I rented a scooter and explored north and east of Seogwipo in southern Jeju. I made a cafe stop, visited some cemetery grounds near the Hallasan Donnaeko trailhead, had pork and rice-wraps for lunch, stopped by another cafe/park, spent time at the Jeju Lemon Museum, found a bamboo forest, and explored cool hidden streams, and a temple. I finished the day at Seogwipo Everyday Olle Market with some street food and local beers!

DAY 5 OF 7-DAY stay on Jeju

I walked to the scooter rental place from Hotel Kenny Stay. It was a workshop/repair shop, very much hidden in a narrow alley in the western part of Seogwipo. The owner was (thankfully) happy to use a translation app to get everything set up. It was about 35,000 won for rental plus 10,000 for insurance. First thig I did was fill the tank around the corner and put in about 5,000 won of petrol (which turned out to far too much!). The plan was to get coffee and a snack for breakfast, and plan a basic route for the day.

Cafe Gyulhanpyeon

I found Cafe Gyulhanpyeon (카페 귤한편) on the main road heading north out of Seogwipo. I sat on the second floor near the window and searched my next stop. While there, I also set up an free e-book reader for my tablet and managed to download a few books I’ve been meaning to read.

Cemetery of Patriots

Next I headed to the trailhead of the Hallasan Donnaeko trail. It’s the only Hallasan trail I haven’t done and has been closed so far this year, but I was just curious to see the trailhead and how to get there. There was someone in the hut at the entrance making sure people didn’t go up the closed trail! I had no plans too that day, actually, but was surprised to see someone manning the entrance. Anyway, it turns out there are a few Seogwipo buses that go there quite frequently; good knowledge for when I do the trail! The area around there is home to the Cemetery of Patriots(?) (서귀포시충혼묘지), a huge cemetery at the southern foot of Hallasan. It was nice to ride around, very peaceful. Since I was uphill, I could turn the engine off and coast peacefully through the cemetery lanes.

Horu ui Hankki rice wraps

I looked around Naver Maps for a suitable place to eat. I wanted something local and healthy. I found Horu ui Hankki (호루의한끼), a place that served rice, neatly and tightly wrapped in greens with a few side dishes. It looked very elegant and was something I hadn’t tried before, and also tasty and healthy!

Damsoyo cafe and garden

Not sure of where to go next, I dropped by Damsoyo (담소요) which turned out to be a cafe with a large garden. It seemed quite new as the garden wasn’t mature, but it was a pleasant place to walk around and sit while I found my nexrt destination. I didn’t get a drink here!

Lemon Museum

Ordinarily, a name like Lemon Museum wouldn’t pique my interest, but the photos looked nice and it was close to where I was, so I just went. In the end, it was one of the day’s highlights! It’s a lemon farm with cafe, with other activities available. There was also a huge turkey wondering around the one of the greenhouses, chickens, and in another area, some caged peacocks. I sat in the front garden with a lemon tea and lemon ice cream all made with the lemons grown organically on the farm.

Back on the road, I wanted to see some more backroads and maybe a stream. I found a small lane and freewheeled towards a stream where the air suddenly got a lot cooler and the light disappeared. While biking aimlessly around, I came across a cafe (Daehannmokjang) with horses in a field and a bamboo forest. I didn’t stay for coffee, but took a few photos and marked it on my map for future reference.

After that, I biked to Seondeoksa Temple (선덕사). There’s a shrine area at the front, but the main temple is quite far back off the main road so to rode up through the trees to park. It’s a decent sized temple and it looks onto Hallasan mountain. Then I decided to head back and go along some of the Ollegil trail 7-1 as I’ve not fully hiked it yet, just the Gogeunsan oruem part. It was quite interesting, especially going down a really steep windy lane. I could only take the bike so far though and had to drive back up to the main roads.

I got the scooter back by about 5:30 then walked back to the hotel. After a shower and nap, I headed to the Seogwipo Everyday Olle Market (서귀포매일올레시장) for the second time out of three evening visits this trip! I’ve been here plenty of times on previous trips and have found new things to try each time. Well worth a visit. Today I’d be having Jeju black pig pork on rice. There’s a small strip of booths selling a small range of street foods all next to each other. I sat on a bench on the main street with all the other people milling around and ate. It was bustling, nice to see after the much quieter Covid times. I then grabbed a single Magpie Ale at the food truck area from the night before. After that, I was craving a peanut porter that I’d had the hight before at Jeju Beer Fountain and sat on their terrace till they closed. Then I went back to my room and made a rough plan for renting an e-bike the next day and cycling west. A very pleasant day.

Places I visited on this trip. Click the ‘door’ icon on the left to see a list: