VISIT JEJU

If you have to look back on the events of 2018, you should do it from the beauty of Jeju’s famed Seongsan Sunrise Peak. The Jeju Seongsan Sunrise Festival will be held there from December 30th to January 1st. In addition, many people enjoy going to beautiful Jungmun Saekdal Beach for the annual Seogwipo Penguin Swim Competition in order to prepare for the new year. This year it will be held on January 1st. There are various fun and family-friendly programs as well as Jeju winter sea swimming, so you can start the new year refreshed.

When planning for the coming year, how about trying to look back on the past for some context? There are spaces where old Jeju comes alive and coexists with a modern aesthetic. In Seogwipo you have Gamjeo, and in Jeju City you have Gallery2 Joongsun Nongwon. The former was once a sweet potato starch factory that was transformed into a cafe space. The latter was a mandarin farm storehouse that similarly maintains much of its original feel. Gamjeo is open from 10:30 a.m. to 19:00 and is closed Mondays. Gallery2 Joongsun Nongwon opens at 10:00 and closes at 17:00. It’s closed on Sundays and Mondays.

The Shinee Forest Path, which can be found on the left side of the road through Samdasoo Ranch, is a popular photo spot whose fame has spread through word-of-mouth. Because it is short — about 200m — it is picturesque and a leisurely stroll. In winter after a big snowfall, the photos here are especially striking.

※ Please note that there is no separate parking lot for Shinee Forest Path.

What is the probability that a small cactus seed will drift on an ocean current from the Americas and arrive along Jeju’s shore? These palm-sized cactus plants have made their home deep in the rocky shore of this part of the northwest coast at Wollyeong Village. Its 'baeknyeoncho' fruit has since became a special product of the village. The shoreline promenade has a convenient and eco-friendly wooden deck to help protect the area’s cactus community. It provides visitors with an unusual desert-like cactus and ocean view. This landscape may appear to be peaceful, but in the case of Wollyeong-ri, the area was not spared the tragedies of the Jeju April 3rd Incident, as evinced in the life of grandmother Mu Myeong-cheon. She was injured in the violence as a young woman, losing her jaw, and lived her life there, passing away at age 90 in 2004.

Ando Tadao is a brilliant architect who creates spaces which harmonize architecture and the surrounding environment. He encapsulated the nature of Jeju spaces in his own way. The Yumin Art Gallery and the Bonte Museum, both in Seogwipo, are his designs, and you can see beauty in the buildings themselves, in addition to the exhibitions they house. The Yumin Art Gallery is designed to harmonize with its surroundings so that you can experience the water, wind, light and sound of Seopjikoji without affecting the appearance of the site. In recognition of the architecture of Ando Tadao and an exhibition of the designs of Johann Carlson, the Yumin Art Gallery was selected as a winner of the 2018 Inside World Interior Festival. If you want to get a sense of the beauty of nature in Jeju’s architecture, you can visit the buildings of Ando Tadao.

Geumneung Stone Park and Bukchon Dolhareubang Park are places where you can see first-hand various aspects of an important symbol of Jeju, the stone grandfather statue or Dolhareubang. Both destinations are filled with various traditional and modern examples of this icon. The statues in Geumneung Stone Park in the northwest of the island are the creations of artist Jang Gong-ik, who carved Jeju legends and images of island culture over the course of 50 years. Meanwhile, in the northeast, artist Kim Nam-hong reinterprets the dolhareubang in a modern style and displays them throughout an area of the Gotjawal forest. The former park is open from 8:00 to 17:30, while the latter is open from 9:00 to 17:00 in winter.

If you enter the Jungmun Tourist Complex and head to the International Convention Center, you’ll easily find Beritne Oreum. This stout volcanic cone is easy to climb. Follow the conveniently placed wooden deck around Gwangmyeonsa Temple near Cheonjeyeon Waterfall and after a 20-minute walk you’ll come to an observation deck. From here you can see Seogwipo City nestled along the southern coast next to Jungmun. The sound of the ocean waves and a sonata of winter leaves in the maritime breeze will take your breath away.

In Seogwipo you can encounter Jeju’s winter camellias at Sanghyowon, Camellia Hill, and Hueree Natural Park. These magnificent red camellia flowers framed alongside the black Jeju stone walls which surround them make for the most fantastic photographs. Camellia sinensis peak from late December to January. If you visit the island in winter, enjoy the beauty of Jeju’s red camellias

Jeju Island’s environment is very suited to the cultivation of green tea plants, and thus is famous for producing high quality green tea. Located in the middle of Seogwipo and the 1100 highlands, Dosun Dawon is a relatively little-known green tea field. Here you can enjoy tea amid some lovely scenery with a commanding, snow-covered Hallasan Mountain the background and an expansive green tea field in the foreground. If you’d like to try a tea ceremony for yourself, then head over to an informative class at O’sulloc Tea Museum. A regular class takes about 40 minutes and the premium-level class is 60 minutes. Reservations are required.

Recently, the Jeju shrimp has emerged as a key ingredient and local delicacy. They call it “ddak” because that is the sound it makes when it is caught. Winter is the best time to fish for this delicious, local crustacean. You can eat the flesh raw, and if you fry the shrimp you can eat it head and all. If you find it hard to extract the flesh from the shell, steaming it till it’s bright red is an option. The kinds of dishes you’ll find that use the Jeju shrimp include shrimp gimbap (rice rolls), shrimp curry, and shrimp pasta, among others. You can buy fresh Jeju shrimp at any local traditional market.