Walk Route 7 of the Jeju Olle

What the experience is

The Jeju Olle is a walking trail that follows the coast all the way round Jeju island. It was the idea of Suh Myung-sook, a journalist born on the island, who walked the Camino de Santiago and decided to make a path of the same kind at home. The first route opened in 2007. Today the trail has 21 main routes and several short sub-routes, with a total length of about 437 kilometres.

Olle is a word of the Jeju dialect for the narrow lane, walled with black lava stones, that leads from the road to the door of a house. The trail keeps to that scale. It links old lanes, field paths, fishing harbours and beaches, and avoids roads where it can.

Route 7, on the south coast from Seogwipo, is among the best known. It passes the sea stack of Oedolgae, stretches of coastal cliff and a shore of black rock. Like every route it has a start, a midpoint and a finish where walkers stamp a trail passport. The way is marked with ribbons tied in pairs, blue for the sea and orange for the island’s tangerines, with painted arrows, and with small blue figures of a pony called Ganse.

When to go

Spring and autumn are the best seasons. Summer is hot and humid and brings typhoons.

Good to know

A route averages around 16 kilometres and takes five to six hours, though any route can be shortened. Buses run round the coast and taxis are inexpensive, so it is easy to return to the same hotel each night. Those who collect every stamp receive a certificate. Routes are sometimes re-routed, so check the Jeju Olle Foundation’s current information.

Why OKYTO recommends it

It is a simple way to see what makes Jeju different from the mainland: the lava coast, the stone walls, the tangerine orchards and the villages of the women divers. The JW Marriott Jeju is connected to the route.