Outside the main towns, the island’s dry-stone walls and traditional cottages are chocolate-box pretty. Standing guard outside the front of many houses are Cheju’s trademark lava carvings – big grey grandfather (harubang) statues. Adding to its rural feel, you can often spot pheasants at the side of the road, unless it is the hunting season between November and February.
Plumb in the middle of the island is Mount Halla, an extinct volcano and South Korea’s highest mountain at 2,000 metres high. There is a crater lake in the middle and a hiking trail up to the summit, providing scenic views over the countryside if you are lucky with the weather. The island is the rainiest part of the country, with only 60 clear days every year.
Other attractions include Songup Folk Village, with its centuries old traditional thatched houses, giving you a taste of how islanders lived in days gone by, and the Manjanggul caves, which at four miles long are the longest lava tube in the world and well worth a visit.
It is easy to pack a lot in, as the island is a very manageable size – it takes just 5hrs to drive round the circumference.
For the sports minded, there is scuba diving off the nearby island of Udo – the only place to practice it in South Korea – and pony riding from many ranches scattered over the island.
Seafood is, unsurprisingly, big in Cheju. The island’s women divers – legendary in Korea for their stamina – have been collecting abalone, conch and sea cucumber for centuries. Visitors can try these delicacies raw, dipped in hot chilli sauce, which is a chewy but healthy experience.
A more appetising dish is grilled red snapper or toasted squid, both frequent items on the local menu. As you drive round the island you will notice vast lines of squid hung out to dry. At night, if you have an ocean-view room, check out the fishing boats decked out with rows of bright lights to lure squid to the surface.
As all good tour guides will tell you, local folklore describes Cheju as the island of ‘three abundances and three deficits’. There are lots of women, wind and volcanic stones. There are also said to be no beggars or thieves and therefore no need for front gates – not true any more, but the island certainly has a very low crime rate.
In the 1980s, the island was popular on the domestic weddings and honeymoon circuit. Now that South Koreans can get passports to travel abroad, the island has lost around half its clients to Guam and Hawaii, so hoteliers are keen to attract the domestic family market and foreign tourists.
Accommodation ranges from five-star hotels to modest beachside bungalows. Recent developments on the hotel front include the gleaming five-star Chungmun resort, built overlooking the ocean.
Soon the island will get a new $1bn stadium to stage some of the World Cup games when South Korea and Japan co-host the event in 2002.
ONLY an hour’s flight from the hustle and bustle of Seoul, Cheju’s laid-back rural atmosphere is a marked contrast to the capital’s gleaming high-rise offices and Lego-style apartment blocks.
Located off the south coast of the Korean peninsular, the fertile volcanic island’s palm trees and tangerine groves give it a tropical appearance.
Outside the main towns, the island’s dry-stone walls and traditional cottages are chocolate-box pretty. Standing guard outside the front of many houses are Cheju’s trademark lava carvings – big grey grandfather (harubang) statues. Adding to its rural feel, you can often spot pheasants at the side of the road, unless it is the hunting season between November and February.
Plumb in the middle of the island is Mount Halla, an extinct volcano and South Korea’s highest mountain at 2,000 metres high. There is a crater lake in the middle and a hiking trail up to the summit, providing scenic views over the countryside if you are lucky with the weather. The island is the rainiest part of the country, with only 60 clear days every year.
Other attractions include Songup Folk Village, with its centuries old traditional thatched houses, giving you a taste of how islanders lived in days gone by, and the Manjanggul caves, which at four miles long are the longest lava tube in the world and well worth a visit.
It is easy to pack a lot in, as the island is a very manageable size – it takes just 5hrs to drive round the circumference.
For the sports minded, there is scuba diving off the nearby island of Udo – the only place to practice it in South Korea – and pony riding from many ranches scattered over the island.
Seafood is, unsurprisingly, big in Cheju. The island’s women divers – legendary in Korea for their stamina – have been collecting abalone, conch and sea cucumber for centuries. Visitors can try these delicacies raw, dipped in hot chilli sauce, which is a chewy but healthy experience.
A more appetising dish is grilled red snapper or toasted squid, both frequent items on the local menu. As you drive round the island you will notice vast lines of squid hung out to dry. At night, if you have an ocean-view room, check out the fishing boats decked out with rows of bright lights to lure squid to the surface.
As all good tour guides will tell you, local folklore describes Cheju as the island of ‘three abundances and three deficits’. There are lots of women, wind and volcanic stones. There are also said to be no beggars or thieves and therefore no need for front gates – not true any more, but the island certainly has a very low crime rate.
In the 1980s, the island was popular on the domestic weddings and honeymoon circuit. Now that South Koreans can get passports to travel abroad, the island has lost around half its clients to Guam and Hawaii, so hoteliers are keen to attract the domestic family market and foreign tourists.
Accommodation ranges from five-star hotels to modest beachside bungalows. Recent developments on the hotel front include the gleaming five-star Chungmun resort, built overlooking the ocean.
Soon the island will get a new $1bn stadium to stage some of the World Cup games when South Korea and Japan co-host the event in 2002.
cheju island
Population: 500,000.
Size: 1,800 square kilometres – takes 5hrs to drive round.
Distance from Seoul: 1hr flight, 360 miles.
Main industry: mandarin cultivation.
Number of tourists: 4m annually, 90% Korean.
Climate: sub-tropical.
Main attractions: hiking on Mount Halla, Cheju Folk Museum, Songup Folk Village, Manjangul lava caves.
Nickname: Korea’s Hawaii.