About Cheju Island

Cheju is said to be an island of ´three plenties and three lacks.´ The three plenties are stones, wind and women. Houses and fields have stone walls around them to protect them from the strong sea winds.

Along the shoreline women dive for shellfish. One in five of the population earn their living the sea, and in many families the women have been divers for generations.

The three lacks are beggars, thieves and locks. The sea has made the islanders rich enough for there to be no thieves or beggars. And because there are no thieves people rarely lock their doors. Three bars are placed across an entrance, and when one is missing it means the owners are out. Cheju city is thriving and modern. But, once you are out of it and into the country, you´ll meet old people and children in the little straw-thatched hamlets who smile in a way that city-dwellers rarely do.

Cheju is famous as a Mecca for honeymooners, and the island´s sightseeing spots are often crowded with young couples. So are the bathing beaches - not surprisingly, for the coral blue sea with which Cheju is surrounded makes resort life here an unforgettable delight. On the rocks by the shore people sit fishing, while couples stroll along the beach dreaming in the twilight. If you have more energetic pursuits in mind, you can play golf on the splendid course at the foot of Mt. Hallasan or in autumn, enjoy the thrills of the hunt.

At 1,950 meters, Mt. Hallasan is the highest peak in Korea, visible all over the island, through you´d hardly credit its height from the gentleness of its slopes. In the pastures of its foothills cattle graze contentedly, and always in the distance lies the glittering sea. At sunset, it is easy to imagine the old gods and the stone Tolharubang sighing as deeply over Cheju´s beauty as do its enraptured visitors.