Budget Travel Korea | Jeju | Seopjikoji & Olle Trail

After our breakkie at Kim's Cabin, we came here by taxi and reached the place around 8.30 am. It was only 10 minutes away from our stay; I forgot how much the fare was but it was well under KRW10,000. 

I immediately noticed the beauty and attractions here once I got off the cab. 

Seopjikoji is basically a hilly cape on the east of Jejudo. People come here to admire the beauty of its landscape and geology - slopes and cliffs, natural vegetation throughout the seasons especially in spring as well as the view of the pacific ocean from this point. 

From the car park, the tour started off with a climb on a paved foot path on a slope. On the hill, the green field was pretty against the blue of the sky with horses grazing on it. You could also ride these horses, but I'm not sure of the cost coz we didn't do it. 

Because it was already the end of spring, there weren't as many flowers as in April or early May.

On the way to the top, we passed by this 'Hansel & Gretel' look-a-like house; it's actually the All In House, a gallery for a famous K-drama.

All In House

Up ahead, there was a fire beacon used in the olden days before there was lighthouses; it's so Lord-Of-The-Rings ha ha .. 

Fire beacon

There's a lighthouse on the summit but to get there, you'll have to climb that ...

An ahjumma selling dried seaweed was sitting near the steep staircase, I reckoned she was having breakfast because she was shelling snails and directly eating them =D That's as raw as it gets here baby he he .. 

Picking out snails from the shells

The view from the lighthouse ..

Check out the inactive parasitic volcano Seongsan Ilchulbong in the back, the one behind the building

All of the tourists that came with us went down the same staircase as they got up here but we went down another staircase towards the other side. We figured we wanted to walk all the way to Seongsan Ilchulbong; ha ha it was too ambitious an endeavor I have to admit =D

On the other side of the lighthouse 

Well, the chances of getting a cab was slim so we thought we could follow the seaside trail and see this side of Seopjikoji that I guess not many have, especially if you come on a tour bus :P. 

I've read about Olle trail around Jeju actually, it's a series of foot path great for those who wish to take on the less-travelled routes and see Jeju from a different side. There are more than 20 trails; I'm not sure if this was one of them but we saw this sign,

So there we went ..

There's an eatery in this building

Looking back at the lighthouse, the view was just gorgeous .. #offroad #amazing :P

I felt like jumping off the cliff into that clear water. It didn't occur to me what the temperature of the sea there was like until later on.

More horses grazing away by the sea,

The view of Seongsan Ilchulbong otherwise known as the Sunrise Peak from here was breathtaking ..

Yet another horse ha ha..

On a pebbled beach, we saw these stone piles,

must have been laid by previous passers-by, so I just had to make one for me ^^

I stacked that pile on the right ^^

The sunrise peak was still very far from reach but to our pleasant surprise, after almost 1 hour of walking and taking photographs we came to an aquarium on the seaside yeayy! It's the Hanhwa Aqua Planet; we didn't realize that we passed this place when we came in the taxi earlier.  

Long story short, we went in and spent the next 2++ hours  admiring the aquatic lives in there including a dolphin show woot woot! It was another awesome spur-of-the-moment decision as taking the olle trail. Loved it.

Getting here:

Map of Seopjikoji on east coast of Jeju; Kim's Cabin is only ~5km away.

The easiest way to come here is by taxi, but if you stay way outside Jeju east coast the fare could be high; unless if you rent a car.

For bus transportation, checkout Visit Korea official site.

Admission:
Free.