General Introduction
One of the more difficult things about walking Jeju Olle Trail for visitors with little to no knowledge of Korea or the Korean language is finding a place to stay after a day of walking. Many walkers I have encountered prefer not to book ahead with their accommodation because they simply don’t know where or how long the day will lead them.
Jeju Island has seen a huge boom in guesthouses on various Jeju Olle Trail routes over the past few years. Many are in refurbished traditional houses or completely new builds.
The owners come from varied backgrounds too. Many are ‘mainland immigrants’ who have come to Jeju seeking a quiet and more laid-back lifestyle from that of the cities. Others are just retiring. Others have met on Jeju Olle Trail, gotten married, and decided to open their own guesthouse.
If you do want to seek out accommodation by yourself then you’ll need to be looking for these signs with these words on.
GUESTHOUSE ( 게스트하우스 | GAE-SEU-TEU-HA-OO-SEU)
MINBAK ( 민박 | MIN-BAK )
PENSION ( 펜션 | PAEN-SYEON )
HOTEL ( 호탤 | HO-TAEL )
Make a note of these terms and show them to a passing local. They’ll put you in the right direction.
Accommodation Maps
(1) MAPS.ME
American thru-hiker Alan Helfer put this together for walkers in May 2017. Alan walked the whole trail in sequence and these are the places he stayed at along the way. They are options for any new walkers to consider while on the trail. Please note some places are not at the end or start point.
Download and install MAPS.ME for your Apple or Android device (works OFFLINE)
(Download Alan’s accompanying Jeju Olle accommodation KMZ file here.)
(2) GOOGLE MAPS
This is inspired once again by Alan Helfer. Using his data as a base, we’ve created an open editable map that any Olle walker can improve. Please add your accommodation to the map and let us know how it was. It will be a valuable source of information for walkers following after you.
(3) Naver Map
We also had a suggestion from a walker about using NAVER Map for finding accommodation along the trail. Apparently you can search guesthouse, minbak, or pension, in English near your location and it will translate that into Korean and suggest nearby places to stay.
Olle Stay at the Jeju Olle Tourist Center in Seogwipo City (Route 6, Route 7-1 end point and Route 7 start point)
Make your reservation in English for Olle Stay
In 2016 Jeju Olle Trail opened a new building named the Jeju Olle Tourist Center. We converted an old hospital into a restaurant, cafe, and meeting space on the first floor, the Olle headquarters office on the second floor, and our official Olle Stay guesthouse accommodation on the third floor. International walkers can use this place as their base camp while discovering the Seogwipo side of the island. Having English speaking office staff nearby will be great for any questions you have about getting around on the trail as well.
BNB Hero and Jeju Olle Trail Accommodation Section
BnB Hero has a specific section of its web site dedicated to accommodation on Jeju Olle Trail. Walkers can use this to figure out potential places to stay at the end of the day or even make reservations if they so wish. BnB Hero Jeju Olle Trail Accommodation Section.
Thanks much for all those valuable information. And thanks to Alan Helfer for putting this together on maps.me.
I’ll be hiking in Jeju very soon and your website really eased the organization. Very good job!
Thanks Fred! I’ll pass this on to Alan.
By the way come search for us on Facebook: Olle Walkers. Thank Alan yourself!