Essential Winter Travel Tips for Jeju Island
After a fun trip to Jeju Island with my older-skewing family, I'm leaving behind a few tips.
- Book your rental car through daily deal sites.
- Winter snow in Jeju is terrifying. Always check the weather before heading to the mountains.
- There are no black pigs in Jeju.
- When climbing Hallasan in winter, pack crampons whether it's snowing or not.
The rental car was my biggest worry before the trip. Should I pay a premium for a reliable, big-name brand? Or rent cheaply from a local company and pray nothing goes wrong? After agonizing over these two options, I took the plunge and booked a cheap rental through a social commerce deal site. The result was highly satisfying. Of course, the shuttle buses to the car lot are infrequent, so you have to wait a long time, and I have no idea how the company would actually handle an accident. But if you think, "I've been driving for a long time, I rarely speed, and I can tolerate waiting 10 to 20 minutes during a trip," then go ahead and use a local company.
As a city slicker from Seoul, the thing that surprised me most in Jeju was the "snow." To be exact, it's a blizzard. If you're imagining the cozy, heartwarming snowflakes from a Japanese movie, slap yourself awake right now. When it snows near the coast, the sea breeze whips up a blizzard that makes it impossible to even open your eyes. If you head to the mountains, the roads freeze over, and you'll find yourself praying just to make it back to your hotel alive. When I first arrived in Jeju, I sat in my cozy room and thought, "Snowy Hallasan (Mount Halla) would look amazing," but climbing Hallasan in the snow is extreme ascetic training or a punishment. Make sure to check the weather forecast for snow, and on particularly windy days, I highly recommend only traveling by car.
Whether it's because of the basalt rocks or not, Jeju is famous for everything black, from pigs to cows. However, an elderly local grandma who has lived her whole life in Seogwipo told us that there are no black pigs in Jeju. Of course, there are places that actually distribute it, but I think she meant there's no need to go out of your way to find it. It is a bit strange that there are so few pig farms in Jeju, yet there's an overflowing number of restaurants selling black pork. Since the grandma said that everything except what the haenyeo (female divers) catch comes from the mainland, it seems better to seek out dishes with a strong local Jeju flavor rather than obsessively hunting down black pork.
When you look at Hallasan from below, it looks like an easy climb. But once you actually start hiking, you'll be panting, and just when you think you're almost there, you'll hit an icy path. You'll see a lot of people doing the "tiger butterfly dance" (flailing around) on this ice, and if you fall, it's incredibly easy to break a bone. That said, buying crampons for a winter mountain you might never climb again feels like a waste of money. This time, I found a really great rental company called "Oshare." They rent out not only crampons and trekking poles but also PlayStations, cameras, and more. The best part is that they deliver to and pick up from your accommodation. There is an extra fee, of course, but you don't have to travel long distances back and forth. I do wish the price was a little cheaper, but I was extremely satisfied with it for this trip.