I spent the end of my 2018 and New Year 2019 going around Jeju island as a gift to my parents. Their travel goals include visiting the wonders of the world and UNESCO heritage sites. My sister and I made them choose between Komodo Island in Indonesia or Jeju Island in South Korea. We decided to celebrate in the winter area and booked tickets going to the latter.
I am not much of a great planner when traveling (I’m usually the chill-go-to-only-3-places-per-day kind of guy), but luckily my family is! They really do research when traveling and listed their top places to see around the island. We decided that booking a tour will maximize our 4 days 3 nights, so we chose to take the YEHA Eastern and Western course. We didn’t have enough time to do the Southern course, so on our first day we hired a private driver to take us to some spots we wanted to see.
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Southern Part of Jeju: Mt. Hallasan and Jusangjeolli Cliff
Upon arriving Jeju Island at around 1pm, our driver fetched us and brought us first to our hotel, Jeju Stay Hotel. We first drove going to Mt. Hallasan, with a short stop going through the Mysterious Road. The Mysterious Road in Jeju Island is an illusion which gives an impression that cars in neutral appear to move uphill. It was a short 5-mins stop and then we continued going to Mt. Hallasan.
It snowed heavily the previous day which made trekking the mountain not too friendly, so we just took some photos around the base area in the snow. Judging by the photos online though, this place is a must see! Mt. Hallasan, along with Seongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone and the Lava Tube, comprise the Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes which is listed as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.
After Mt. Hallasan, we had a late lunch along the seaside where we tried a variety of seafood, but the grilled mackerel stood out the most. Then we went directly to the Jusangjeolli Cliff which is a volcanic rock formation formed by the eruption of Mt. Hallasan.
Western part of Jeju
On our second day, we are taking the YEHA west course tour. Our tour guide, “Light-O”, was very friendly and spoke good English. My sister even pointed out that he would probably get a decent score in the TOEFL. He shared stories about his working holiday in New Zealand for a year, which explained why he is well versed. To start the day off, Light-O taught us some basic Korean greetings (such as annyeonghaseyo, kamsahamnida, and saranghaeyo). Light-O also explained that the itinerary of YEHA was carefully selected by travelers to help give the best sight-seeing experience around Jeju Island.
Hyeopjae Beach
Our first stop was Hyeopjae Beach and is one of the “must see” beaches for its white sand. There were no people at that time, which made photo-taking pleasant. It was a small beach and seemed like a good spot to relax during the summer. The water is quite clear too!
Hallim Park
The next stop was Hallim Park, Jeju Island’s largest theme park. Due to limited time (and flowers are not in bloom during the winter anyway), we just went straight to the parts of interest: the caves and bird park.
Afterwards, the tour took us to the O’sulloc Green Tea Field, which offered a panorama view of the green tea field produced by Innisfree. If you do not know, Innisfree is a popular cosmetics brand in South Korea. I didn’t really take photos on this site, sorry about that!
Mt. Sanbang Cruise
The tour included the Mt. Sanbang Cruise scheduled after lunch. The cruise takes you around to see sites such as Brother Island, Lava cliff of Mt. Songak, and Mt. Sanbang. I actually enjoyed the cruise, despite being quite windy and cold.
Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls: The Pond of God
Then for the final stop of the tour, we went on to see the Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls. The Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls is a three-tier waterfall and is also called “The Pond of God”. The trek around the area took around an hour and offered some nice views.
You can see the Seonim Bridge on the way down to the falls! 
Unfortunately, my camera died as I took the last photo. I was a bit disappointed because the sunset was quite nice, and I am left with an overexposed photo. Time to buy a spare battery! Anyway, the tour concluded and at around 5:30pm, we were already back in the Old Downtown area.
The must try Jeju Black Pig?
We ended the day trying out the famous Jeju Black Pig along the Black Pork Street. The restaurants offer 100g of Black Pig for 10,000 KRW (~10USD). Honestly, I don’t see much difference from regular pork. But after a long day, Korean BBQ is definitely a delightful treat. The meal comes with the typical Korean BBQ side dishes such as kimchi, leaves, garlic, togue, etc.
Eastern part of Jeju
The next day, we took the YEHA east course tour and had Light-O as our tour guide once more. I didn’t take many photos in the morning as I didn’t find the spots of photographic interest for me, but it took us on a short horseback riding experience and to the Seongeup Folk Village.
Seongeup Folk Village
In the folk village, we met a lovely couple who talked to us about the history of Jeju Island and its traditions. They also introduced us to a 3-month old black pig! He was shy at first, but came closer to us after a while.
Gwangchigi Beach and Seongsan Ilchulbong
After lunch time, we went to Gwangchigi Beach. This is a short stop so we can view the entirety of Seongsan Ilchulbong peak from the side. By the time we were here, it started hailing! So at this point, we experienced three types of precipitation during our Jeju Island stay: rain, snow, and hail.
On the base of Seongsan Ilchulbong was the location of the Jeju Women Diver show. The women divers, some aged over 75, do the dive without any oxygen tanks in order to catch some seafood for living. But what really amazed me most was how these women are able to dive during the winter season. I was the one freezing just watching them in the water. The women divers are considered as an intangible heritage by UNESCO.
Despite a gloomy and rainy weather, we did a 40-mins hike up to the peak after the show. The Seongsan Ilchulbong peak is also known as the Sunrise Peak and is the spot where people in Jeju Island normally watch the first sunrise of the year. I was not able to do a sunrise hike since logistics did not allow me to, but I am glad that this was my first hike for 2019. The view up there was really nice, and I am sure it would’ve been much better if the weather cooperated. The hike itself is not very challenging and can be done by people of various fitness levels (e.g. 20-30 mins for fit people and 40-50 mins for sedentary individuals). The path is also maintained with a paved road and some stairs.
Manjang Cave: Jeju Island Lava Tubes
After the hike, the tour went to the Manjang Cave by passing through the Jongdalri seashore road, which is considered as one of the most beautiful seashore roads in Jeju Island. The Manjang Cave is the longest lava cave in Asia and is one of the three UNESCO natural heritage sites mentioned a while ago. Only about 1km of the lava cave is open for public, but it stretches to as far as 13km.
The cave inside is well lit and the temperature is maintained to about 10 degrees. The walk inside the cave is flat, but the path is quite rocky and uneven. The detail of the walls and path, as well as the way the cave was maintained despite being formed 2000 to 3000 years ago, is the reason why this lava tube is one of the finest in the world. It took me a while before I finally had a decent photo without any people, since doing long exposure inside a dark cave with many people is not really very helpful. However, I did notice one “failure” which I liked because it showed a light trail of someone holding a flashlight and made the photo interesting to me.
And that concludes the YEHA east course tour and our sightseeing in Jeju Island. Definitely a beautiful island filled with cultural and natural heritage, which makes it one of the new 7 wonders of nature. Hope you enjoyed reading my write-up and appreciate the photos I took during this trip. See you on my next post!
Hi there, in total, how much did you spend for the 4 day trip. How much did you pay for the driver and the entrance fees for the places you have visited. Thanks much