Jeju

Jeju has some of the best sand in Korea. On the northwest coast, Hyeopjae and Geumneung have white sand and shallow turquoise water, with Biyangdo island offshore. To the east, Hamdeok and Gimnyeong have pale coves broken up by black basalt. Iho Taewoo is the town beach for Jeju City, and Jungmun on the south coast has a longer stretch with bigger waves. Black lava rock frames almost every bay, so each beach has its own look.

The swimming season is short. The sea is warm enough from about July to September, and in August it reaches roughly 26°C. Outside those months the beaches are for walking. In high summer they fill with Korean families, and jellyfish turn up in some years.

Jeju cooks its own version of Korean food. The signature dish is grilled black pork, cooked at the table over charcoal. The other pillar is seafood brought up by the haenyeo, the island's women divers: abalone porridge, sea urchin soup, raw conch and grilled cutlassfish. Gogi-guksu, a pork noodle soup, is the everyday lunch. Hallabong and other tangerines show up in juices, sweets and makgeolli.

Dongmun Market in Jeju City and the Olle Market in Seogwipo are the best places to graze, and both have evening food stalls. The island also has a huge number of cafés, many in converted stone farmhouses or on the cliffs facing the sea. Choice outside Korean food is limited, and many good places are a drive apart.

Jeju's history is the story of a remote island that kept its own culture. Seongeup Folk Village keeps thatched basalt houses and stone walls in a lived-in setting. Jeju Mokgwanaji, the old government office in Jeju City, and the exile site of the scholar Chusa in Daejeong are the main historic sites. The Haenyeo Museum in the east explains the diving women, whose tradition is on UNESCO's intangible heritage list. The Jeju 4.3 Peace Park is a sober memorial to the massacres of 1948.

The dol hareubang stone grandfathers stand all over the island, and Jeju Stone Park and the Jeju National Museum put them in context. There are a few strong art museums, but they sit among many novelty theme museums. Most visitors see the cultural sites in between outdoor days.

Most of Jeju goes quiet after dinner. The exception is Jeju City, where Nohyeong and Sinjeju have rows of Korean pubs, soju-and-barbecue places and a few clubs, and where the seafront at Tapdong is busy on summer evenings. Seogwipo has some bars around its harbour. Elsewhere, an evening means a long dinner, a beer on the beach or a social night at a guesthouse. Nobody picks Jeju for going out.

Jeju is a shield volcano rising out of the sea, and UNESCO lists its volcanic landscape. Hallasan, Korea's highest peak at 1,947m, takes a full day to climb through forest to the crater lake at the top. In spring its slopes are covered in azaleas, and in winter they are snowy. Some 360 small volcanic cones called oreum dot the land, many with short, steep paths to grassy rims. Seongsan Ilchulbong, a tuff cone standing in the sea, is the best place for sunrise. Manjanggul is a lava tube that runs for kilometres underground.

The Jeju Olle trails go round the whole coast. They pass basalt cliffs, the columnar rock at Jusangjeolli and waterfalls near Seogwipo that drop straight to the sea. Divers find soft corals off Seogwipo, and the cedar forests of Saryeoni and Bijarim make for cool summer walks.

Day trips here mostly mean the islands around Jeju. Udo is a short ferry ride off the east coast. It has small villages, peanut farms and a slow road round the island that is good by bike. Gapado, flat and covered in barley fields, and Marado, the southernmost point of Korea, lie off the southwest. The Chuja islands, further north, are fishing villages that take most of a day. On Jeju itself, a visitor staying on one coast usually spends a day in the other main town, Jeju City or Seogwipo. The mainland is a flight or a long ferry away, so the list stops there.

Korean families have been coming to Jeju for generations, and the island is set up for them. Hamdeok, Gimnyeong and Hyeopjae have shallow, sheltered water that suits small children. Inland there are horse-riding farms, mazes, tangerine farms where children pick their own fruit in winter, forest parks with miniature trains, and a large aquarium near Seongsan. There is also a resort complex with a theme park in the southwest. Older children can climb the easier oreum and walk into the lava tube.

The island is safe and clean, and Korean culture welcomes children. Seogwipo and the Jungmun resort area make an easy base. The main effort is driving between sights, and the mix of attractions includes plenty of novelty museums that are better skipped.

Jeju is small enough to cross in about an hour, and the roads are good, so most visitors hire a car. Foreign drivers need an international driving permit. Express buses link Jeju City and Seogwipo via the airport, and local buses reach the coast and the main trailheads, but they are slow and often far apart once you leave the towns. Taxis are a sensible option for short trips. Jeju City and Seogwipo are walkable in their centres but sprawl beyond them. Udo and the other small islands are reached by ferry.

Shopping on Jeju is mostly duty-free and markets. Large duty-free stores in Jeju City and at the airport serve visitors from the mainland and abroad, mostly with cosmetics and luxury goods. Dongmun Market and the Olle Market in Seogwipo sell dried fish, tangerine sweets, omija tea and the island's other products. Small design shops and craft studios along the coast sell basalt pieces, natural-dye textiles and ceramics. Fashion and independent shopping are thin. Most people leave with a box of tangerines.

Jeju costs about the same as a large Korean city, or a little more in the summer season. Resort hotels at Jungmun and seafront rooms are the most expensive, especially in July and August. Black pork, abalone and raw fish from the haenyeo are prized, and their prices show it. Small pensions and guesthouses, noodle and market food, buses and the free coastal trails keep a trip affordable. Most visitors hire a car, which adds to the budget. The island is clearly cheaper outside summer and away from the Lunar New Year and Chuseok weeks, when much of Korea travels.

Live performance is a small part of a Jeju trip. Arts centres in Jeju City and Seogwipo put on occasional concerts and touring productions. Folk festivals and haenyeo events include the island's work songs and shaman rituals. There are also a few dinner shows and non-verbal performances aimed at tourists. Anyone after theatre, opera or a live-music scene will not find much here.

Koreans come to Jeju to slow down, and much of the island is set up for it. Days go to cedar forests, quiet villages behind stone walls and long café stops facing the sea. The Jungmun resort area has large hotel spas. Jeju City and Seogwipo have the usual Korean jjimjilbang, where you can soak and sweat for hours. Near Sanbangsan in the southwest there is a rare carbonated hot spring. There is no old bathing tradition here, and in summer the busy coast feels less peaceful. The interior and the east coast stay calmer, especially in spring and autumn.