If you are planning your next trip to South Korea, be sure to read this post to know more about things to do in Jeju Island. Depending on how long your trip to Korea is, Jeju Island is a great place to visit! With limited time, we picked and chose our activities with a private English speaking tour guide arrange through our hotel concierge. For any questions, drop a comment below!
Fun fact: The Seoul Gimpo(GMP) to Jeju International (CJU) route is the world’s busiest domestic air-traffic route! It was quite obvious when we were at the airport as there was a flight between GMP-CJU literally every hour.
Top tips when visiting Jeju Island:
- If you are limited in time, the best place would be to stay in Jeju City which is close to the airport
- Pick either the west or the east route (we picked west) for a full day tour
- Whatever route you choose to sightsee, wear comfortable shoes as there will be a lot of walking and climbing
- There are about 360 oreums (i.e. volcanic rock formed due to eruptions) and are spread throughout the island. Best to pick and choose one to hike up to
- Mount Hallasan is located in the middle of the islands and definitely a great place to go for a hike!
- If you visit the island in autumn, you can admire the countless orange trees all across the island
Dongmun Market
Jeju Island, like the rest of Korea has some local markets famous for its local seafood. There were long queues for some stalls and if you’re a seafood and meat lover, I would recommend experiencing the local delicacies. As I’m a vegetarian, I had limited choices and mainly savoured the desserts and fresh orange juice at the stalls (as it was peak orange season!)
Visit O’sulloc Tea Museum
O’sulloc tea museum is a great place to admire the lush green tea fields of Jeju and experience the tea culture of Korea. Along with a wide array of teas on sale, their restaurant is a matcha lovers heaven. From matcha shakes to matcha cakes and ice cream, you have to try out some of their popular items!
Innisfree Jeju House
Just alongside O’sulloc tea museum is Innisfree Jeju House. It is such a lush green space and you can appreciate where the international cosmetic brand (originally from Jeju Island) sources a lot of its ingredients. You can also buy Innisfree products that are exclusively only in Jeju (although we did get better deals in Seoul!)
Saebyeol Oreum
Saebyeol oreum is famous as its one of the few oreums on the island at has silver grass. It is a mid-sized oreum and is free to enter. However, no one prepared me for the number of steps I had to climb to reach the top. I would say you need to be reasonably fit to climb all the way to the top. The views from the top are amazing and would definitely recommend taking your time to enjoy the hike and back.
Andeok Valley
Our guide took us to some less touristy (but very lush green, serene and picturesque) spots for short hikes and we really enjoyed it (especially through the afternoon slump). Andeok valley was one of the points amidst lush green trees and small streams. This was a perfect little hidden gem of the island.
Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls
Another great spot for a hike was the Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls. This is a three-tier waterfall and one of the more popular tourist attractions of the island. As it hadn’t rained for the while, we only saw two of the three tiers. Entry has a small fee (about 2500 won or ~$2) but if you’re looking for a good walk amidst nature, I would recommend this spot!
1100m Altitude Wetland
Known as the highest paved road in South Korea, the 1100m road was the first spot on the island that we spotted snow. Mount Hallasan (also known as Halla Mountains) is Korea’s highest peak at 1950m, and this road is at 1100m elevation. It is also a UNESCO and World Natural Heritage Site. Here as well, you can take a short hike through a very well-built walking pathway. We were here at about sunset and it was beautiful to walk amidst the trees and admire the autumn beauty.
Mount Hallasan
If you are up for a bit of a challenge, I would recommend hiking one of the trails of Mt. Hallasan. We decided to go for an early morning hike. Climbing till the top of the mountain at 1950m is about a 7-8 hours hike in total and is not recommended unless you have proper hiking gear (also needs to be pre-booked). Even the smaller trails about 4-5 hours need proper gear, especially in winters (as advised by the tourist centre).
We did the shortest trail called Eoseungsaengak trail. This was about 1.3km and 600m+ elevation up an oreum to get good views of Mt Hallasan. This may seem short and was supposed to be the ‘easiest’ trail. But I kid you not, I must’ve climbed over 1000 wooden steps in about 30 mins to get to the top. Even at zero degree temperatures, it felt so hot. Once at the top, the foggy views and the feeling of being on the clouds does make it worth it!
Where to stay?
Jeju Island has a number of great luxury hotel options to choose from. We can help you select the best hotels for your perfect stay in Jeju and help build you itinerary for your next visit to the island.
See our hotel review of the Grand Hyatt Jeju.
Contact us to plan your perfect trip to Seoul!