- 4 Days in Jeju, South Korea ~ Day 1
- 4 Days in Jeju, South Korea ~ Day 2
- 4 Days in Jeju, South Korea ~ Day 3
- 4 Days in Jeju, South Korea ~ Day 4
Since we moved to South Korea, we have been hearing about how amazing Jeju Island is and how it is one of the must visit places here. So we decided to take a trip to Jeju Island for a quick 4-day weekend. It is really nice to have access to a very affordable and efficient subway system which took us straight to Gimpo International Airport (GMP) (the airport formerly Kimpo International Airport).
The best way to travel to an airport here in Korea is by rail. The AREX airport “All Stop” line takes about 45 minutes from Seoul Station to Gimpo, and 60+ minutes to Incheon International Airport (for Incheon Airport take the EXPRESS to and from). Gimpo is a nice, small airport but which can also have long lines. There was what looked like a whole school trip flying out, but lucky for us, they ALL were on a different carrier. The airline we used, which seemed pretty nice and fairly inexpensive at 603,000 won for a family of 5, was Air Busan.
Day 1
The flight was great, a short, smooth 40-50 minutes up and down. Thank goodness, because as much as we love to travel, I HATE FLYING. After landing, one of the more stressful parts of our trip was to find our rental vehicle (ROAD TRIP!!!), since we did not speak the local dialect. Their language in Jeju is similar to, but not exactly the same as how they speak in Seoul. And it’s a hit or miss if you run into a Korean (mostly the younger crowd) that will try to understand and help.
After an hour of walking around, mostly in the wrong direction, we eventually got pointed in the right direction of where the rental offices were located. Only when we got there, we discovered that the company we rented our vehicle from is a short bus ride away! Despite this little complication, the vehicle that we received was exactly what we wanted, and needed. Sixt Rent a Car was the company we rented our vehicle from, through Trazy.com.
It also came equipped with a GPS, but we preferred our phone and the Waze app (works great on the mainland). We determined this on our way to Seogwipo city on the way to our hotel. There were quite a few alarms that went off and we could not find a way to mute the GPS. So we decided to turn it off and just use our phones.
We drove from the North part of the island to the South, which took about an hour. This was a very nice and pleasant drive since the weather seemed to cooperate for that day. Once at our destination, we met up with our friends who came down to enjoy the 4-day weekend with their family as well. Ocean Palace hotel was really nice! Very white, clean, comfortable, and designed more like mini apartments. We would definitely recommend this hotel.
This photo of Jeju Ocean Palace Hotel is courtesy of TripAdvisor
When we arrived at the hotel, we were all ready to go out and explore. We discovered that there was a science museum with a planetarium not too far away and tried to call to see if they were open. Nope, they were closed (we assumed since no one answered), as well as a few other places that we wanted to visit, or were not viable options due to the rain that conveniently started upon our arrival.
When the rain finally died down, we spent the next few hours walking around and getting familiar with the local area, as well as trying to find something we all could agree on to eat. Being on an island, most of the restaurants we came across were strictly seafood which no one was in the mood for.
Finally, we all just settled on Korean BBQ which is almost always a winning choice. After a busy day, we were all exhausted and ready for bed! It is going to be an early morning tomorrow for day 2 in Jeju!
Mary H
