Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Enigma]

I realize it's still a ways off, but I figure flights will start selling out soon.
I know it'll probably be quite cool (maybe 5 to 10 degrees), but I'm wondering how the restaurants and hotels will be affected over Seollal. Will places be shut down like in other areas of the country?
I want to go and either hike around or rent a bicycle and ride the coast. I don't want to have to book hotels ahead of time, and I expect that a lot of Koreans will be heading down there so is it going to be too busy?

[JBomb]

it will be off season so expect some discounts. Just like Chuseok though expect some quiet with the exception of Japanese tourists who are there for the casinos.

[Ralphie]

Seollal is in February, right? Will it be too cold to camp outside like on Udo, because I'd like to explore the Olleh Path.

[Louis VI]

The afternoon highs are 11 C on average in January and February, according to msn weather, but I recall some 14 C and 16 C afternoon days of sunshine in February which *beep* up my ice skating plans at the outdoor rink at the Lotte Hotel in Seogwipo.

Expect the olle trails to be windy as Udo usually is windy although statistically the northwestern part of the island gets the most wind.

So, 11 C on average and subtract three to five degrees for wind chill factor. It still will be above freezing, warmer than a jaunt around Gangwondo or a shuffling along the concrete of Seoul.

One things for sure: no crowds in winter here. Yeah, tour buses, and people will be on the olle trails, but nothing on the scale of summer corwds or like urbanites are used to simply entering or exiting a typical city subway.

[sweet_potato]

i went to jeju last year for lunar new year. it was quite cold, and it rained a lot. i thought it was too cold to rent a moped (so we bused it a lot)... it was nice to drive close to hallasan because there was a ton of snow there (but no snow at all on the north or south coasts). hiking was out of the question for us because we definitely didn't bring adequate clothing. we checked out a really beautiful beach (name escapes me, but it's on the west coast, in the middle). beautiful - but so cold, the wind was piercing and we couldn't stay out there long enough to even take some photos. if u rent a car, u might enjoy it more than we did.
having said that, i found that a lot of stuff was closed (restaurant-shops wise). accommodation was easy to find (motels close to the bus terminal in jeju city). there are some int'l restaurants in jeju city that might be worth checking out, mexican, indian, etc. jeju is also famous for its saemgyupsal (it's thicker and chewier than regular stuff, comes from a black pig) so u can try it if it strikes your fancy.