Korean Job Discussion Forums

ABC KID · Joined: 14 Sep 2007

A lot of people like to visit the various islands around South Korea...

Please share your experiences of the islands you have visited or lived on. Feel free to repeat ones that have already been done. The more opinions the better.

Do you recommend others visit the islands you have been to?

I will begin...

Geoje Island: I visited once, taking the ferry over and coming back by bus. I went to Okpo and to be honest I was not very impressed. It also seemed quite expensive. In defence of Geoje, we seemed to pass some nice looking areas at the beginning of our journey back. Perhaps we just didn't go to the best places? I have heard and read lots of encouraging things about the island.
Verdict: I neither recommend or discourage a visit.

Wolmi Island: I have been there twice. It reminds me of a good British seaside town. The ferry trip over was also enjoyable. Things for children to do too if you have a family.
Verdict: I recommend it although I don't think I would want to stay for more than a day at a time.

the ireland · Joined: 11 May 2008 Location: korea

Geoje Island

I lived here for 1 and a half years. Okpo, as the op said is a bit of a disappointment, not much to do there excpet drink and eat (there is a lovely indian resturant though), and there are too many hills for my liking!! Gohyeon is a much better town, it has more things to do, 2 cinemas, homeplus dept stor, shops, the harbour is really nice, POW camp, sports stadium, sports grounds (artificial grass pitch, tennis courts, climbing wall etc) and really nice scenery but these town are quite like the rest of korea, they have a lot of pollution and trash thrown around.

However if you go to the south of the island to placed like haegumgang, it is like being in a whole new place. The beaches are beautiful, the mountains and scenery are both breathtaking and the air is much much cleaner. If you go to Geoje you have to travel to the south of the island, it only takes a half hour in a car from gohyeon but its like being a million miles away.

Verdict: def recommend to a large group of ppl to come to the island together and have an evening bbq on the beach and stay in a beach hotel, hakdong beach is pebble so its easier to manage it there. we did it with 16 of us.

Jeju do

Korea's hawaii.......well the certainly put their own personal touch to it. I thought it was nice but not wonderful, the beaches were typically korean, overcrowded, over polluted, and trash all over the place. my g.f and I hired a taxi for the day and went horse riding, atv riding (it's good but much better in gyeongju) we also visited the miniature landmark place, and seen some wonderful scenery to the south. also if your budget stretches to it, stay in lotte hotel, it is great, the ramada to the north of the island is quite good, but the beaches in that area are not so great.

Verdict: if you have a bit of cash lying around, get a cheap flight down for a long weekend, have a bit of fun, unwind, but don't expect the place to look mmuch different than the mainland (except for the planting of palm trees, but then Geoje did that last year too........on a main road Shocked

)[/u]

Gimpokid · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Location: Best Gimpo

Silmido and Muuido I'll count these as one because you can walk between the 2 at low tide. The air is pretty fresh as is the seafood. There is of course a place to hike on Muuido which gives pretty good view on Incheon which is actually pretty from a distance and seeing the mud flats at low tide is kinda cool looking.

Silmido has some nice looking beachs which are semi obscured by empty soju bottles and garbage and it's kinda cool to be in a place where a death squad trained to assasinate Kim Il Sung and there are a few sites that were used to film some Korean TV shows that didn't interest me at all.

The verdict is: meh There is some natural beauty here but it's really nothing to get super excited about. However it's so close by if you live in Seoul, Incheon or Western Gyeonggi that you might as well take a day trip and have a look at the sea, ride a ferry and eat some fish.

ardis · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Location: Seoul

I know of a beach on a very, very small island that is absolutely gorgeous--no tourists, no trash, no obnoxious foreigners, no shopping malls, etc. The water is crystal clear--almost reminded me of the Mediterranean and that's no joke. But uh...being a b*tch, I don't want to give the name away. I want to go there in the summer and find that it hasn't been overrun by hordes of Cass-chugging Koreans and [Mod Edit] foreigners. I'm fine giving the name through a PM, though, if anyone feels like knowing.

VanIslander · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:04 am Post subject:

SeoulMan6 · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Location: Gangwon-do

I love ISLANDS!!!!!!!!

I've found that July and August can be busy, but June and September are EMPTY, as it is not officially "in season".

Off Incheon, I went to Ijakdo. Very small, plenty of minbak and beaches. You can walk end-to-end in about 30 minutes.

Down south from Wando, Bogildo is the one that Koreans rave about but I thought is was ok at best. Nearby, Cheongsando was much better. It was small enough to cycle, had several beach sights, and not too many people. At Jiri Beach off season it was just my friend and I and the old folks who live there. I want to retire there with my minbak and satellite TV... Razz

Underwaterbob · Joined: 08 Jan 2005 Location: In Cognito

DeokJeok Do

Chuseok haven for weigukins.

nosmallplans · Joined: 10 Oct 2008 Location: noksapyeong

Ulleungdo was nice. Definitely try visiting during winter, while transportation to and from may become difficult, the views are something else.

DaeguKid · Joined: 09 Dec 2006 Location: Daegu

Takashima...rocky, windy at times, not very populated (one guy lived there but missing at the mo), very controversial (depending on where you are from), fishing is apparently great.
The downside, not much of a night life! Wink

Seriously though, hit the south of South Korea....down near Yeosu. Dotted with many amazing little islands and beaches. I want to share the gem my friends and I came across, but then it would get spoiled with all you waygooks. It is all good down there...but if you find "my" island you will understand why i am so hush hush. Happy island hoping.

DK

Bibbitybop · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Location: Seoul

SeoulMan6 · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Location: Gangwon-do

Bibbitybop · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Location: Seoul

ABC KID · Joined: 14 Sep 2007

Bump. It is getting close to vacation season again. Any more recommendations for good islands to visit?

bluelake · Joined: 01 Dec 2005

My favorite island is Ganghwado. You can get to it by two bridges: one at the northern end, near Gimpo, and the other at the southern end, near Incheon. Although the island has commercialized a bit (at least in the main town area), most of the island is still very clean and picturesque. I started going there many, many years ago for historical research, but continued going there because I love the place.

Another interesting island to visit is Jakyakdo, which is a twenty-minute boat ride from Incheon. The island is only 500m long, so it's fairly easy to get around. Again, just like with Ganghwado, I first visited Jakyakdo for historical research (it is where the US Asiatic Squadron anchored in 1871 during the first military action between Korea and the US; also, three US servicemen at that time were buried there).

thrylos · Joined: 10 Jun 2008

I ranted and raved about Imjado in Shinan county, an hour or so west of Kwangju (Jeollanamdo) and a 15 minute boat ride off Jido island (NOT JiNdo) on another thread (cant find it right now)

(Supposedly) longest beach in Korea, over 5kms long. Makes most other beaches pale in comparison in terms of water/beach. Just look at the banner photos on

http://cafe.daum.net/loveimjado

Hardly anyone there outside the 2-3 days of August 15th...