Jeju Island

The island of Jeju (Jeju-do 제주도) lies south of South Korea. It’s a vacation destination for Koreans and foreigners alike. The main attractions are coastal trails, mountain and hill hiking, inland village trails, cycling, golf, diving, seafood, and many other things. There are also lots of natural landscape attractions, like waterfalls, caves, forests, and volcanic features. You can experience high-end luxury hotels, resorts, restaurants and activities, or budget hostels, camping, and the like. Something for everyone!

Jeju Ollegil Course 6 올레길6코스

I’ve been to Jeju multiple times and experienced quite a lot of it, with my wife, family, friends, and solo. On my solo trips, I do a lot more hiking and would absolutely recommend Hallasan Mountain and the Jeju Olle Trail.

Hiking

There are plenty of places to walk on the island and more than a few curated trails to check out. You can go all-out for an epic 9-hour walk up to the top of Hallasan mountain, or take it easy on the flatter parts of the island. Below are some of the ones I’ve done.

Map from the official Jeju Olle Trail website

Jeju Olle Trail: The past few years, I’ve been doing parts of the Jeju Olle Trail, which you can read about on the page linked here. It’s a trail that goes all the way around the edge of the island, with a few sections that head inland, and some that are on a few of the smaller islands just off the coast of Jeju. It’s a lovely way to see the island(s) and take in the sights at a more relaxed pace.

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Hallasan

Hallasan National Park: The literal centre of the island is the volcano that created the island, called Hallasan Mountain. There are two trails up to the crater at peak, and two other trails that go to the area below the crater; all the trails are worth hiking since the surrounding natural landscape is quite varied and beautiful. Check out my Hallasan page here.

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Getting to and around the island

Getting to Jeju is frankly only really done by plane. There are also ferries if you have time on your side.

Getting around Jeju is best done with a rental car, but the public buses are actually pretty good; with a bit of planning, you won’t need to rent a car. And of course, you can just walk!

Bus
Knowledge is power so be informed about the bus routes and times. With this knowledge, you can ‘do’ Jeju without the cost of renting cars! You need to use a combination the the Jeju Bus website and the usual Naver of Kakao maps, plus a bit of cross referencing.

Your first stop should be the Jeju Bus website. There, you can search by bus numbers and see the routes and stops in detail. The best thing is the inclusion of bus timetables meaning you can plan where to be at what time so you’re not just waiting around like lemon! There’s an English language version of the website, but the timetables only seem to be accessible when using the Korean language version (it’s easy to toggle between the language versions). When you toggle to the Korean version, search again for the bus number you’re interested in, and a popup will appear. There will be options to look at the various versions of the bus routes so try to find the ones that goes in the direction you want. Look for the blue button link that says “버스운행시간표”. Another page will popup and here you can see where the buses will be at certain times. Yes, you’ll need to be able to read Korean letters, and not every stop is listed, but you can make a good estimate by looking at stops either side of the stop you need. And yes, it sounds a bit complicated but isn’t actually. But how do I know which bus numbers to look for? Good question! You cross reference with map apps.

Use Naver Maps or Kakao Maps to find bus numbers in areas you plan to visit; just click on nearby bus stops and you can see a list of bus numbers. On the apps you can also see the routes and even when the next bus is due with the live updates. However, you CAN’T see the full timetables, so for that, you need the Jeju Bus website I just mentioned.

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SOCAR
More recently I’ve been using SOCAR, a car renting app. It’s all done on your phone and (once set up) it a breeze to use. I posted a bit about it here. SOCAR pick-up locations are usually found in the more urban parts of Jeju.

Lotte Rent-a-car
I’ve used Lotte Rent-a-car a lot. They have an easy to use website in English and pretty reasonable prices. Sometimes it’s better to navigate with the Korean website, depends on you. However, I have my Korean drivers license saved with my account so that makes things easier. Of course, international drivers licenses are accepted, too, but I haven’t experienced setting those up online.

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All my blog posts featuring Jeju trips are below, and here’s a link to the full page of Jeju posts:

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