Jeju Island

IslandsJeju,South Korea

A volcanic island with Korea's highest peak at its centre, 360 cones on its slopes and women who still free-dive its seabed on one breath.

September·Peaking now

Sep–Nov

Silver grass covers the oreum cones, peaking from mid-October into early November, when the low sun turns the plumes gold. The air clears and turns mild, and the sea is still swimmable near 25°C in September. This is Jeju's second good stretch of the year.

Year-round Hallasan, the lava coast and the haenyeo divers are here year-round; the spring canola and the silver autumn grasses are the seasonal colour.

Jeju is a volcanic island off the south coast of Korea, built entirely by eruptions over about two million years. Hallasan, the shield volcano at its centre, is South Korea's highest peak at 1,947 metres, with a shallow crater lake in its summit. Its slopes are studded with more than 360 smaller cones, which Koreans call oreum. At the eastern tip, Seongsan Ilchulbong — Sunrise Peak — is a fortress-shaped crater almost 600 metres across, rising straight out of the sea on a narrow sandy neck. Underground, draining lava left one of the finest cave systems anywhere, including the Manjanggul tube, which runs some seven kilometres. The coast answers in black: hexagonal basalt columns, dark lava beaches, and Jeongbang, said to be the only waterfall in Asia that drops straight into the ocean. Come before dawn and climb the grassy rim of Seongsan to watch the sun lift out of the sea — the ritual that gave the peak its name. By day the Olle trails, 27 marked routes ringing the island, thread the coast past turquoise coves, black lava rock and stacked stone walls. Offshore you may still see the haenyeo, Jeju's women divers, some of them in their eighties, working the seabed on a single breath. A mild maritime climate keeps the island green all year, turning yellow with canola in spring and silver with wind-blown grass on the oreum each autumn. Winds off the sea are constant, which is why the old houses sit low and roped down. Jeju is Korea's favourite holiday island, so the famous sites get busy and the walking trails do not. It is the only place to hold all three of UNESCO's natural honours: World Heritage, Biosphere Reserve and Global Geopark.

Worth knowing

Good to know

The classic photo of Sunrise Peak is shot from across the water, not from its summit — Gwangchigi Beach and the Seopjikoji headland frame the whole cone at first light.
Reaching Hallasan's summit needs a free online reservation booked days ahead — the two summit trails cap daily numbers, and rangers turn back anyone without a QR ticket at the checkpoint.
Wind is one of Jeju's three signature traits — a near-constant sea gale sweeps the exposed oreum and Seongsan's open crater rim, so pack a windproof layer even on a still, sunny day.
Spring paints the fields yellow with canola and the oreum silver in autumn — late March pairs the canola with cherry blossom, while the wind-blown grass peaks late September to early November.

Things to do

1
Climb Sunrise Peak before dawn
The path up Seongsan is a steep twenty-minute climb of wooden stairs to the rim of a vast grassy crater. Time it for first light and the sun lifts straight out of the sea in front of you — the moment that gave the peak its name. Then turn inland. The land drops to the narrow sandy neck tying the cone to Jeju, with the islet of Udo offshore and the fishing town below; on a clear morning you can follow the whole eastern coastline.
2
Walk down to Cheonjiyeon's forest falls
A shaded path leads through a wooded ravine to Cheonjiyeon, where the water drops about 22 metres into a deep green pool rather than the sea. The gorge is thick with subtropical plants, and the rare marbled eels living in the pool make it a protected natural monument.
3
Follow an Olle trail around the coast
The Olle trails are a network of 27 marked routes that ring the whole island, mostly hugging the shore. A typical stretch winds over black lava rock and past low stone walls, dipping into fishing villages and turquoise coves where you set your own pace between sea and farmland. Not all the sand along them is pale: some beaches are fine black volcanic grit, warm and dark underfoot, and long said locally to ease aching joints. Walk one in low light with the silhouette of a tuff cone across the bay and the island's volcanic origin feels close enough to touch.
4
Watch the haenyeo work the shallows
Jeju's women divers, many of them grandmothers, still slip into the sea with only a mask and a float to gather abalone and urchins. Catch them at a demonstration near Sunrise Peak, or buy a plate of their catch fresh at a harbour stall — a living tradition rather than a staged show.
5
Descend into the Manjanggul lava tube
A stairway drops into a cave carved by draining lava, where the ceiling arches up to 25 metres and the walls still ripple with frozen flow lines. Roughly a kilometre is open to walk, cool and dim, ending at one of the tallest lava columns known anywhere on Earth.
6
Hike Hallasan to the crater lake
Two trails climb through changing forest to the summit of South Korea's highest peak, where a shallow crater lake called Baengnokdam — 'white deer lake' — fills the old vent. The round trip is a long day of about nine hours, rewarded near the top by views clear across the island to the sea.

Watch

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