Udo: Traveling to an Island of an Island

For Spring Break, I traveled to Jeju Island off the coast of Korea.

Short disclaimer: traveling around Korea right now is acceptable and safe, and I got complete permission from my school (in fact, they were confused why I even asked…).

We double-masked and hosed ourselves in sanitizer. As part of our trip, we knew we wanted to head to Udo—the little island off the coast of Jeju.

The best (and only!) way to get there is to take a 10,000 won ferry ride. We left from Seongsan Port on the right side of Jeju.

It takes only 15 minutes and you get a front row seat to a bunch of seagulls, who were, admittedly, not as aggressive as I expected. Lots of people bought fish chips to feed to these funky birds.

Ferry ride finished, we hopped off the boat and onto the pier.

Here there are tons of bike and car rentals, but I recommend ignoring the first few that call out to you and turn left, heading down a bit. You’ll find Udo Ddang Kong Ice Cream (pictured below). They offer all day bike rentals for 10,000 which is much better than the 1 or 2 hour deals for the same price. Also, for some reason, they also sell soju; maybe save that for after you’re done. The owner gave us a map, too. Beware, it’s cash only.

If you’ve got an international license, you can rent a car or scooter. However, we did not so we opted for their electric bikes. Actually, I’d never ridden an electric bike before! All the fun of a bike with none of the work! That said, Udo isn’t that big nor that hilly so if you want to opt for a regular bike, that works too.

Off we went, on our little bikes.

Jeju is beautiful, but Udo is supremely gorgeous. Its colorful houses on the coast look almost Scandinavian; its red-roofed homes and white walls look almost Greek. (I dunno though. I’ve never been to either, so take my word with a grain of sea salt.)

Whatever comparisons it inspires, it’s bright green and deep blue and super windy.

Our destination was Jimmy’s Natural Ice Cream, famously flavored with Udo’s local peanuts. We parked our bikes nearby and ducked inside. The shop is COVERED in celebrity and TV show appearances. They also sell orange ice cream as well as coffee and hot chocolate. We only tried the peanut one and I’d say it was pretty good.

In the sun, it was warm enough to sit outside so we ate looking over the beach. Highly recommend.

After we finished, we plopped down a staircase carved into the mountain to a beachfront.

Wary of getting sand in our shoes, we hopped up on some rocks to take photos. On the water, tourists paid to take some sort of wild boat raft thing. It looked fun, but it was way too cold to get splashed.

i hate sand, its rough and course and....

There’s much more to Udo than just this shop, though. There’s plenty of restaurants, gift shops, and little roads to keep exploring. If you’re a BTS fan, there’s also some shops where BTS signed autographs when they visited.

We biked some more, passing into the quiet parts of the island where only old homes and onggi jars reside.

The last ferry leaves at 5pm and we were all about wrapped by around 3:30, so we headed back to the dock. Our mid-day lunch was some egg-wrapped kimbap rolls.

Udo was another highlight of this trip, for me. After all, the quickest way to my lil travel heart is a bike ride through some green scenery. Even in the dead of winter, Udo was bright and beautiful. Summer is probably brutally hot here—few trees so you’re right under the sun. Pack your sunscreen.

Thanks for reading!