The Jeju Olle Trail is often referred to as a “hike”. While there are some moderate hills, most of the trail is relatively flat and is, therefore, more of a “walk”. Its sister trail is the El Camino / Camino de Santiago in Spain - in fact, both trails are part of a global friendship network of cross-promotion.

We approached the Jeju Olle Trail with the same spirit of discovery, cultural engagement, and minimalism that most people have when they set out on El Camino. This means carrying just a few essentials in a light pack, finding food and accommodations along the way, and having NO SET PLAN! The joy of the Jeju Olle Trail — and others like it — lies in simplicity, humility, and gratitude for the present moment.

Click any photo for larger slideshow…

The official Jeju Olle Trail site in English is a useful reference for all the nitty-gritty. What follows here in this post is an account of our budget, experience hiking the trail in March, and lessons learned along the way.

Budget

As a couple, we spent a total of USD$1,860 over 17 days of walking, covering about 2/3 of the trail. That breaks down to an average of $110/day or $55/ person per day. We mostly dined in local restaurants along the route and stayed in local accommodations (no brand names).

From the budget breakdown, you can see that FOOD was our biggest expense. The food on Jeju Island is quite different from the mainland and we relished the opportunity to try it all! While it may appear from the chart that food was expensive, we each only spent about $25/day total on food — or $8/meal. We ate like kings! IMO, the price to value ratio was in our favor!

We spent an average of $36.50/night on accommodations. More on that below, but we mostly slept in economical home stays (minbaks), hostels, and pensions during our walk; no name brand hotels or fancy resorts. Groceries included anything we picked up along the way from convenience stores, such as bottles of water, cups of coffee, gum, beer, soju or makolli for the evening, toothpaste, and so forth. We flew in from Seoul, so our airfare was minimal - a 90 minute flight was just $60/person (round-trip!). Shopping includes any souvenirs or gear we purchased in Jeju, while Tour & Admission (and Donations) covers the tickets for museums, art galleries, temples, special park entry fees, and other cultural excursions that made our trip so educational and rewarding. It is also where we grouped the cost for a long-term storage locker and bag forwarding service (more on that below). Public and Private Transportation was minimal and included buses, taxis, and ferries.

Packing for the Olle Trail in March

We walked the trail in the month of March. I was expecting the weather to be much colder and varied than it actually was, so I packed all sorts of winter-weather and early-spring gear. I made the mistake of using my 46 liter long distance backpack - the one I used on the John Muir Trail and the Slovenian Mountain Trail. When there is room in my bag, I have a tendency to add items “just in case”. Ugh! Relieve yourself of the burden! Trust me! All you need is a day pack. Dress for the weather on day one, toss a few toiletries, sunglasses, an umbrella (good for rain or sun), a poncho and a change of socks and underwear in your sack. You are now ready for the trail. If there is anything you decide you need along the way, you can buy it. It’s KOREA - believe me, they have what you need!

The weather in Jeju in March is — above all else — WINDY! It was not a cold wind, though. Average temperature was in the high 40 and 50 degree Fahrenheit range, while it was still a winter slush in Seoul. I brought a thick winter coat, wool hat and padded gloves, but I didn’t need any of those items. Instead, I wore my fleece-lined hiking pants, a long-sleeved shirt, hoodie, and a waterproof wind-breaker. When it was a little colder, I threw a down vest under my coat. I only used a thin pair of golf gloves to cut the wind - thicker ones were too hot. We experienced a wicked rain and wind storm on the first day of our walk, so I was glad to have a poncho… but did not use it the rest of the time as every day was sunny (but windy!).

Hiking to the top of Halla San is not part of the Olle Trail — although a highly recommended activity while you are on the island!. The majority of the trek is flat with just a few little hill climbs (with great views!), so you do not need hiking poles. I carried them, but they were an unnecessary burden.

Luggage Forward and Storage Lockers

Like I said, initially we over-packed. We didn’t need any winter gear or a bathing suit in March (though you might actually want a swimsuit if you walk in the summer - lots of beautiful beaches!). Walking poles, computer? Nope. The list goes on. After a couple of over-burdened days on the trail, we were happy to learn about the option to forward our gear. There are several courier services in Jeju Island that will pick up your luggage or other bags and forward them to another destination on the island. One company that provides an easy-to-use English interface is Luggagent. We used a courier service called 가방을 부탁해 (Korean language only) to forward a bag with all of our unnecessary extra things from a minbak on the east coast to a hostel in Seogwipo along the southern coast. Everything was coordinated via Kakao Talk. The cost for the service was USD$12.00… which enabled us to significantly lighten our loads for the next several days.

We reunited with our belongings in Seogwipo. After a few days of trail walking and site-seeing in and around Seogwipo, we took a bus to Jeju City and stored our extra stuff in a medium size long-term storage locker. Then we took another bus to our next planned course on the west coast. Since we were flying out of Jeju City at the end of our trip, it was easy to swing by and retrieve our items from the locker and then walk to the airport. It worked beautifully! Total cost for 5 days in a medium size locker was USD$15.00.

Accommodations: Minbaks, Pensions, Hotel Resorts

In Korea, there is a low-cost homestay-style accomodation option called “minbak” 민박 that stays true to the pilgrimage spirit of the El Camino. Local people rent out one (or more) rooms in their home to people walking the trail. Minbaks are often run by elderly couples, some of whom will also provide breakfast, coffee, and snacks when you stay for the night. Some minbaks are actually run more like a hostel (separate building, multiple guests, rooms, and variety of options).

We primarily stayed in minbaks during our trek. Each place had a heated floor (very welcome in March!), a bed or padded floor mat + linens and warm blankets, and a private bathroom with shower. Usually the room also had a television, water boil kettle, wardrobe or hooks, and a small table. We often had a kitchenette, as well.

The main issue that foreigners might have when attempting to rely on minbaks is language. You really need to be able to speak and read at least a little Korean to find a minbak using KaKao Map (Korean version of Google Map), call the place for availability, and interact with the owners. You also need a bit of tolerance for hunting around a bit for a place. At the end of every course, there are usually quite a few minbaks — especially during the summer months — but it does take some energy to secure your room for the evening. You may need to call or visit several minbaks before finding a place with an available room. The upside is that most are pretty cheap. We paid about USD$35.00/person a night, on average, which often included breakfast.

BUT! If you are not comfortable with the uncertainty and effort required to stay in a minbak, NO WORRIES! You can choose to stay in a:

• Hostel: private or shared room + shared bathroom

• Hotel room: private bed and bathroom

• Pension house: fully equipped suites with kitchen, full bathroom(s), living area and multiple bedrooms - great for 3+ people

• Resort: pamper yourself with all the luxuries!

The price for these range from $ to $$$$$ and many can be found on Google, AirBnB, Booking.com or KaKao Maps. You can reserve online (same day or reserve ahead), thereby avoiding uncertainty and the complexities of language. And there is no reason you have to stay in a new place every night. You could settle yourself in one town or area and use public transportation to do a couple of nearby courses… and then move to a different place further along the trail for another several days.

You can camp along the Jeju Olle Trail, if you wanted, but then you would have to carry a lot more equipment. With the number of accommodations available, there’s really no reason to camp except for budget reasons or personal preference. If you are interested in camping, however, this blog provides some really good information for camping.

Public Transportation in Jeju-do

Buses and Taxis

Speaking of public transportation, Jeju Island has a fairly decent bus network and taxi system. The island is oval shaped: it’s about 45 miles (~75 km) from west to east and about 20 miles (~30 km) from north to south. There is a big volcano that sits in the middle of the island, though, which adds a bit to travel time. Buses go everywhere, but you may need to wait up to an hour or more; taxis are readily available, but can cost up to USD$25.00 or more, depending how far you are going. This site has a ton of useful information regarding public transportation around Jeju Island.

Ferries

The official Jeju Olle Trail includes course sections on a few little satellite islands. We did section 1-1 on Udo Island, arriving there in the morning by ferry and leaving the same day around 3:30 pm. Do pay attention to the ferry schedules or risk missing the last return boat to Jeju - or plan in advance to stay a night. Weather is another factor that may add an element of surprise to an island section. Ferries will not run or may halt return service in inclement weather, which means you could be stuck on a smaller island overnight. It’s another reason NOT to plan your whole accommodation plan in advance… it might be thrown completely off-kilter if you get delayed on a satellite island.

Route Planning (Or Not)

We arrived in Jeju with no planned starting or ending point for our trip; we also didn’t have a set time schedule. Our “plan” was to walk until we were ready to go home. We exited the airport, had breakfast, and then hopped on a local bus headed east. Clouds were building and rain threatened; we wanted to get a start before the storm, so we got off the bus at the Course 20 trailhead along the north-east coast and began our trek in a blustery windstorm..

We proceeded in a clockwise fashion from there around the east coast of Jeju island to Seogwipo on the south coast, finishing courses 20, 21, 1-7 and 1-1 (Udo). We spent a few days in Seogwipo because there are a lot of sites and excursions to enjoy there. When we started our trek again, we jumped ahead to course 14 on the west coast and worked our way counter-clockwise from course 14 to course 10. With a rainy weather pattern forecasted and some friends coming to visit in Seoul, we ended our walk in Andeok-Myeon on day #17, took a bus to Jeju City and flew back to Seoul. Planning and adapting as we went along was the most enjoyable aspect of our time on the Jeju Olle Trail - it gave us a tremendous feeling of freedom and spontaneity!

Life on the Jeju Olle Trail Daily Logbook: Days 1-3