Top 5 Places you must go to on your 1st trip to Jeju Island pt.2
These are the next 5 places are also the most “Jejuish” places both Jeju people and travellers must visit. All the destinations are beautiful natural sights that might just take your breath away. When you walk around these places, you delve into the genuine, real Jeju Island. There’s no place in Jeju that you shouldn’t leave out but these are the 5 destinations that you must visit for your first time trip in Jeju Island from my own personal experience. This is only part 2, enjoy.
Hallasan National Park
Hiking up the 1950m high Hallasan is well worth the effort to anyone willing. The densely wooded dormant volcano, the world’s sole habitat to Korean firs, is beautiful throughout all seasons, with hillsides of azaleas flowering in April and May being a particularly notable sight to take in. If you’re on of the lucky few, you might spot small roe deer. Be prepared for some bad weather that can arrive in the blink of an eye and the same can be said for snow in winter.
Hamdeok Beach
This place is AWESOME!!! Do yourself a favor though – stay at the resort that is immediately there. The water is truly beautiful. The ocean here is the deepest darkest blue you might ever seen and the part that meets the beach is a light bright crystal blue. There are many families around and watching the kids play without a care in the world is really cute. You might spend a lot of time floating around, that is how relaxing it is here. I would recommend to bring a float so you can inner tube around like the locals did. You can order food and the vendors or restaurants and they will bring the food to your umbrella. Fried chicken is a must for Koreans on the beach. Give it a go!
Hallim Park
This is really a large park with plenty of places to enjoy and it is great for a nice break. I recommended to visit this park during spring or even the early summer so you can watch more flowers blossom. It is worth a visit just for the simple reason that you can visit the village, the stadium, the bonsai, the caves, and even a bird zoo inside. Lots of greenery and flowers to appreciate too. Stones and sculptures can be seen everywhere. This place is for taking it slow and just enjoying your surroundings. There is also very pretty gingko trees, a sea of yellow leaves on the ground at the end of autumn. Too much honestly for anyone to do in a half day!
Bijarim Forest
This forest is peaceful, gorgeous, and you shouldn’t skip it just cause it is a forest. You can get here by car (if you rented one) taxi, or by taking a few buses. You can take a map with you but you shouldn’t get lost its all marked out and it one quite long path. It will take you a whole day if you have intestions to make it to the end of the track. It can be humid so dress light in summer, and bring water. Don’t forget to bring a camera since there are beautiful natural rock formations and fauna, as well as bridges to pose on and if you are lucky you’ll see Jeju deer frolicking around.
There are little “rest stops” along the way but they are like camping ground logs to sit on and Korean squatter outhouses. The only problem I had was the bathrooms. Be prepared for smelly toilets, it could be too dark to see what you are doing, it could be filled with various spiders that makes it too terrifying to go. If you are brave enough bring tissue paper you wipe with and to toss it into the trash. And lastly, Try to see the prehistoric volcanic rock formation in the forest!
Kimnyoung Maze Park
You should have a lot fun going through this maze as long as you don’t use the map because it will just make it too easy. You and other lost people will keep running into the other tourists that might have same look on their faces because they also can’t find the exit. But you could tell they were also having fun no translation needed. Depending on how long it might take you to figure the way out, about 45 minutes to finish the maze sounds reasonable. 
Only problem was getting there. The nearest bus stop is a bit far from the maze and taxis are few and far in between. Make sure the taxi driver is using the meter, as they are known to not use the meter and just ask for a fee of the top of their head.
Part 3 will follow soon.
