How we spent our two-day itinerary in the Hawaii of Korea: Jeju.

When I first found out I was fully funded to go to South Korea in the summer of 2024, and that there were going to be a handful of weekends I was allowed to travel around inside of the country, I knew I wanted to go to Jeju. Known in Jeju-do as Korean, this island is considered to be the Hawaii of Korea.

I was skeptical of that nickname, as I had been to Hawaii and loved it a few years back. Nothing could compare to the beautiful nature I had seen on Oahu, that’s for sure—or that’s what I thought at the time. We ended up booking our tickets out of Gimhae Airport last minute, though, due to a sudden change in our travel weekends.

Even a last minute ticket from Korean Air ended up only being $150 round trip, so I was pretty pleased. We also stayed at the Seogwipo side of the island, which was much cheaper and accessible than the Jeju City side of the island. Our hotel was the Kenny Stay Capsule Hotel, which was $62 USD for two nights and literally next to the famous Olle Market.

A fair bit of warning, though: you will probably need a car if you stayed longer than we did. We took taxis everywhere, and it amounted to about $200 USD for just two days. A car would be much cheaper, and if you take the public buses, you’re going to really need to plan your routes.

Let’s get into what we did during our two days there! We certainly crammed in a lot.

The Olle Trail is a gorgeous walk along the ocean, and in walking distance of Olle Market.

We started off our first morning at the Olle Market, where we picked up breakfast from the local tteok, or rice cake, ladies. We saw that a Jeju specialty was being made in front of us: tangerine mochi. Jeju is famous for its tangerines, or ggyul, and these women were making fresh mochi, putting the tangerines in with a little bit of red bean.

And when I say we became addict to those little mochi, we really did. They were so freaking delicious. There were some touristy shops open at that hour, so we picked up some souvenirs, tucked them inside our bags, and then ate our breakfast. We ate two boxes of the mochi for breakfast and then headed off to the Olle Trails.

It was about a twenty minute walk from the market, and it was raining a little bit. We had our umbrellas with us, but the walk was certainly gorgeous as we went along the coast. There were a ton of stunning cliffs rising out of the ocean, impressive foliage, bridges, and even a cute little park where a bunch of elders were playing sports.

We spent about two hours on the trail, and stopped briefly to eat potato skewers on a stick as the rain picked up. It rained the entire time we were in Jeju, but when there were pockets of it not being heavy, we made the most of them.

Osulloc Team Museum and the Innisfree Shop are staples.

Osulloc is where I wanted to go, as I love their teas. So from the Olle Trail, we picked up a Kakao Taxi for thirty minutes and headed up to the museum. There, we began sampling teas, then purchased our own teas. I picked up my favorite gift set from Osulloc, which was surprisingly on sale here. It was also really crowded inside of the museum.

After purchasing our goods, I ended up with my friends in the cafe section. We each purchased drinks and desserts, and they were all pretty good. I’m not a fan of matcha cake, which is what I ordered, but I felt obligated to try it in a place where green tea grows so well. It was okay.

We then wandered to the upstairs portion after going into their photobooth, which has an observation deck overlooking the tea fields. Because it was rainy and foggy, you couldn’t see much, but as we wandered to the Innisfree store, which is literally next door, the weather began to clear up.

I didn’t buy anything at Innisfree, but I liked how they had a cute little stamp station for a free postcard. I took that as a free souvenir, then we wandered outside to the tea fields where a ton of people take pictures. We got there before the massive crowds, took our pictures, then headed off to the next destination.

Black pork is so tender, and nice to eat next to Hyeopjae Beach.

Our second to last stop of the day was Hyeopjae Beach. We first went to a black pork restaurant right next to the beach, as felt like we needed to try the Jeju specialty. Warning: we spent around 45 USD a person on the black pork for three people, which is incredibly expensive for Korean prices. So you might want to find an affordable option or budget out for this.

It was really good though! I was freaked out that there were still the hair follicles on the pork, and didn’t eat the skin, but the meat part of the pig was delicious and so tender. We enjoyed that meal a lot.

Because the restaurant was next to Hyeopjae, we ventured onto the beach. A few of my friends bought bathing suits on the spot and went swimming in the water, which was cold because it was the Pacific Ocean. I’m used to the Atlantic Ocean on the Caribbean side, so this was not the best for me.

The beach was really cute though, minus the old men and women patrolling to force you to pay for an umbrella. I didn’t understand them at first, but realized what they were hawking about after a bit.

We stayed there for about an hour, and my friend was stung by a jellyfish, so she needed some medical treatment in the building on the far side of the beach. We had a blast though, and headed back to Olle Market to eat street food. We didn’t realize though that the market shuts down by 9 PM, which means that it’s not really a night market.

Jeju Folk Village, Jeongbang Waterfall, and the Museum of Art are worth visiting.

On Day 2, we woke up early to venture to Jeongbang Waterfall in the rain. We took shelter inside of a convenience store when the downpour began, but when it lightened up, we went down to the waterfall area. It was so stunning to see, and we took some great pictures there of ourselves and of the nature surrounding the area. I also spotted a haenyeo while we were there.

There’s also a Chinese style garden and park next to the waterfall that hosts a memorial for the victims of the Jeju Massacre. I found that little area to be gorgeous as well, especially as I wanted to learn more about Jeju history.

After this, we took a taxi to Jeju Folk Village, splitting up from our one friend who was in the area. It began raining really hard, so we took refuge in the Buckwheat Center next to it and ordered food in their restaurant. It had a beautiful view of the grounds, so we took seats right by the windows.

The food there was pretty good too—I was satisfied with it, although it was a little more expensive than what we were used to in Busan. The rain had lightened by the time we were finished, so we wandered through the Folk Village. We only got through about half of it before we had to leave, but I was happy we came.

We then took another taxi to the airport to drop off our stuff at a locker. We taxied from the airport to the Jeju Museum of Art, which costs about 1,000 won to enter. It’s really cheap, and they gave us a locker for our backpacks. I enjoyed this museum a lot, as it had artwork from local Jeju artists when we were there, as well as a Korean colonial focused exhibition.

After this we picked up donuts from the famous Abebe Bakery in Jeju City, then headed back to the airport to eat our food. This was such a lovely trip, and I am convinced I need to go to Jeju-do again!

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