A Trip Along the Coast East of Jeju City — Hamdeok Beach, Wondangbong Peak, the Samyang-dong Prehistoric Site and Black-Sand Samyang Beach

If you are planning a trip along the coast east of Jeju City, Hamdeok Beach with its emerald sea, Wondangbong Peak with a temple and pond inside its crater, the Samyang-dong Prehistoric Site where a Bronze Age village once stood, and Samyang Beach with its sparkling black sand are worth looking at together. From white sand and black sand to an oreum and an ancient village, you can find quite different scenery along a nearby stretch of coast.

Hamdeok Beach — An Emerald Sea and Seoubong Peak

Hamdeok Beach is a representative beach of eastern Jeju, called "the Maldives of Korea" for its emerald sea. You can come across it while walking Jeju Olle Route 19, and thanks to Seoubong Peak, an oreum rising right beside the beach, it is also called "Hamdeok Seoubong Beach."

Tall palm trees greeting you at the entrance, an emerald sea contrasting with the white sand, water clear enough to show the sand and seaweed, and white waves make up the scenery here. The west side of the beach is linked by a footbridge, so you can feel as if you are walking on the sea, and there is also a walking path where you can stroll while looking at the sea at night, so visitors are said to come in all four seasons.

The lawn park you reach by going up a little with the beach on your left offers a view of the blue sea at a glance and is also known as a photo spot. Seoubong Peak right next to it is tinted with yellow canola flowers in spring and turns green in summer. From the top of Seoubong Peak you can take in Hamdeok Beach at a glance, and on a clear day you can also look down on Hallasan Mountain and the oreums to the east.

Wondangbong Peak — An Oreum with a Temple and Pond Inside Its Crater

Wondangbong Peak is an oreum (volcanic cone) on the Samyang-dong side of Jeju City, and the Jeju Tourism Organization introduces it as "an oreum of Jeju where all things come back to life." There are several origins for its names. It is called Wondangbong because a Yuan Dynasty shrine called Wondang (元堂) stood halfway up the oreum during the Yuan period, Mang Oreum because the Wondang beacon was built there during the Joseon Dynasty, and Samyangbong because it is located in Samyang-dong.

Wondangbong Peak has a crater, and where there was once a wetland, there are now a temple called Mungangsa and a pond. The sight of a temple inside a crater is quite unusual. From the top of the oreum you can take in downtown Jeju and the blue sea at a glance.

It suits those who want to add an oreum to a day of looking at the sea. For oreums, it is a good idea to check accurate information through the Jeju Tourist Information Center or similar before you go.

Samyang-dong Prehistoric Site — Meeting a Late Bronze Age Village

The Samyang-dong Prehistoric Site in Jeju is a village site where you can understand late Bronze Age culture. Many people gathered on flat coastal land here from the Bronze Age to the early Iron Age and lived in a large village, and it was designated a historic site on 15 November 1999.

In 1996, Bronze Age house sites were found along with a large amount of pottery during a land readjustment project, revealing the existence of a large village site, and excavations were carried out three times from 1997 to 1999. As a result, it became known as the largest village site in the Jeju region, built on late Bronze Age Songguk-ri-type pit dwelling sites.

If you would like to look at the story of an ancient Jeju village during a seaside trip, it is worth stopping by.

Samyang Beach — A Sea Known for Its Sparkling Black Sand

Samyang Beach is a beach known for its sparkling black sand. It is introduced as relatively less known to tourists than Jeju's other beaches, so it is unpretentious, and its water is clean.

Its sand is black because it is made not of crushed shell sand but of fine-grained sand rich in volcanic rock fragments and silicate minerals. In Jeju, burying the body in the black sand for a warm sand bath is called "mosaltteum" (sand moxibustion).

If you want to see a black-sand beach different from Hamdeok's white sand, it is worth stopping by next.

Before You Go

Here are the addresses of each place.

• Hamdeok Beach: 제주특별자치도 제주시 조천읍 조함해안로 525
• Wondangbong Peak: 제주특별자치도 제주시 원당로16길 41
• Samyang-dong Prehistoric Site: 제주특별자치도 제주시 선사로2길 13 (삼양일동)
• Samyang Beach: 제주특별자치도 제주시 삼양동

Information that may change, such as opening hours and conditions of use, should be checked once more with the Jeju Tourism Organization before your visit.

If you would like to link the coast east of Jeju City, from a white-sand beach to an oreum, an ancient village and a black-sand beach, in the order you prefer, get a car for the road ready with Friends Rent-a-Car.