Geoje island

Wahyeon beach, Gujora beach, Hakdong beach, and Nojasan mountain.

Our first few weekends here, it seemed like every week someone I was talking to was visiting Geoje Island. Only 1-1.5 hours away by bus (the island is accessible by bridge), Geoje is a very popular holiday spot for people living in Busan. On the recommendation of another teacher, we booked a "Pension" (apartment hotel) near a beach about 20 minutes from one of the towns on the island.

We took the bus from Busan for 7700 won each (about $7.70 CDN). The bus terminal had machines with an English setting and the whole process felt so efficient. The bus left right on time and although there were no signs in English indicating where we were going, we were pretty sure we'd got on at the right platform.

entrance - sandals provided

large washroom

main area ft. Cam's hat

patio with jacuzzi

We stayed at a place called "Geojedo Casa di Mare Pension" which was very small - only 6 rooms. We had the "Venice Spa room" which had a jacuzzi on the patio, a kitchen, fridge, and the nicest shower we've had in Korea. The hostess was so nice. She didn't speak a word of English and I think it was pretty obvious we didn't understand a word of Korean but she talked to us every time we entered or left the building. On Sunday morning, not realizing that breakfast was included, we walked right past the toast and coffee station and she got our attention, tried to get us to have some toast, and when we refused, she packed a quick bag of yogurt, soy milk, crackers and cookies to go and handed it to us. Here's a link to the place: (https://www.agoda.com/geojedo-casa-di-mare-pension/hotel/geoje-si-kr.html?checkin=2022-11-05&checkout=2022-11-06&los=1&rooms=1&adults=2&children=0&cid=1798841&searchrequestid=19f48548-d072-4fad-9074-51cfb21311cc)

Wayheon beach was a 5 minute walk from our pension. Here are a few photos of us arriving on the not too crowded beach where we went for a swim! Not pictured is the construction 500 meters away... But it was peaceful nonetheless.

Obviously, we had to checkout a hike on the island. We took a cab to the trailhead of Nojasan mountain (which also turns out to be a campsite). The hike up took almost exactly 40 minutes as the sign said. At the top, we had the platform for the views to ourselves for a little bit which was great. Then the people walking the short distance from the cable cars arrived.

brief stair section

cable car which we didn't take

We walked towards another peak (Garasan) but cut down early to take a more direct route to the popular Hakdong beach, known for its "black pebbles". It reminded us a bit of Sombrio beach on the island - the rocks are actually grey. And it was busy. We bought some corner store gimbap and bottled water and relaxed in the shade on the beach for a bit before catching a bus to another area.

Hakdong beach

Every blog post about Geoje island mentions Oedo nursery and cafe so we decided we had to check it out. The desserts looked fantastic! And the building and decor were gorgeous. You can see why it's so popular - it's very instagrammable.

tiramisu shaped like a cactus!

Near Oedo nursery is Gujora beach which we heard was a good spot to watch the sunset. We bought a couple of beers and a bag of chips and sat in the sand and enjoyed people watching. There were a number of people setup to camp on the beach but it was unclear if they were just day camping (which seems to be more popular than actually sleeping outside here) or staying the night. I was very proud of myself for finding the bathrooms which only had a sign in Korean but I managed to recognize 화장실 (hwajangsil which means toilet).

Back at the pension, we made ourselves dinner and had a peaceful evening in. Geoje is the first place we've been where there were rarely signs in English. It seems like it's more catered to locals as a holiday spot.