we hopped on a bus, and it took us less than a minute walk from our hotel. We found Diamond Hotel on agoda.com, and it’s a hotel meant for business people. The staff was super helpful and welcoming, and even knew some basic English.
After checking in, Allison and I headed to Yongyeon Bridge and Dragon Head Rock, which are literally next to each other. We took a bus there, and walked. We came across Yongyeon Bridge first, then Dragon Head Rock afterwards. Both sites are beautiful, and are a cannot miss! You need to go here~
Next we went to Jeju Mokgwana, which was more near the downtown area, and we stopped by Jungang Shopping Mall which happened to be in the area. It’s really big…the shopping mall is underground, and is much larger than any I’ve ever seen before. This is impressive, considering the fact that I thought the underground shopping malls in Gangnam and Times Square in Seoul were big.
We stopped at this small cafe in the underground mall, and the ajumma working there was so sweet. Allison got a strawberry smoothie for us to share, and the lady gave us some free crackers. We noticed that she didn’t give other people crackers, so she was just being nice to us ^.^
After that we went pretty far out to Samyang Beach. Jeju’s famous for it’s black beaches. I’m sure there are more beautiful black beaches to see than this one though…to be honest, this beach was totally not worth it. It was really run down, old looking, and seriously, pretty disgusting. There was crap littered all over the beach, and everything was dirty and in disrepair. There were huge pipes coming out from the beach, and it reminded me of those photos of beaches destroyed by oil spills. Also, black sand shouldn’t be called black sand. It just looks like dark brown sand that is wet…nothing special.
I recommend checking out other beaches. If we had time, we probably would’ve gone to Aewol if it wasn’t so far out! I would’ve stayed another day in this area to explore more, but we didn’t have time! We only planned for 4 days. I almost wish we had planned to stay 5 or 6 days instead.
Day 2: Hotel Teddy Valley, Hello Kitty Island, Osulloc Tea Museum, Innisfree House, Teddy Bear Museum
Our original plans for Day 2 had been really different, but we re-arranged all of our plans because it was raining really hard and was really cold for most of the day. The activities we did are just about all indoors. So this day’s plans would probably be good for those rainy Jeju days! Despite being indoors, this was probably my favorite day!~~~
We moved hotels in the morning, going from the main Jeju airport area to the western outskirts area of Seogwipo. We took a direct bus that dropped us off right outside our hotel! It’s close to the Jungmun Resort area, but you have to take a bus. If you stay in this area, I recommend checking out hotels in Jungmun Resort. There’s a lot of things to do there. While Hotel Teddy Valley was really really nice, it was in the middle of nowhere. I guess because it’s a golf resort, they expected residents to all have cars. There weren’t many food options, and no nearby restaurants. So it’s like being stranded. If we stay in the area again, I’d rather stay in the resort area (not at Hotel Teddy Valley).
The one thing that was nearby the hotel, was Hello Kitty Island. It was within walking distance, so we took a 2-3 minute walk down the road. Cuteness galore, this is definitely a good place for families and kids. The place is in need of some updating (a lot of stuff looks pretty old), but overall, it was really nice. I really liked the cafe, and Hello Kitty Island is actually a lot bigger than I thought. It’s definitely worth checking out if you like Hello Kitty, Sanrio, or anything cute :)
From Hello Kitty Island, we took a taxi to Osulloc. Innisfree is right next to Osulloc, so the good thing is that once you’re in that area, there’s quite a bit to do. We could have taken a bus to Osulloc, but it had a transfer, so taxi was just easier. I used kakao taxi and we got a ride there within a couple of minutes. It was also raining still, so we didn’t wanted to stand in the rain, waiting for a bus to come. There’s also a famous aerospace science museum nearby Osulloc, and that area also has the glass museum, and I think there’s also the chocolate museum. We skipped them because Allison said the chocolate museum wasn’t great (she’s been there before), and a good part of the glass museum is outdoors.
I really really really enjoyed visiting Osulloc and Innisfree. We got to see the locations where Osulloc and Innisfree grow their green tea leaves, and the fields were beautiful. We also got to see workers drying the green tea leaves, and we got to buy the loose leaves fresh for tea. Osulloc doesn’t have a lot you can do there, but they have a really nice cafe. It was mobbed when we went, so we didn’t get anything at the cafe.
I also really like the cosmetic brand Innisfree, so visiting it was really cool. It was right next door to Osulloc. They had a lot of Jeju Island exclusive products but also, they had their own cafe and you could make your own soap!!! This was my favorite part. I love creative things, so Allison and I spent a good 2 hours making our own soaps.
You can choose from 3 scents: tangerine, green tea, and volcanic clay. I chose tangerine, and Allison chose green tea. It was so much fun! You buy your own DIY kit at the counter, and then you can make your soaps there. They come with 3 soaps per kit. You can only do this at this location in Jeju. So you should definitely do it. They also sell mini DIY kits that you can take home with you as well, and make later.
It was fun, but for some reason, so many Koreans kept coming up to Allison and I asking questions. I wanted to tell them to just ask the people working there…but maybe it’s because they liked how our soaps turned out. They kept asking us detailed questions on how to make them, and what we used. Most people making their soaps were in an out quickly, so I guess the amount of time we spent made a difference in the appearance of our soaps!
After spending quite a lot of time at Osulloc and Innisfree, we found a taxi right outside of the Osulloc museum. We headed to the Jungmun resort area, where the Teddy Bear Museum is! It was really cute. I think it’s a little smaller than the museum in Seoul at Namsan Tower, but it’s also worth looking at. I like the Jungmun resort area, because it contains a ton of museums of touristy things to do all in one big area. You can walk to all of them.
We wanted to look at the other museums in the area, but decided we’d call it a night because most of them were closing and it was dinner time. We got dinner in the area, and by that time, it was already really dark. We took a bus back to the hotel, and decided we’d come back to the Jungmun Resort area the next morning.
Day 3: Cheonjaeyeon Waterfall, Yeomiji Botanical Garden, K-Pop Play Museum, Camellia Hill
The next morning we headed back towards the Jungmun Resort area by bus. The Resort area is separated by a river and a bridge goes over it, called Seonim Bridge (선임교). It’s an ornate, and beautifully embellished orange bridge. It’s really high in the sky, and it’s probably the most beautiful bridge I have ever seen in my life. Right around the bridge is Cheonjaeyeon waterfall, which is even more beautiful. There’s a small estuary area, and the water is the bluest and clearest water I’ve ever seen. This is probably my 2nd favorite thing we did on our trip!
After exploring the waterfall, you can cross Seonim Bridge. On the other side, there’s a pretty palace-like building, and they have a fountain with statues. You are supposed to stand in front of one of the statues, and if you throw coins and it lands on top of the money bag statue in the fountain, the wish of the statue you stand in front of will come true. I only remember two statue wishes…love, and money. I chose money, and Allison chose love. After a few tosses, and losing a couple of 100 won coins, we got one to land on top. I wonder if our wishes will come true? ^^
Cheonjaeyeon has two entrances, so the second entrance is if you cross over the bridge. We walked past the palace and fountain and to the parking lot, and found ourselves right in the main Jungmun Resort area again, which worked out perfectly. Everything is within walking distance~~~
Next, we went to Yeomiji Botancial Garden, which was right next to Cheonjaeyeon. The Garden is beautiful, and you absolutely must go! This was my 3rd favorite place we visited. There were both indoor and outdoors gardens, and it was beautiful. There were so many plants and flowers I have never seen before :)
After the gardens, we went to the newly opened K-Pop Play Museum. It is a huge stone building, and chocolate land is right next to it. It was really fun. There’s a hologram concert, and tons of photo ops. It’s mainly YG artists, like Big Bang. When we got there, GD was having a hologram concert. It looked so real. I was shocked. It was like he was there for real! He was 3D and dancing on the stage. As I mentioned, the Jungmun Resort area has a ton to do. There’s also an Alive Museum (basically a trick eye museum, like the one in Hongdae in Seoul) nearby, and a Ripley’s Believe it or Not.
Lastly, it was already beginning to get darker, and we took a taxi to Camellia Hill. Unfortunately, a lot of the camellias were dead, but it was still pretty. It was also extremely cold and windy, and this was the most crowded tourist place we went to.
Yuna from SNSD also apparently filmed a CF or had a photo shoot here, it was to advertise the Camellia line with Innisfree I think.
There was a nice cafe, but no restaurants. If you want to eat dinner, you’ll have to get a taxi or perhaps take a bus. Finding a place to eat was impossible, and we ended up having a sad ramen dinner at the hotel. I didn’t mind that much though, because we were tired and didn’t want to search for a restaurant, and it was at the sacrifice of doing everything we wanted to that day!
Day 4: Jeju National Museum and Jeju International Airport
We wrapped up our trip on Day 4 at the Jeju National Museum! Getting to the museum and airport from the hotel is pretty annoying by bus, you have to take one bus and then transfer. We just missed our bus as we headed to the stop, and since we saw tons of empty taxis passing by, opted for the taxi. A guy pulled over and we were like, what the heck. It was a long ride, and was kinda expensive, but we hadn’t taken many taxes for all of the trip and had barely spent any money on transportation. Plus, we had bags. So we took a taxi. It took about an hour to get to the museum and cost 35,000 won (around $35). It wasn’t bad, considering we had only spent maybe 20,000 each on buses and taxis before that (possibly less).
The museum was free, and even had free lockers to store our luggage while we looked around. They offered to give us a tour, but when we realized they would be showing us the entire museum and speaking only in Korean, we said we’d just look around and read the English captions on our own. We stopped at a cafe in the museum after looking around, then took another taxi to the airport. It was close, only 10 minutes, and the taxi driver was even nice enough to unload our bags for us. The Jeju National Museum is nice and worth looking at if you’re in the area, but I don’t think it’s good enough to go out of the way for. Either way, it’s free, and close to the airport. But unfortunately, it’s closed on Mondays. We wanted to see it the 1st day we came to the Jeju airport and were nearby, but it was closed.
The flight back to Seoul was pleasant. Jeju air is really nice, cheap, and there’s a ton of leg room. But I guess that doesn’t matter, considering the flight is barely an hour long. Overall, I had an amazing time visiting Jeju. It was a very nice trip~ It only rained one day, and the other days it was very warm and sunny. Jeju is definitely beautiful, and if you’re in Korea, you should take a trip there!!!! <3