Last week, I had a little getaway to Jeju island! It was an amazing trip, so I wanted to share it all the while giving out some key information and a few tips. Here’s my Jeju island experience!
Flight & Accommodations
To go to Jeju, only two options are available: it’s either you take the plane of the boat. Since we didn’t have much time on our hands, we decided to go for a plane trip. The first step was to book our tickets. Note that Jeju is not that expensive to fly to, given you book your flight outside of week-ends. Usually, the cheapest flights are at the most inconvenient of hours, especially for hotel check-ins, but we’ll see about that later. When we were searching, we couldn’t find anything below 200 euros per person for round flights on week-ends. We definitely couldn’t afford that so we ended up paying 90 euros per person for a round flight from Sunday morning at 6:20 to Wednesday night at 21:20: a steal! The flight lasts less than an hour.
Only a few air companies offer trips to Jeju (Jeju air, Jin Air, Korean Air, Tway for the most part). Look for the low-cost deals on comparison websites!
For accommodations, you get to choose between AirBnb’s (which I’ve heard are often very cheap and nice around the island) or hotels, (with varying prices and quality depending on the place and hotel brand). We chose to book hotel rooms because our accommodation in Seoul is an AirBnb and we wanted the tranquility of mind that an hotel gives you! Since we would only be staying the night there, we didn’t need any sort of kitchen or common room: the room desk would be enough to get any sort of work done!
We chose the Kenny Story Inn Seogwipo because we found a great deal. We only payed around 14 euros per person per night! The rooms were nice and clean although small, it was more than enough. Beforehand, we of course checked if it would be possible to leave our luggage there to start our visits before check-in at 15:00. We also chose this hotel because it’s very near Cheonjiyeon and Jeongbang waterfalls and placed around multiple bus stops.
Note that every visit in Jeju wil result in you taking the bus if you don’t have a car, since there are no subways!
Itinerary and impressions
Natural scenic sites
Day 1
Upon our arrival, we took the bus to the hotel and left our luggage there before heading to Jeongbang Waterfall because it was very close and easily accessible by foot. The entrance fee was only 2,000 KRW for adults and 1,000 KRW for youth. It was an amazing visit! We spent about 30 minutes there. Bring the right shoes if you wish to get close to the waterfall because you’ll have to climb on some rocks! This waterfall is the only one if Korea that falls directly into the sea. It’s such an impressive scenery! Around the area, you’ll find local orange and mandarin juice vendors for a nice refreshing break. A little further down the park that Jeongbang fall is located in, we ran into a few Jeju mermaids diving in the sea! It’s such an iconic element of Jeju culture, we were very happy to have seen them.
After this visit, we were able to check into the hotel and rest. Later, we wanted to see the sunset on the beach so we went to Hahyo Soesokkak beach. We ate a little snack from GS25 and layed there for a while. The dark color of the sand on this beach really reminds you that Jeju’s a volcanic island! It was beautiful.
Day 2
On our second day, we decided to head to Cheonjiyeon waterfall. The entrance fee is the same as Jeongbang waterfall. I liked the scenery there even more! The 22 meter-high waterfall is situated inside of a splendid natural park. Since the weather was not the best that day, we spent about an hour there and headed back to the hotel.
Day 3
On the third day, we headed directly to Cheonjeyeon waterfalls. This natural area contains three different falls all really worth seeing. The entrance fee is 2,500 KRW for adults and 1,350 KRW for youth. In the area, there are a lot of things to see! First, there’s a splendid pavilion that gives a pretty view of the surroundings. We then had to cross a bridge unlike anything I had seen before! It was a red arch bridge decorated with 7 white nymph figures. Indeed, a whole legend is told about these waterfalls, you’ll learn about it upon entering!
The weather there was extremely humid so prepared to sweat to access the falls as it’s a little hike! We spent around 2 hours there, taking in the beautiful scenery. Since it was still early and the weather as nice, we walked to Jungmun Saekdal beach and spent a few hours there too. It was a bit too cold to bathe, but we had a lot of fun still! Around, there were quite a few restaurants and lounges. This beach is probably an amazing place to spent time at during summertime.
Day 4
On our last day, we spent the whole morning at the hotel before leaving to our final visit or the trip: Seongsan Ilchulbong. That’s where the hotel lounge comes in handy: you’re able to get some work done in a pretty cozy and quite space, even after check-out! After more than an hour of bus ride, we arrived to our destination and ate some jjajangmyeon at a local restaurant. Just enough energy for the 20-minute-hike that was ahead of us! The entrance fee was low again, only 2,000 KRW for adults and 1,000 KRW for youth.
The weather was very hot on this day… I wouldn’t recommend going there before at least 2pm because of the sun. However, once we got on top, the view was breathtaking! What I found very nice was the presence of binoculars you could freely use to check out the view. In total, we spent about an hour there, and then it was time to get our stuff back from the hotel and head to the airport.
Overall impressions
Jeju island is FILLED with amazing spots to visit! I really wish I could have stayed there longer and will definitely be back someday. I especially loved seeing natural spaces again after living in Seoul for three months.
The most prominent con to visiting Jeju one is bus rides: they can get very long, especially if you’re staying a long time and wish to do every scenic site there is. It can be time consuming, especially when you want to visit multiple places in a day because some places close very early. However, this will be less of an issue if you leave early enough!
Have fun in Jeju!