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Jeju Island (제주도,濟州島 and formerly romanized as Cheju) is an island off the southern coast of South Korea in the Korea Strait. The main town and capital is Jeju City.
Jeju is Korea's largest island and is a popular vacation spot and honeymoon destination for Koreans. The island offers visitors a wide range of activities including hiking on Halla-san (South Korea's highest peak), catching sunrises and sunsets over the ocean, horse riding, visiting the sets of Korean television drama or just lying around on the sandy beaches. Geographically it lies southwest of Jeollanam-do Province of which it was a part before it became a separate province in 1946, and more recently South Korea's only Special Autonomous Province. Jeju has its own English language magazine created by foreign residents on the island – Jeju... Read more
Jeju Island (제주도,濟州島 and formerly romanized as Cheju) is an island off the southern coast of South Korea in the Korea Strait. The main town and capital is Jeju City.
Jeju is Korea's largest island and is a popular vacation spot and honeymoon destination for Koreans. The island offers visitors a wide range of activities including hiking on Halla-san (South Korea's highest peak), catching sunrises and sunsets over the ocean, horse riding, visiting the sets of Korean television drama or just lying around on the sandy beaches. Geographically it lies southwest of Jeollanam-do Province of which it was a part before it became a separate province in 1946, and more recently South Korea's only Special Autonomous Province. Jeju has its own English language magazine created by foreign residents on the island – Jeju Life.
South Korean nationals were actually not allowed to travel internationally without government permission until the late 1980's and, therefore, Jeju island was heavily developed as a domestic vacation destination. It has also been traditional for Koreans to spend their honeymoon there. (To verify this, look out for couples wearing the same clothes!). The island also happens to be South Korea's main location for unusual theme parks and niche commercial attractions with eccentric museums for sex, glass and teddy bears.
The name Jeju means “a huge village across the sea”, reflecting its location from Korean mainland among southern Korean tip, notably Mokpo, Kyusu of Japan and southern China. Its original and beloved nickname is Tamna (탐라) with a meaning of “island nation”, which supposedly lasted till its complete seizure in the 12th century. Consisting of 8 inhabited islands and 82 uninhabited islands, Jeju has a sub-tropical to temperate climate, inarguably top tourist destinations in South Korea, attracting more than 8 million tourists worldwide every year. (Korea Tourism Organization) Thanks to increasing low-cost airliners, more tourists can easily have accessibility around the coast.
Buses and taxis are the main methods of public transportation. Some locals prefer bicycles to cars especially in areas outside of the Jeju-city metropolitan area. There are places that rent bikes. If you want to walk, you can take Jeju Olle Trail with 21 distinctive courses available with gaining its wide popularity.
Jeju Bus Information System's English language website offers information about the available lines in Jeju Island.
There are four major bus networks on the island:
All buses on Jeju utilize Seoul's T-money transportation cards, however, they do not (apparently) accept cards from other Korean cities.
Jeju provincial office has been operating Jeju global taxi brand with English, Chinese and Japanese services. Call 1899-4314+1(English). While the taxi rates are reasonable, the island is large enough that the fares can add up. Bear in mind that the driver will likely not speak much English, so you should have the hotel write down the itinerary ahead of time.
You can hire a car from the airport with either local or international car hire firms. This is a good option to see the island's many sights if you don't want to be on an organized tour and want to see as much as possible. Insurance is offered as an optional extra with the local companies. They can also rent out a Korean speaking GPS unit as well! Outside Jeju City, traffic is very quiet. There are many traffic lights on the island, and you will notice that local drivers tend to just drive through red lights. (In the evening the lights change to a flashing amber, which basically means 'use your own judgment')
Despite the frequent high winds and heavy precipitation, many people enjoy getting around the island by motorcycle. There are a number of places that offer this, including Mr. Lee's bike shop, although the legalities of a foreigner driving a motorcycle on Jeju are unclear (in theory, an international driving license for a car should be enough to rent a motorcycle of limited power). In Seogwipo, there is a motorbike rental shop (perhaps also part of Mr. Lee's empire) on the same road as the Little France Hotel (exit the hotel and turn right).
Since Jeju is equipped with 182 km-long coastal roads, it is quite popular among Korean university students to rent a bike. When the weather is adequate, you can ride around on a bike in Jeju much easier than you could in the rest of South Korea. There is less traffic, wider roads and it is possible to travel the island entirely by bicycle.
There are many hiking trails in the Hallasan National Park.
"Olle" is the Jeju-dialect word for the pathway connecting a house to the road, and is used as somewhat of an invitation to explore the island.
Continually undergoing extension, the Olle hiking trails are a set of 18 trails that roughly follow the coast in a clockwise fashion (plus a handful of "bonus" trails on outlying islets).
The first trail starts at Malmi Oreum in the northeast (near the famedThe trails are well marked: blue arrows point in the forward direction and orange point the reverse (anticlockwise). Blue ganse symbols (like a little wireframe pony) face the forward direction in other places.
Extensive tourism information, directions, and maps of the Olle trails (including details of any which are temporarily off-limits) in all the usual-suspect languages can be found at the airport or tourism information centers such as the one at Jungmun.
In Jeju, there are mainly three temples operating temple stay program for foreigners. Buddhism culture has also unique features in Jeju, mainly owing to its geographical isolation and mixture with other strands of religious and shamanistic characteristics. Temple stay program normally involves in meditation, Korean tea ceremony and lantern designs.
The people of Jeju have evolved various lifestyles, depending on whether they live in fishing villages, farm villages, or mountain villages so specialties vary within the region. Life in the farm villages was centered on farming, as it did around fishing or diving fishery in fishing villages, and did around dry-field farming or mushroom/mountain-green gathering in the mountain areas. As for agriculture, the production of rice is little. Instead, beans, barley, millets, buckwheat, and dry-field(upland) rice are the major items.
The most well-known fruit is the hallabong. It has been grown here as early as the era of the Three Kingdoms and was offered as a present to kings along with abalone as special products of Jeju. Pork from black-haired pigs is also a local specialty.
Foods from Jeju mainly made with saltwater fish, vegetables, and seaweed, and are usually seasoned with soybean paste. Salt-water fish is used to make soups and gruels, and pork and chicken are used to make pyeonyuk (sliced boiled meat). The number of dishes set on a table is small and a few seasonings are used. And usually, small numbers of ingredients are required to make dishes native to Jeju. The key to making Jeju-style foods is to keep the ingredient's natural flavor. The taste of the food is generally a bit salty, probably because foods are easily spoiled due to the warm temperature. In Jeju, there is no need to prepare Kimchi for the winter as in mainland Korea. It is quite warm during the winter and Chinese cabbages are left in the field. When they do prepare Kimchi for the winter, they tend to make a few kinds and small amounts.
Restaurants are scattered across the entire island, usually near highway intersections, but the majority naturally lie around the coast and particularly in the urban centers of Jeju City and Jungmun/Seogwipo.
For non-Korean dining, the best option is Gecko's near Seogwipo (see details in the drinking section). In Jeju Cit,y there are some options. There is a Mexican restaurant near City Hall/Sinsan Park named El Paso that apparently serves up mediocre but passable Mexican fare. In Shin-jeju there is also an Indian restaurant named Rajmahal that serves up quality spicy Indian dishes. There is also another place with Pakistani/Indian cuisine called Baghdad Cafe around the City Hall/Sinsan Park area.
Some other dishes worth trying:
The local specialty soju is named Hallasan Soju.
Except for Gecko's in the South, there aren't any other genuine Western pubs on the island, but there are some good options. In Jeju city, all the real partying establishments are located in Shin-Jeju. Some of the establishments in this area rumored to be worthwhile are La Vie, Boris Brewery, Modern Time, Blue Agave, and GP.
There is also Led Zeppelin, a vinyl bar which as the name suggests is focused on album-oriented rock, and has a massive selection of records, CDs, tapes, and DVDs. Song requests are the main pastime and the sound-system rules. Off the main drag in Shin-jeju next to the Indian restaurant.
Most ATMs on Jeju do not accept foreign ATM/Debit cards for cash withdrawals; most of the few that do are located in the city of Jeju. So get all the cash you can at the airport, especially if you are not staying in Jeju City.
In Seogwipo, there's a BK Star bank, East of Jeunghang Rotary which accepts foreign cards. Most Family Mart convenience stores which have an ATM inside work with foreign cards too.
Souvenir shops, craft stores, and fruit stands exist almost everywhere on the island, but if you are looking for more mundane daily goods, your best bet is to head into Jeju City or Seogwipoi which have the usual array of Korean conveniences including some Lottes and an unusually high proportion of E-marts (both of which also contain large souvenir shops).
LOCAL TIME
8:42 pm
June 26, 2022
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Jeju Island is situated 62 miles (100 km) from the extremity of the Korean peninsula and is the southernmost and highest point of South Korea. Jeju is the main and the most famous Korean resort, popular both among young students and elderly people. Jeju is a widely promoted place... |