Jeju Island – the South Korean Island You Need to Know About

Shaped by goddesses and gods, Jeju Island sits at the southern tip of South Korea – a jagged unpolished jewel waiting for wanderers to explore its craggy shores and connect with its charming people.

Think of how long you’d like to stay on South Korea’s getaway gem – then double it. Healing forests, temple stays, hiking trails, and Korean cuisine will have you wishing you’d booked longer as the eye of 1950-metre-high Mt Hallasan (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) pulls you into its sights. Jeju Island has all the frills, thrills and downtime experiences of a destination that awakens a venturesome spirit – a one-off visit isn’t nearly enough. Read on, adventure is afoot.

1. Seogwipo Forest of Healing

Restore your mind and body on one of Seogwipo Forest’s 11 healing trails – each with its own health message, from soaking up negative ions to indulging in Shimpang (resting spaces) and listening to meditative stories. Walk on a bed of tiny wooden acupuncture cubes to activate blood flow and relieve tension in the body.

two people walking on a bed of tiny wooden acupuncture cubes — Walk on a bed of tiny wooden acupuncture cubes in the Seogwipo Forest of Healing. (Image: Lynn Gail)

The park is all about healing, lying back on daybeds shaded by cypress and cedar trees, watching woodpeckers overhead as you connect to Mother Earth.

daybeds at Seogwipo Forest of Healing — Relax on a daybed under the shade of trees. (Image: Lynn Gail)

If you plan on exploring all 11 walks, pre-book the Charong Healing lunchbox – a basket of healthy food made by local residents of nearby Hogeundong Village.

two people walking along Seogwipo Forest of Healing Walking — Go out for a serene nature walk along. (Image: Lynn Gail)

2. Yakcheonsa Temple stay

Change out of your civvies and into a monastic tunic and trousers for an overnight stay at Yakcheonsa (medicinal spring) Temple. The well-planned program starts with making mala prayer beads and learning the etiquette of how to bow before entering the highly adorned temple where huge Buddha statues are seated in the lotus pose.

The Buddhist temple of Yakcheonsa was built with the Joseon dynasty architectural style in 1982.

The 108 prostrate bows in the evening give you time to reflect as the head monk’s meditative chants hang in the air during prayer time.

Buddha statues lined in lotus pose at Yakcheonsa Temple on Jeju island, South Korea — You’ll find miniature Buddha statues at Yakcheonsa Temple. (Image: Lynn Gail)

The program’s 4am mantras continue to teach how important every moment is – nothing lasts forever. It’s an immersive window into how tough giving up material assets to embark on a meditative life can be.

3. Tutti Colori Art Studio

Spend a morning calling on your inner artist and let the paintbrush do the talking while you create mini-artworks at Tutti Colori Art Studio. Held in a 100-year-old remodelled stone house you’ll sip soothing tea while mixing colours sourced from Jeju’s natural landscape.

the painting space at Tutti Colori Art Studio, Jeju Island, South Korea — Unleash your creativity and take time to sit for a painting session at Tutti Colori Art Studio. (Image: Lynn Gail)

You’ll come away with a rendition of how you see and feel the environment. Nature’s soundtracks are paired with your paintings as a reminder of your time on Jeju.

Tutti Colori’s brainchild, and owner, Kim Myeong has also designed her own clothing range using inspiration sourced from the surrounding countryside. She sells one-off designs along with beautifully crafted giftware in the studio’s boutique gallery.

Kim Myeong posing for a picture inside Tutti Colori Art Studio, Jeju Island, South Korea — Kim Myeong beautifully curates an array of giftware at Tutti Colori Art Studio. (Image: Lynn Gail)

4. Saebyeol Oreum Volcanic Cone

Don your hiking boots and climb 520 metres above sea level to reach the tip of Saebyeol Oreum – south Jeju’s highest volcanic peak. From the top, you’ll see other oerum ridges (volcanic peaks) piercing the skyline in an otherworldly landscape. Myth has it, the island’s favourite goddess, Grandma Seolmundea, made 368 oerums from dirt that fell through holes in her skirt when she created Jeju Island.

people hiking up the trail to the Saebyeol Oreum Volcanic Cone, Jeju Island, South Korea — Hike up the scenic Saebyeol Oreum – south Jeju’s highest volcanic peak. (Image: Lynn Gail)

Visit during autumn (September – November) and see the peak swathed in silver grass. Better still, arrive in March, when, on Gyeongchip Day (Day of Awakening), the grass is set alight during the Jeju Fire Festival to cleanse the land of vermin for healthy regrowth. Every year some 300,000 people attend the award-winning scorching spectacle.

silver grasses along Jeju Olle Trail, Jeju Island, South Korea — The hike is steep but rewarding. (Image: Lynn Gail)

5. Jeju Olle Trail

Tie your laces up and connect with nature exploring Jeju’s walking trails – 27 in total, including six sub-routes. Each route is graded by distance, time to allow, and difficulty level. If you’re a challenge-seeker allow up to four weeks and hike the 437-km long Jeju Olle Trail discovering villages, culture, and wild wonders along the way.

Panoramic view of Yongmeori Beach, Jeju Olle Trail in Jeju Island, Korea — Yongmeori Beach is one of the many highlights along the Jeju Olle Trail.

The well-thought-out trails have information centres where you can rest and leave baggage. Make sure to purchase a Jeju Olle Passport. Along each route you’ll find stamp stations to mark the trails you’ve hiked. Stamp every page and you’ll be rewarded with a certificate, medal and be inducted into the hall of fame on the Jeju Olle website.

The Jeju Olle Trail — There are 27 trails in total, including six sub-routes.

6. The WE Health Resort

If your muscles are calling out for relief after hiking Olle trails, book into The We Health Resort and choose a healing program to bring you back to life. Nestled in the healing Haeam and Dorae Forests, stress will slide away as you reawaken your inner calm.

Tune out in the resort’s meditative crystal singing-bowl session or start your morning stretching in the tranquil forest in the WE’s daily yoga class. Try the healing hydrotherapy program. Tailored to individual needs, you’ll float under soothing lights in a state-of-the-art dome as a therapist massages muscle tightness away. It’s so relaxing you’ll want to do nothing for the rest of the day.

aqua therapy at WE Health Resort, Jeju Island, South Korea — Try the aqua therapy at WE Health Resort. (Image: Lynn Gail)

7. The Museum of Sex & Health

Interested in sexual health? Take a visit to the, adult-only, world’s largest sex museum. Humour, history, and sexual culture from around the world are displayed tastefully throughout the museum’s many themed sections. Learn about the relationship between life and sex through various stages of life, a subject that’s often difficult to embrace and discuss openly.

a statue outside The Museum of Sex & Health, Jeju Island, South Korea — The Museum of Sex & Health is the world’s largest sex museum. (Image: Lynn Gail)

The museum was established to raise sexual awareness and consciousness in South Korea. With over 5,000 sex-related artifacts on display, various topics are illuminated in-depth to both educate and entertain visitors from all over.

a person sitting behind nude statues at The Museum of Sex & Health, Jeju Island, South Korea — Strike a pose behind nude statues at The Museum of Sex & Health. (Image: Lynn Gail)

8. Toto Atelier Cooking Class

Jeju Island is draped in countless tangerine farms which produce dozens of different varieties. It’s the sweetest citrus fruit you’ll ever taste – so it’s fitting to make a tangerine flan at Toto Atelier, a culinary cafe set up for cooking classes.

ingredients for making tart on the table, Toto Atelier Cooking Class — Participate in a Toto Atelier Cooking Class. (Image: Lynn Gail)

Set in a tangerine farm (of course) you’ll pick your own ingredients, then follow step-by-step video instructions in your own mini-kitchen where each ingredient has been pre-prepared. Voila – twenty minutes later, the oven pings with a tangerine tart. Toto Atelier offer other try-cooking choices, but if you have a sweet tooth, try the tasty tart.

a tasty tart at Toto Atelier Cooking Class — Make your own tasty tart. (Image: Lynn Gail)

9. Arte Museum

Be captivated by the Eternal Nature theme at Jeju’s Arte Museum’s incredible displays of immersive digital media art that reflect the island’s cultural heritage.

an interactive light display at Arte Museum — The immersive digital media art displays inside Arte Museum are mesmerising. (Image: Lynn Gail)

Ingenious media-art displays will have you feeling you’re in the thick of nature as crashing waves, storms and larger-than-life safari animals roar around you.

crashing waves exhibit at Arte Museum — Crashing waves illuminate in the background. (Image: Lynn Gail)

In another gallery, painted works by masters such as Vincent Van Gogh float on 10-metre-high walls dwarfing visitors as they look up, awestruck by the revolving scenes; each cinematic scene awakens the senses.

a stunning light display at Arte Museum — Awaken your senses at Arte Museum. (Image: Lynn Gail)

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10. Sleep in a hanok – traditional Korean housing

Drift off to the sound of the ocean’s ebb in your own private hanok at Korea’s first traditional house, Seaes Hotel. Overlooking a traditional fishing village, the hotel’s hanoks have been created with one notion in mind – to bring the outside in to create a natural environment.

Aerial view of Seaes Hotel on Jeju Island in South Korea — The hanoks at Seaes Hotel are designed to bring the outside in.

Crafted using local timbers, the Seaes’ hanoks also have heated floors to further enhance your stay during colder seasons. Blended with mod-cons, the restful rooms filter late afternoon light, warming the room for cosy nights while nature’s critters croon outside.

a hanok or traditional Korean housing — Bed down in a hanok. (Image: Lynn Gail)

Korean food on the table — Eat like a local during your stay. (Image: Lynn Gail)

11. Hwansang Forest Gotjawaj Park

Hang out in Hwansang Forest, a designated World Natural Heritage site, and learn how the park stays cold in summer and warm in winter due to its unique ecosystem. Gotjawaj Park is formed on lava and is the only place in the world where tropical northern limit plants and boreal southern limit plants coexist.

Wander its leafy pathways or join the hourly program and listen to stories to gain a deeper insight into the primeval forest’s rare flora and fauna. If you’re feeling weary afterwards, book an aromatherapy foot bath at the forest’s cafe, and soak your feet in Jeju’s herbal remedies. The floor-to-ceiling window, with views across the park, add to the restorative experience.

12. Haenyeo Museum

A visit to Jeju Island isn’t complete without discovering the iconic female free-divers, the Haenyeo. Inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list of Humanity in 2016, the Haenyeo date back to the early 1600s when Jeju Island’s (then) barren land produced little food.

traditional diving gears of Jeju Island's sea women at Haenyeo Museum — The traditional Sea Women of Jeju ensemble is on display at Haenyeo Museum. (Image: Lynn Gail)

To feed families women took to the ocean free-diving up to 20 metres to source seaweed, seafood, and shellfish. The museum not only showcases the Haenyeo’s tough perilous lives, but also the unwavering camaraderie they share with each other. Using age-old techniques, the women still dive today. Incredibly some are in their late 80’s. Watch the video footage and hear their extraordinary stories – you’ll see why they are considered the matriarchs of Jeju’s society.

the statues of Jeju female divers in Haenyeo Museum — Haenyeo Museum pays tribute to the first female free divers of Jeju. (Image: Lynn Gail)

Getting there

Both Singapore and Scoot Airlines fly via Singapore to reach Jeju Island.

After youth-led protests in 2025, this year Nepal elected a 35-year-old former rapper as Prime Minister. In a country where tourism is its biggest industry, what’s next for travellers?

In 1986, Nepal changed its clock. It had used India Standard Time since 1920 so, to differentiate, it wound its clock 15 minutes ahead of, not behind, its big-brother neighbour. Boss move. “Nepal is strongly opposed to the idea that our identity is connected to India,” says Community Homestay Network (CHN) guide Bikal Khanal.

Tharu dance is traditionally set to hand drums. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

Today, Nepal is the only independent country with a 45-minute deviation to universal time; an oddity that’s become a symbol of national pride. The quirk is nearly as endearing as Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport where carved varnished wood and shiny red bricks rule. One sign points to a ‘Travelator’ and another to a ‘Grievance Handling Desk’ while visas are noisily stamped at customs for US dollars, cash only. When am I?

Spot the endemic Nepal gray langur. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The 15 or 45 minute anomaly sees me tap out completely on timezone calculations. Why bend my brain calculating if it’s quarter to or quarter past elsewhere when I’m in the honking here and now of Kathmandu where the air is high-altitude crisp, the prayer flags flutter and the street dogs howl?

How tourism is changing in Nepal

Bardiya National Park is rich with wildlife. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

India is not the only association many Nepalis would like to shake. With eight of the world’s 10 tallest mountains, including Mount Everest and Annapurna, Nepal has long attracted mountaineers and trekkers, and expedition numbers are continuing to rise.

Tourism is one of the country’s biggest sources of foreign currency, so this growth is not negative, per se. But according to Ang Tshering Lama, who co-founded Phaplu Mountain Bike Club, being reduced to a mere trekking destination is limiting.

“Trekking is just one layer of our identity,” says Ang. “When it becomes the dominant narrative, it limits how we’re seen and how we see ourselves.” Nepal’s recent success, however, in diverting trekkers to less-trafficked areas such as Manaslu mofuntain, where visitor numbers rose by 117 per cent last year, offers hope that tourism can diversify even more radically.

Local men in Bhada village. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

The founder of CHN, Shiva Dhakal, wants that change. “The whole idea of the Community Homestay Network is to promote experiences outside of trekking,” he says. “Community tourism changes lives and helps kids stay home instead of coming to the city or migrating to the Middle East.”

Ang grew up seeing people leave, “not because they wanted to but because there weren’t enough opportunities to stay”, he states. Yet from remote villages to living traditions; food, art, music and emerging subcultures, “there’s so much that’s not being seen.”

CHN is opening some of those doors. It doesn’t own, or fund, any homes. Rather, it promotes homestays to travellers on a single, slick platform, while fostering entrepreneurship in places where women, marginalised castes, Indigenous people and the youth stand to benefit the most.

A new generation demanding more

Dalla Town Hall, where volunteers discuss anti-poaching tactics. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The future prospects of next-gen Nepalis can no longer be ignored. On a Kathmandu tour with 33-year-old guide Monica K.C, we pass buildings torched in the September 2025 ‘Gen Z protests’, including the Supreme Court and Parliament House. Seventy-two people died. “They were anti-corruption protests,” says Monica. “Politicians’ children are living a lavish life but the airports are crowded with youngsters leaving to find work.”

We stop in ‘little Tibet’ at the wondrous sixth-century Boudha Stupa. “The wheel of life is Buddhism in a nutshell,” says Monica. “Things such as hate, ignorance and anger keep you rotating around the wheel, so you must follow the principles of Buddhism to detach. If you can’t, there’s no nirvana for you.”

Boudha Stupa's prayer wheels — Boudha Stupa’s prayer wheels are used to recite Buddhist prayers. (Credit: Kate Lewis)

In a sun-drenched twist to the usual temple visit, we ascend the stupa’s sloping plinth and roam its whitewashed dome. Tendrils of diaphanous prayer flags stream from a steeple-like structure where the Buddha’s unblinking eyes stare out. No nirvana for you…

bouda stupa prayer flags — Tibetan-style prayer flags embellish the whitewashed dome of Bouda Stupa, a Buddhist temple. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

The dome is delightfully free of guard rails or chiding from security. There is, however, a stern ‘No TikTok’ sign, perhaps in response to the youth’s newly flexed power. The booted-out Prime Minister, K.P. Sharma Oli, was replaced in a resounding election victory in March by 35-year-old Balendra Shah of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) – a former rapper and mayor of Kathmandu. The RSP’s manifesto indicates tourism is a priority, and that Nepal’s cultural identity in areas such as gastronomy will be strengthened.

Boudha Stupa vendors — Vibrant souvenir shops and cafes around Boudha Stupa. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

A more confronting stop awaits at Pashupatinath Temple. Today is Bala Chaturdashi, a Hindu festival where thousands of devotees gather to honour their dead ancestors. Vendors hauling foam mattresses do a lucrative trade as people set up for a night of vigil. This includes burning the bodies of recently deceased relatives on bamboo pyres in the Bagmati River, which flows into the sacred Ganges.

A woman at annual Hindu festival Bala Chaturdashi, in Kathmandu. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Wrapped in a shroud, the bodies are positioned with their heads facing north to the Himalayas where Lord Shiva resides. They’re covered with flowers and straw and set alight by male family members.

Hours later, the ashes are swept into the river where devotees will take a holy dip the next day. As much as Monica assures us it’s not voyeuristic to watch, I struggle to do so. “Here you see the reality of life because everyone ends up there,” she says, gesturing to the river.

Life unfiltered in the Terai region

tharu woman — Tharu woman and master weaver Parbati Chaudhary in Bhada Village. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

The reality of life needs processing time, which the western Terai region delivers in spades. The Terai is largely separated from India by the Karnali River and Bardiya National Park, where elephants, rhinos and the elusive Bengal tiger roam.

Once a nomadic tribe, the Indigenous Tharu people are now the largest ethnic group here. “They didn’t know their daily life was interesting for international travellers but they’re starting to understand now,” says CHN founder Shiva.

Take a Jeep safari through Bardiya National Park. (Credit: Bheem Thapa)

We fly Buddha Air to Dhangadhi airport and drive five hours to stay in Tharu homes. The journey to Bhada village is a blur of roadside fruit stalls, traffic-stopping sacred cows and fields sown with wheat, rice, mustard, spinach, cauliflower and potatoes. Nepal’s agriculture feeds only Nepal.

Marigolds are an important part of Hindu rituals. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

“The only thing we export is young people,” says our guide Bikal. As the light dims and we plunge evermore rural, mysterious mounds of compacted hay – some house-sized – loom like the creatures from Where The Wild Things Are. Even our trusty driver gets flummoxed by a dirt road that abruptly ends and we find ourselves hurtling across a paddock.

On arrival, some are ferried to mud-walled cottages greened by gourd creepers, with thatched roofs and rustic-chic mosquito nets. Myself and two others are ushered to the home of corner store owner, mechanic and mushroom farmer Man Kumar Chilaruwa and his wife Rajkumari.

community homestay entrance — A warm welcome at a community homestay. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

They escort us to a bunker-esque back building with steel doors and a folding security gate, behind which is gleaming linoleum, dolphin-printed tiles and a shower cavity that must be gingerly stepped through to reach the toilet.

The ceiling lights emit a rainbow of colours (the bathroom light gets stuck in, frankly, a quite frightening red). We’re nevertheless touched that our hosts invested in all this bling when the average salary is around $275 a month.

In the coming days, we participate in Tharu traditions such as making moonshine, dancing, weaving straw handicrafts and gold-panning. We’re fed well with staples of rice, mustard greens, lentil pancakes, daal, curried chicken and tomato chutney served on antibacterial saal leaves.

food at community homestay — Dig in. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Sonara community homestay president Indradevi Tharu tells us river snails are often served, and the boiled and pickled flesh of rats hunted in the rice fields. “Perhaps next time?” we say and all have a laugh.

The power of community homestays

community homestay owners in Nepal — Barda community homestay owners Parbati Chaudhary and Ram Krishni Devi Chaudhary. (Credit: Simon Urwin)

Immersing Western visitors in foreign cultural practices is not new. But with the Tharu, I never get that uneasy sensation that I’m being performed for. Despite being the only tourists, there’s no ‘othering’; just warm, composed and ultra-dignified welcomes. Like we’ve always been here.

“I love to have travellers in my village so I can see the world,” says local woman Parbati Chaudhary. “Why would I travel the world when the world comes to me?”

The graceful acceptance the Tharu offer, as well as the slow pace, works miracles on my frazzled nervous system. One day I even take a nap on a vacant homestay bed.

Sonara community room — An authentic stay in the Sonara community. (Credit: Kate Hennessy)

Roosters strut and goats bray as we sit on the ground in al fresco kitchens, rolling rice flour into cylinders steamed to make dhikri (dumplings). When water is needed, we fetch it using a hand-operated pump as a family of ducks strolls by, side-eying us like curious neighbours.

Animal lovers will delight in Tharu villages. Kind and resourceful inventions are everywhere, such as snacking stations where two posts lean together, with leafy boughs dangling on rope for baby goats to forage from.

CHN’s CEO, Aayusha Prasain, nods knowingly when one in our group says she cried when she left her host, Shayam Chaudhary, in Bhada. Shayam’s 17-year-old son, Prashant, had translated, which deepened the connection.

“Community tourism turns travel into a relationship, not a transaction,” says Aayusha. “It places decision-making power in the hands of local communities, especially women and youth.” Since 2018, CHN has hosted more than 4000 travellers from 52 countries in 408 households, and estimates women’s participation has increased by 381 per cent.

In the Bardiya community, where vexing human-animal conflict has been a balancing act for decades due to elephants raiding crops, long-time homestay operator Salik Ram Chaudhary says young people keep the older ones on their toes.

“We can’t keep homestays stagnant,” he says. “We have to upgrade our service and redefine our product or young people won’t see it as an attractive business. If we can keep evolving with this travelling trend we’re confident the youths will stay and continue it.”

Back in Kathmandu, Monica explains that after the deaths of young protestors in September, a determination had spread to not let their sacrifice be in vain. “We want to keep holding the government accountable,” she says. “We don’t know what situation we’re facing, but we’re ready to face it.”

Interested in Nepal but prefer to experience it in total comfort? Read our guide to luxury travel in Nepal.

Jeju Island – the South Korean island you need to know about