Three or four days, with a car. Give one day to Hallasan, booked ahead if you want the summit. Spend another in the east: Seongsan Ilchulbong at sunrise, the ferry to Udo, Bijarim in the afternoon. Take the south for the Jusangjeolli cliffs, the Seogwipo waterfalls and a stretch of Olle Route 7. Eat black pork in Jeju City and end one night at the Dongmun night market.
Jeju is a volcano with a city on its north shore. Hallasan fills the middle of the island, about 360 smaller cones scatter its flanks, and the coast runs from black basalt to white sand within an hour of the airport. Jeju City is where you land; the island is why you came.
South Korea’s highest peak at 1,947 metres, with the Baengnokdam crater lake at the top. Seongpanak is the long, gentle way up and Gwaneumsa the steep, finer one, and both need a free online reservation to reach the summit.
A tuff cone that rose from the sea about 5,000 years ago, its rim a steep 25-minute climb of stairs. The name means Sunrise Peak, and the first light over the crater is why the steps fill before dawn.
A low island of stone walls, peanut fields and pale beaches, fifteen minutes by ferry off Seongsan. Rent an electric bike or take the island bus, and give the pale sand at Seobin Baeksa its own hour.
The best-loved stage of the island-wide coastal path: 13.8 km from the Oedolgae sea stack west along the cliffs to Wolpyeong. Walk the first hour for the coast at its finest, then bail to a bus at any village.
Jeju City’s oldest market, a covered maze of tangerines, hairtail and dried seafood. Come back after dark, when the night market at the back fills with stalls grilling black pork and abalone.
Hexagonal basalt columns stacked along two kilometres of the Jungmun shore, formed as lava met the sea. You see them from boardwalk decks above, and a high swell throws spray right up the columns.
Two waterfalls inside Seogwipo town. Jeongbang drops straight onto the shore, one of the few anywhere that fall into the sea; Cheonjiyeon sits at the end of a wooded gorge and is lit after dark.
About 2,800 nutmeg yews, many of them 500 to 800 years old, in a forest designated a natural monument. The loop is flat and shaded, and on a hot afternoon it is the coolest place in the east of the island.
Rows of green tea on the lower slopes of Hallasan, with a free museum and tea house at the edge of the plantation. Walk the fields first, then order the green tea ice cream everyone else is queuing for.
The memorial to the 1947 to 1954 killings on Jeju, when an estimated 14,000 to 30,000 islanders died. The memorial hall is the clearest account of the island’s hardest history, and the context the coast leaves out.
A grassy cone that turns silver with pampas grass in autumn. Fifteen steep minutes up.
The cone locals call the queen of oreums, with a deep crater to walk around at the top.
The source of the UNESCO lava tubes, walked on a guided trail. Book ahead through the heritage centre.
A wide, sunken crater ringed by forest and silver grass, seen from a level path.
The women divers who gather seafood without air tanks, told in their own gear and voices.
The Tamna kingdom and Jeju’s past, from prehistory to the Joseon governors. Free.
Tadao Ando concrete set into the hillside, with Korean crafts and a Yayoi Kusama room.
A park-sized museum of basalt, from the island’s creation myth to the dol hareubang.
A photographer’s two decades of Jeju wind and grassland, in an old schoolhouse.
A row of grill houses doing Jeju heuk dwaeji over charcoal, dipped in salted anchovy sauce.
A dinner theatre in a fish warehouse: real haenyeo tell their story, then serve the catch. Book ahead.
Seogwipo’s covered market, for hairtail, tangerines and a cheap street-food dinner.
The island’s own soju, with tours and tastings at the Hallim plant. Book ahead.
Around Gwandeokjeong pavilion and Dongmun market, for food and the airport ten minutes away.
The new Jeju City of hotels, duty-free and late restaurants, beside the airport.
Held at Saebyeol Oreum. The hillside burn is being phased out for light shows over environmental concerns.
Jeju’s own king cherry trees bloom along Jeonnong-ro in Jeju City, ahead of the mainland.
The national memorial ceremony at the Peace Park, for the victims of 1947 to 1954.
Yellow canola fields around Gasiri and Seongsan, with a festival in the east of the island.
Pink azaleas cover the upper slopes around Witse-oreum. Go up from Yeongsil.
Diving demonstrations and haenyeo rites at the museum. The 2026 edition ran 19 to 20 September.
The island’s largest folk festival. The 65th edition runs 17 to 21 October 2026.
Orchards across Seogwipo turn orange, and many let you pick your own by the bag.
The main way in. Gimpo to Jeju is about an hour and one of the world’s busiest air routes; Busan and most Korean cities fly direct.
Route 600 runs from the airport through Jungmun to Seogwipo; routes 800 and 800-1 run straight to Seogwipo. Pay by card or cash on board.
How most visitors get around: the sights are spread across the island. Bring an International Driving Permit. Taxis are fine within the two cities.
Wando is the shortest crossing at about 2 hours 40, Mokpo about 4 hours 30. Boats arrive at Jeju Port, ten minutes from the old town.
Jeju black pork, grilled thick and dipped in melted salted-anchovy sauce.
Wheat noodles in a cloudy pork-bone broth, topped with sliced pork.
Abalone rice porridge, green from the innards. A haenyeo breakfast.
Silver hairtail braised in a spicy broth with radish. Caught off Seogwipo.
Grilled tilefish, salted and half-dried, crisp-skinned and sweet.
Pork broth thickened with gulfweed and buckwheat, served at island feasts.
Thin buckwheat crepe rolled around seasoned radish. Market snack.
The island’s knobbly sweet citrus, sold everywhere from December.
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