What is Saturdays in Korea?

Tired of doing the same old thing every weekend? Saturdays in Korea is activity club for those who want to break their normal weekend routine and do something different. For Koreans, it's a good chance to practice English. For ex-pats, it's a good chance to practice Korean. For everybody, it's a great chance to meet new people and have fun.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Jebudo Island (제부도)

The east and west coasts of South Korea differ greatly. To the east is a smooth line of sandy beaches, while to the west there is a jagged formation of islands and mudflats along the Yellow Sea. For those living in and around Seoul, getting to the ideal beaches of the east coast might take too long or cost too much money. Instead, there is a reasonable alternative: Jebudo Island (제부도).

From Jebudo (제부도)

Contents

  • Jebudo Island
  • Places to Eat
  • Things to Do
  • Getting to Jebudo


  • Jebudo Island

    Jebudo (제부도) is a small island on the west coast of Korea, southwest of Seoul. Since there is are buses that run frequently to the island, getting there without a car isn't too difficult. This island offers a mixture of both nature and tourism with plenty of things to see along with lots of modern conveniences.

    Jebudo gives people a chance to get away from the city and enjoy the beach without having to travel to the east coast. While the beach does have a lot of places to lay in the sun and catch some rays, don't expect to go swimming since the entire island is surrounded by mud flats.

    From Jebudo (제부도)

    From Jebudo (제부도)

    Since Jebudo is not directly connected to the mainland and is surrounded by tidal mudflats, it presents a unique situation for travelers getting to the island. Due to the fact that the road from the shore to the island is built on top of the mudflats, the road is underwater during hide tide. During hide tide getting on or off the island by car or bus is unavailable.


    View Jebu Island (제부도) in a larger map

    When you are planning a trip to Jebudo you can pull out your Poor Richards Almanack Korean addition or just go to the Jebudo Homepage. On this webpage is a Tidal Mudflat Calendar. The calendar lists times (09:44~17:56) when the roads are closed. Worse case scenario, if you are stuck on the island overnight, there are plenty of hotels to spend the night at. Be sure to double check the calendar if you don't want to be "accidentally" stuck on the island with your date.

    From Jebudo (제부도)


    Places to Eat

    On Jebudo, there is pretty much one type of restaurant to eat at: seafood. This isn't your only option; many people do bring portable grills and cook up their own food on the beach. If you aren't bringing your own food and don't want to have a meal consisting of food from a convenience store, get ready for some seafood!

    Most of the restaurants are located along the coast, with majority of them being on the west side along the long straight beach. You will quickly realize that most of the restaurants have the same menu, so choosing a restaurant really comes down to location or motif. There was an interesting restaurant we saw called the Titanic (타이태닉) in which the dinning area was inside of a boat.

    From Jebudo (제부도)

    The main dish that you will see at almost every restaurant is the Grilled Clam Platter (모듬조개구이). This dish consists of a large basket of clams of all different sizes to grill at your table and eat. Though not the most efficient food to eat (is seafood ever efficient?), it is an interesting meal to have.

    From Jebudo (제부도)

    The key to cooking the clams is to wait until they pop open over while being heated. At this time, flip the clams over and let them finish cooking before taking them out of their shell and eating. Each person is given a white glove to hold the clams since they do get very hot. Do be careful since the heated clam shells may pop and send small pieces of shell shrapnel flying across the table. What some people see as a dangerous dining experience, I see as an exciting dinning experience.

    From Jebudo (제부도)

    From Jebudo (제부도)

    The Grilled Clam Platter usually costs about 20,000 Won a person. For our group of six people, we ordered the Grilled Clam Platter for three along with a Sushi Rice Bowl (회덮밥) and a Spicy Fish Stew (매운탕). We all walked away well fed and it only cost 15,000 Won per person.


    Things to Do

    One thing to note about Jebudo is that it is quite a small island. Despite its size, there are plenty of lovely views, nice walks, a long a beach to enjoy the sun and of course lots of seafood to eat. If you are not a person who finds the idle lifestyle of sun worshiping and prefer more active and mobile activities, there are plenty of places to walk and sites to see.

    On the north end of the island is a sizable hill that is surrounded by a boardwalk built over the mudflats. From here, you have a wonderful view of the surrounding islands and waterways, in addition to the cliffs of the hill that fall into the sea.

    From Jebudo (제부도)

    From Jebudo (제부도)


    To the south of the same hill in the interior part of the island is a small flower garden next to the road. This place offers some tranquility away from the more crowded and bustling beaches and some wonderful views of the surrounding area.

    From Jebudo (제부도)

    From Jebudo (제부도)



    Getting to Jebudo

    Even though Jebudo isn't connect directly to the Seoul Metropolitan Subway System, it is still relatively easy to get there by bus. There are two subway stops that you can meet at to take a bus to Jebudo depending on where you live.

  • Suwon Station (수원역), Exit #4, Bus 1004
  • Geumjeong Station (금정역), Exit #4, Bus 330

  • Both buses will lead to the west coast to the bus stop called the Entrance of Jebudo (제부도 입구). This final bus stop will be in front of a Buy the Way (바이더웨이) Convenience Store.

    From Jebudo (제부도)
    When you get off bus, head to right side of the convenience store and in a parking lot behind the store is the bus stop for the local Jebudo Bus. You can easily find it by the yellow bus and the following sign in the parking lot.

    From Jebudo (제부도)
    This bus runs about every 60 minutes during the day except for high tide when the road to Jebudo is underwater. Again, you can check the time for high tide at the Jebudo Homepage Calendar. The cost for this bus is 1,000 Won each way. Unfortunately, they do not accept T-Money Cards or other forms of electronic payment, so have some cash handy. When we took this bus, we gave them a 10,000 Won bill for six people. The bus driver didn't have enough change at the time, so she told us to pay 2,000 Won when we left the island.


    View Getting to Jebudo in a larger map

    This bus circles the entire island and since this is the countryside and not Seoul, they are more relaxed about where they drop off and pick up customers. If you want to head straight to the beach, wait until the bus gets to the west side of the island to be dropped off.

    When you are ready to head back and leave the island, you can find the bus on the same road. If you are on the west side of the island near the beach, the bus doesn't go down the road that is right next to the beach. Instead, it is on another road parallel to the beach that is a little bit more inland. While the bus will stop for anyone who waves it down, there are bus stop signs around the island you can wait at to be sure that you are in the right place.

    From Jebudo (제부도)

    To get back to Seoul, you can just follow the directions from above in reverse.


    While Jebudo may not be the most stellar beach in South Korea, it does offer a nice beach ambiance along the west coast. Being close to Seoul, it does save time and money in comparison to traveling all the way to the east coast. Jebudo has plenty of delicious seafood to eat and plenty of places to enjoy the sun and the local scenery.

    3 comments:

    1. Wow! This post was so helpful! Thanks for providing pictures and detailed directions! ^^

      ReplyDelete
    2. Wow looks fun and interesting! Will it be too cold to visit this island late nov/early dec?

      ReplyDelete
    3. One CORRECTION: The calendar lists times (09:44~17:56) when the roads are OPEN (not closed).

      Otherwise, very nice article!

      ReplyDelete