VISIT JEJU

Omegi rice cake is a representative Jeju local food item. Its colors and ingredients are symbolic and delicious. You can try your hand at making some for yourself while you’re here at a rice cake making program that focuses on local traditions and locally sourced ingredients.  

The name of the establishment — Ggamanggotti — is certainly a mouthful, but its location near the UNESCO World Natural Heritage site at Geomun Oreum and the Gotjawal forest is easy to remember. Here you can watch experts boil and prepare the rice you’ll need for the class, and then you can select the number and amount of the ingredients you’ll want to add to your creation. Red beans, green tea powder, and other options are available and it’s completely up to you how you’d like to use them. The on-hand experts can offer advice and will guide you through the process. Be creative and have fun! Just remember you’ll have to make a reservation in advance.

Jeju Glass Castle is well-known to locals, especially kids, who pester their parents to go back again and again. Located on a 35,000 square meter site nestled in the Gotjawal forest, it’s got so many tiny and massive glass items, you can’t possible see them all in one visit. It is arranged in six themes with over 250 glass sculptures, in addition to glass walls, bridges, and even a glass maze! You can take a stroll through the forest there as well, in which more glass art has been strategically placed and make for great “photo zones.”

Examples of artisanal genius from world-famous artists from Italy, Japan and the Czech Republic are on display. You can take this inspiration and then try making some blown glass yourself on site! Since you might be new to the art, you can start slowly under the careful supervision of an expert to blow some colorful glass beads, balloons, or bottles. You’ll learn how to spin the molten glass on the end of an iron rod and how to apply just the right air pressure and spin to your creation. It takes about 10 to 15 minutes per person to blow the glass. Note that you won’t be able to take your blown glass home with you that day — it takes time to cool down and set. So you can come back the next day or have it delivered to your hotel or other accommodations by courier the following day. 

The great thing about visiting Jeju Island is that not only will you be enthralled and entertained, but you can learn a great deal about the local culture and traditions. The natural beauty of the place has inspired artists and poets for centuries, so it’s not a stretch to say that you, too, can take inspiration from Jeju when you try your hand at some traditional cloth dyeing in an experience program at Ilchul Land in Seongsan-eup, Seogwipo. In particular, there is an indigo-color dye whose hue is taken directly from the bright, clear Jeju sky.

Here you’ll learn every step of the process and be able to make your own color and pattern (the white elements can represent clouds or other natural shapes you see on Jeju Island) when you dye a blank scarf. Once done, you dry your new creation in the sun before taking it home to show your suitably impressed friends and family. It’s not that hard to do, so this is definitely a family-friendly activity that your kids will love. Since Ilchul Land is a large park, there are a number of themed areas to explore once you’ve finished your experience program. There’s a natural cave system to visit, as well as a Bonsai garden, a cactus greenhouse, subtropical botanical garden, and more!

If you use cosmetics on a daily basis, then chances are you know that Jeju Island is famous for its beauty products (think Innisfree). Here companies make the most of the natural environment in a responsible, sustainable way. They take the clean water, soil, and plants to use as raw ingredients in their cosmetics and fragrances. It’s no accident that there are over 30 cosmetics research institutes on the island!

If you’d like to try making a beauty product for yourself using these 100% all natural ingredients, then look no further than Jeju Story. Their experience programs include making perfume, lip gloss, fragrances, pore packs, and 5 kinds of moisturizing cream. It takes at least 20 minutes to 1 hour for each experience. The raw materials are as various as local chrysanthemum, bilberry, canola, hydrangea, daffodils, cherry, lilies, and Jeju camellia flowers. The base is a volcanic ash that you can only find on Jeju Island. In fact, it is a strictly controlled resource (you can’t take Jeju volcanic rocks home as souvenirs, for example) so you can tell your friends and family back home that your creation is truly one of a kind. 

Cheese is a basic foodstuff that has millennia of tradition. A key to quality cheese making is experience and good ingredients. You can come by both on Jeju Island at one of its natural cheese making programs. Jeju Cheese Making House is a small ranch in Bongseong-ri, Aewol-eup, Jeju City. You’ll see just how clean the air, water, soil and grass are, and admire the healthy cows that thrive here. Their milk, which is collected every morning, is provided to visitors looking to make their own cheese. The amount of milk available on a particular day can vary, so it’s best to make a reservation and double-check with the proprietors on the day you’re scheduled to visit.

The process of making a mozzarella or ricotta is surprisingly easy, so the whole family can try! You have to apply a gentle heat (30 ℃) and stir slowly while adding citric acid and monitoring the temperature. As it starts to solidify, you wrap it in a cloth and squeeze the whey. What you’re left with is your very own cheese to taste and take home with you, if you can prevent yourself from gobbling it all down right there and then!