Korea has a very large number of islands where you can spend your weekends. If you live near the city of Yeosu in Jeollanam province and prefer a quiet and relaxing holiday, then Geumodo island may be the perfect place to spend your time.
How to Get to Geumodo Island
Geumo Island is an island in Nam-myeon, Yeosu-si, Jeollanam-do. It is the largest of the Geumo Islands. The island is not connected to the mainland of the peninsula, so to get to it you need to take a ferry to the terminal in Yeosu.
Travel time takes approximately 1.5 hours. On the way to the island, there will be several stops at other islands. Before you buy tickets, choose your destination because ferries sail to different parts of the island. I took a ticket to Hamgumi.
Two ferries run to this part of the island on weekdays, and three on weekends. You can buy a ticket at the terminal. The main thing to take note of is that you need to arrive no later than 10 minutes before departure, because after that boarding ends. Or you can book in advance using the KSA website, by Clicking Here. This site is convenient because it can be used to buy tickets to many large and small islands of Korea, including Jeju.
Yeosu Coastal Ferry Terminal
Korean address: ์ ๋ผ๋จ๋ ์ฌ์์ ๊ต๋ 682-1
English address: Jeollanam-do, Yeosu-si, Gyo-dong, 682-1.
What to Do on Geumodo Island
Transport to a Quieter, Simpler Past
The island is quite small and doesnโt have a lot of popular tourist spots. There are not many people living there, so there are very few cars and no typical city noise. But many people go there not to visit tourist places, but to relax and change the scenery.
There are almost no shops on the island, no usual bright street lights on buildings, and instead of modern popular K-pop tracks near the terminal, you will hear only music from the 80s. It feels like time has stood still on this island.
Hiking
However, any local resident will definitely recommend walking along the Bireong Trail. In total, there are several routes along the entire island. I only took a shortcut near Hamgumi. On this route, climbing the mountains, you can take awesome pictures of the island and the sea.
Accommodation
There are two hotels near the Hamgumi terminal. I stayed at Yeosu Gumpa Pension. This hotel has nice, large studios for up to four people with a beautiful sea view. If you come to this island in the warm season, you can swim in the pool located at the hotel, as well as take photos with the infinity view. Also, you can bring food with you to the barbecue. Necessary equipment can be borrowed from the hotel.
There is one restaurant near the terminal. Here you can order sigol bapsang (grilled fish) with doenjang jjigae (๋์ฅ์ฐ๊ฐ) and a lot of various side dishes (๋ฐ์ฐฌ), or seafood pancake (ํด๋ฌผ์ ). Prices start at 10,000 Won.
At the same place, they sell a range of different teas: citron, ginger, plum, etc. Price for hot tea is 3,000 Won, and for cold tea, it is 4,000 Won.
Before Visiting
Life on a small island is very different from life on the mainland, primarily there are a limited number of shops and cafes. Although there is a store near the terminal, it has a very small selection of goods. Secondly, due to the sparse population, life on the island stops at 5 pm. The street food place closes at 5 p.m. and the restaurant closes at 4 p.m. The convenience store operates until 9 p.m.
Remember this, so that you will not be hungry in the evening. Or, you can also bring plenty of food with you as prices on the island are a bit expensive.
Want to explore more islands off of the southern coast of Korea? Click Here to read about Hansan, the island calm, ideal for seaside biking.
