Jeju

The unique volcanic formations and ecosystems on Jeju Island have ensured the place a spot on the list of UNESCO WHS. For those with less expertise in geology or biology, this translates into “beautiful landscape with a lot of hiking opportunities”. The enlistment includes three different sites: Mount Hallasan, the Lava Tunnels and the tuff cone Seonsang Ilchulbong. My time on the island did only allow me to visit two of them which means that I skipped the Lava Tunnels. Those who love hiking and the joy of (almost) unspoilt nature while not missing the infrastructure of the civilized world will enjoy this place as I did in 2015.

In South Korea, hiking paths are often installed in a way that they are separated from their surrounding landscape, either by a low physical barrier like a fence or dense vegetation. This allows hikers to enjoy nature while making sure that they stay on the path and do not destroy the environment. In case of Seonsang Ilchulbong, where a unique ecosystem of plants and animals has established itself, it means that there is one viewing platform from which you can look into the crater – no less, but no more. Some therefore may be disappointed that they climb up (20 minutes) all the way for a short, yet stunning view. The hiking paths on Mount Hallasan are similar. Here however, the hike up is already an attraction with all the different vegetations and climatic regions. Also, on the uppermost stretches, …

WHS#2

In April 2012, My family and I joined a cruise from Shanghai to Tokyo. Our first stop was Jeju, where we took a half-day tour of the island. Unfortunately, the cruise being full of mostly elderly people or families with children, like myself at the time, the tour didn't include a visit to the lava caves. At the time, having not been the family travel researcher, I didn't know what to expect of the tour, so I simply enjoyed the cultural village excursion, where we saw some nice lava statues and tried horse bones. Now with all these statues, we must've been near a volcano, and indeed, the last stop of the day was Seongsan Ilchulbong. 

The volcanic cone towered high above the sea, like a huge castle. Steep grey cliffs occasionally ended in black sand beaches, but I wasn't here to swim. My dad and I, along with my childhood friend and her dad who had joined the cruise with us, decided to climb to the peak. The path, rather easy with well-defined steps, was really crowded with tourists, which caused us to take nearly an hour to get to the top. When we did, we were treated to the view of the crater, which at the time, I couldn't even believe was a crater. It was just this vast flat grassland in a wide bowl below our feet, and it reminded me of a golf course by the sea. At the time, I just couldn't …

In June 2017 I spent a couple of days visiting Jeju, where I stayed at Hotel RegentMarine, which is located in Jeju City on the waterfront between Black Pork Street and Raw Fish Street (those are the actual names in translation). On my first day, I visited Jeju City, where I had lunch on Black Pork Street at Restaurant Dombedon, probably the world's only Michelin-starred pork barbecue restaurant. For dinner, I ate on Raw Fish Street, where my abalone was likely harvested by a Haenyeo, free-diving women who can descend for up to three minutes and reach depths of nearly 65 feet. For my second day, I arranged for a car and driver (Kimi9461 (at) hanmail.net) and visited the Manjanggul lava tube and Seongsan Ilchulbong tuff cone, components of the Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes UNESCO WHS. I also visited two museums, Jeju Haenyeo Museum (which tells the story of the Haenyeo, who plunge to the sea floor to catch crustaceans, mollusks and octopi) and Jeju Loveland (an outdoor, sexually-explicit sculpture park). Mr. Kim also arranged for us to be quickly seated, avoiding the typical hourlong wait, for lunch of abalone porridge at Myeongjin Jeonbok Abalone Restaurant, probably the most well-known and popular on Jeju. Across from the restaurant, I was able to watch many Haenyeo dive to catch crustaceans and other sea creatures (the attached photo is of a Haenyeo, who were far more interesting than the WHS).

I visited this WHS in April 2017. I visited all 3 locations over 4 days, namely the Manjanggul Lava Tube from the Geomunoreum Lava Tube System, Mt Hallasan and Seongsan Ilchulbong Tuff Cone. All entrances have free admission in April.

The only lava tube open to tourists is the Manjanggul Lava Tube which is 7.4km long, 18m wide and 23m high. Only 1 km is accessible but it is more than enough to grasp the OUV of this unique lava tube. The vast majority of lava tubes are formed by a basaltic lava flow which contains less viscosity. When the lava flow from the volcanic crater stops, it forms an empty space shaped like a tube. Thenm the lava flows continuously into this tube, the ground melts down in the high temperature and deepens gradually.

A number of impressive lava formations can be observed while walking underground for 1km: lava flowstones, lava rafts, lava shelves, lava stalactites and stalagmites, lava flowlines, quartzite fragments and last but certainly not least, the world's largest known 7.6m high lava column (picture, top right). The small information centre has a number of information boards and lava fragments as well as the original UNESCO certificate (picture, top left).

The second location I visited was Mt Hallasan. This is where a rental car comes in handy as I managed to drive through the never-ending maze of green tea plantations (not the ones at O'Sulloc; picture, bottom left) beneath Mt Hallasan. The mountain peak is also visible …

Heavily promoted as one of the new seven natural wonders of the world, Jeju Island, an oval volcanic island in the East China Sea, is a different country of South Korea with its different landscape, climate, architecture or even the taste of kimchi. Jeju is not a new discovered destination for me; my Korean friend often posted their honeymoon photos on Jeju on their webpage, Jeju is popular for Korean honeymooner, and during my last trip to Seoul, I saw many advertisements of its new seven wonder campaigns, even a large booth in Seoul Station for clicking the vote, so when I decided to visit Korea again, part of my annual Asian trip this year, I requested to visit Jeju as my prime destination to discover this island.

The best way to see Jeju is to rent a car, after landed at Jeju Airport, my first place to visit was the famous Manjanggul Cave; the lava tube cave is indeed a great site, very interesting, unique and definitely the best site of Jeju. While I really enjoyed the place, I also really concerned with the protection of the cave, currently tourists can freely touch and walk inside which finally someday will damage the cave and its unique lava surface. My next destination was the famous sunrise peak or Seongsan Ilchulbong which is actually an eroded volcano next to the sea; I was surprised to discover that the peak is surrounded by a very big town and large car …

Another day, another island on our RTW cruise – but this visit to Jeju was more critical than most as it offered the promise of a completely new WHS after a long period of “revisits” since Rapa Nui on the other side of the Pacific! With just 9 hours ashore we somewhat reluctantly decided to use a standard tour which promised to take in 2 of the 3 elements of the inscribed site, together some more of Jeju’s delights!

The big worry was whether the tour would give us enough time at our priority sites and after visits to a crater, a folk village and a resort it was after lunch before we reached the Seongsan Ilchulbong tuff cone, otherwise known as “Sunrise Peak” (Our lunch by the way was served in the visually stunning “Glass House” by Tadeo Ando – well above the normal quality of restaurant used for tourist groups around the World but it was a pity we couldn’t also take in his “Genius Loci” or the interior of Botta’s “Agora” at the same Phoenix Island location!). We were then presented with an option – either go to see the Haenyeo diving ladies whose “show” commenced at 1.30 or climb to the top of the crater – in either case we would leave in 1 hour and it was now 1.05!!

Well there was no alternative of course but to try for both - and it was well worth doing so too. Seongsan Ilchulbong is often described …

Jejudo, which means Jeju Island, is the biggest island of Korea and its most touristic area for Korean people dreaming of beautiful beaches and nice sea. The WHS there mainly consists of the Hallasan mount, an extinct volcano culminating at almost 2000 meters and the lava tubes inside which you can walk and enjoy the natural sculptures made by lava and water.

The Volcano is a great national park in which people hike and climb to the top. Four different ways allow to get to the top and are more or less easy to use. Whatever the one you take, you will have several hours of hard walk to get to the top and same thing to get down. However, you will enjoy the beautiful landscape of the park with its fauna and flora and its different places between forests, solid lava, water falls and cliffs. Lava tubes are really amazing and offer a natural testimony of the work made by lava first and erosion then.

A memorable part of visiting Jeju was meeting so many friendly visitors, mostly local, on ther ferry from Mokpo to Cgheju-do. But I did visit some of Jeju's volcanic attractions.

one day I took a bus from Jeju-do up to Seongpapak on the side of Mount Hallasan and from there gained some views of the summit, as well as visiting the WHS museum there.

on another day I took a different bus heading to Seongsan Ilchubong and got off near the Manjanggul lava tubes and went for a 2km hike down through a tube, a black tunnel big enough to run a train through. Along the way were some beautifully illuminated lava formations. The 1 km open for visits is only a fraction of what is there.

Returning to the bus stop I caught another bus to Seongsan Ilchubong, clearly a place of pilgimage for the hundreds of people gathered there to climb to the summit.

An incredible island with volcanic lava tubes, the beautiful Hala mountain, and a distinct culture from that of mainland Korea. Also the ilchul-bong is a must see crater located on the eastern edge of the island. This paradise is full of delicious seafood, friendly people, fascinating "stone grandfather" statues, Haenyo Women Divers, and numerous waterfalls. Visitors planning a trip should really consider their timing, because for Koreans there are definitely high and low seasons in regards to tourism, and the island can become quite busy. Moreover, foreign visitors can rent cars or smaller vehicles on Jeju, which is less restrictive than mainland South Korea. Setting up your hotel should also be considered carefully, Jeju City or Seogwipo. I chose the later, but it really depends on your travel priorities.

Besides the 3 inscribed areas (Hallasan, Geomunoreum Lava Tube System, and Seongsan Ilchulbong), there is talk of expanding the property to Yongmeori coast, additional caves and oreum, and potentially even some of the smaller volcanic islands off the coast of Jeju-do. I would certainly welcome an extension. Nevertheless, a trip to Jeju is a highlight for many who visit Korea.

Jeju island is the equivalent of a tropical paradise, especially for regional tourists. The Hawaii of South Korea, with its sunny climate and even real palm trees. On the flight that I took from Busan to Jeju were at least 100 elder women, excited as children going on a school trip.

Arriving at Jeju airport, however, the island is covered in fog and rain.

The next day it is still raining. I decide to join a bus tour, to get an easy (and dry) glimpse of the island. The tour takes 8 hours, and circles the eastern part of the island - the volcano crater, lava caves, and the open-air museum are included. I'm joined by about 10 Koreans and a German girl. We (the westerners) haven't got a real clue where we are going, so a surprise tour it is (the guide only speaks Korean).

First, we stop at the "Mystery Road", an optical illusion. Really strange, but funny.

The Sangumburi crater is stop number two. This should be an impressive sight, a large green volcanic crater. Now only fog, just the edge of the crater can be seen.

So we go on. Most of the Korean passengers are fast asleep now. The next stop is the Song-Eup Folk Village, an open-air museum where we are lured into a tent where a sales presentation of health products is held (tea, pills). The Koreans are wide awake now and buy in large quantities.

After …