Jeju

The flight between Seoul and Jeju is consistently among the most heavily flown passenger routes on the planet, which is excellent news for a visitor: departures run all day from both Seoul airports, the flight takes about an hour, and competition keeps it one of the better-value hops in the region. Book ahead for peak summer, national holidays and the autumn foliage weeks, when domestic demand spikes sharply. Ferries also sail from several mainland ports including Busan and Mokpo, taking several hours and carrying vehicles, which suits travellers who want their own car on the island or who would rather not fly — though the crossing is exposed enough that sailings are weather-dependent.

Jeju City in the north holds the airport, the ferry terminal, the largest markets and the most transport connections, which makes it the practical base for a short trip or a first visit. Seogwipo in the south is smaller, noticeably warmer, and closer to the waterfalls, the resort coast around Jungmun and the eastern sunrise sights, which makes it the better base for a longer or more scenic stay. The drive between them takes well under an hour through the middle of the island. Many visitors split the trip, a couple of nights on each coast, which avoids doubling back and lets the weather decide the order rather than the itinerary.

Hallasan sits in the middle of the island and does what large mountains do to weather: it splits it. Cloud piling against one side frequently leaves the other clear, and it is entirely normal for the north coast to be grey and drizzling while the south is in sun, or the reverse. The practical consequence is that a poor forecast for Jeju is rarely a poor forecast for all of Jeju, and the right response is to drive or bus to the other side rather than to write the day off. Jeju is also the warmest part of South Korea, mild enough in winter that the island keeps a growing season the mainland does not, and the wind is a constant — it is a genuinely windy place year-round, which is why the field walls are built the way they are.

There is no rail on Jeju. The island runs a comprehensive and inexpensive bus network — an airport-linked express service around the island, intercity routes between the two cities, and local buses out to the villages — which genuinely covers most of what visitors want, and the coastal walking routes are designed around bus access at each end. A rental car is the alternative and is very popular, since it opens up the interior roads and the smaller oreum and beaches on your own schedule; visitors intending to drive should sort out an international driving permit before leaving home, as it cannot be obtained on arrival. Taxis are plentiful in both cities and reasonable for short hops.

Jeju eats differently from the mainland and is emphatic about it. Black pork, from the island's native breed, is the signature — grilled at the table like any Korean barbecue but with a distinctly richer result, and there is a street in Jeju City given over almost entirely to it. Galchi, the hairtail fish, appears grilled or in a soup and is a genuine local speciality rather than a menu-filler; abalone turns up in porridge and stews, a direct product of the island's diving tradition. On the sweet side, the island's citrus is everywhere in autumn and winter — ordinary tangerines along every coastal road, and the larger, sweeter hallabong sold as a Jeju product across the country.

The island's swimming beaches concentrate on the west and north — pale sand against black rock, shallow and clear, with the water warm enough for a genuine summer beach season that the rest of Korea cannot match. The south has the waterfalls instead: a cluster of them around Seogwipo, one of which drops directly into the sea, which is rare enough anywhere to be worth the short walk. Off the eastern coast, the small island of Udo is reached by a short and frequent ferry and makes an easy half-day — flat enough to cycle or scooter around in a couple of hours, with its own beaches and a scale that feels a world away from the main island despite being fifteen minutes offshore.