One Day Trip in Nami Island, South Korea

I honestly did not browse much like i used to do before every trip. Short story, this trip was held when i was in the middle of hectic working time in my office. Easy to say, i was like too busy to do other things beside of my main job in office. And it caused, i didn’t have any enough clue in this Korea Trip like i cannot imagine how the Nami Island looks like or feel like would be. Yes i heard a lot about this island, but all i know is just Nami Island, a place where the Winter Sonata Korea Drama was filmed.

Now the question is, have you watched this movie ? absolutely yes i have, but it was taken during the winter season, right ? oh, am i right ? ok well, i didn’t watch the full movie, i was falling asleep in the first 30 minutes the movie was playing, and never complete it until now. Ok, let’s change the question, is this island really as beautiful as it is ? You will never know if you have never been there. And again luckily, i have. I won’t share to you whether it is the true beauty or not, but i can share to you how was it, so you can get your own expectations 🙂

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Called an island, it needs to take a ferry to reach the island. Apparently it will take about 1 hour 30 minutes from Seoul to Nami Island. Some public transportations are also provided by government, though there are no direct transportation available. Yes, the journey from Myeongdong to Nami Island is not straight forward, either by train or by bus, but it is definitely worth it once you are there.

I departed from the hotel in early morning, and reached the island before lunch time. The weather felt so cold, the sun also did not appear for the whole day, it was raining all over the day. I walked at a slow pace while holding an umbrella to the locket. The ticket includes the ferry and also the entry visa for the Nami island. We got into the ferry, those pretty excited passengers are almost foreigners. For only 10 minutes ride, we already arrived at the gate of Nami Island. Everyone went straight to the directions which could be found in 50 meters away from the main gate. And again, i segregated myself out of the group, now for only a cup of chocolate, coffee or a slice of cake. I missed the breakfast in the hotel, the hunger unconditionally made me feeling grumpy.

It was getting colder, and there was no cafe or coffee shop found, there was only mini mart existed on the corner. I went inside and got my hot chocolate by myself. Holding an umbrella, a cup of hot chocolate and two cameras, i was pretty sure i walked much slower than before while the rain was getting heavier which means i don’t have any option without wearing that plastic raincoat to cover my clothes.

A special feature of Nami Island is that there are no telephone poles. This is because all electric wires were built underground to keep the natural feeling of the landscape. I walked the tree-lined paths where some of the most memorable scenes in the famous Korean television drama Winter Sonata were filmed. These tree-lined paths bring out a good perspective angle on the camera frame. I could not stop taking picture every time due to this very beautiful path.

Out of the main path, there are yards with chestnut trees and poplar trees. There are also some benches which might be fully sat if it wasn’t raining. After walking through the path for 2 km, you’ll find the most beautiful part of Nami island. The taller pines tree line were amazingly perceived, they are much more beautifully structured. This is like a heaven place for photography enthusiasts where they can find a very good composition of people in between those very huge pine trees.

Well, i can give you some tips for taking photo in this kind of landscape place :

1. Do a half squat to get the taller perspectives of the trees.

2. Position your camera in front your chest

3. Wait for the moment when object/objects are walking or standing on the centre of the aisle, it will give a good composition for the frame.

4. Use the grid facility on your camera LCD, look the composition, is it already looks straight ? make sure you don’t have to straighten the angle once it done.

5. capture the photo. and taraaa !!

Six celsius degree, the cold weather made me feel hungry again, thankfully i finally found the cafe ! The shop could not be seen very well because there were some people blocking the shopfront. I came closer and saw the waitress served something like cake. It has round shape and was processed frying and baked. I really didn’t care how it would taste be, i just needed some foods to relieve my hunger. So i bought it, it felt so hot at the first bites. I asked my korean friend, she said its name is hotteok. “is it only can be found in nami island?” i asked her. “No it can be easily found everywhere. But yes this cake usually be consumed in a cold weather”. Ah i see, that’s why this tasted so good.

So, let’s share your thoughts about this place, do my stories above as suit as what you expect ?

How To Get There

By Train

From Myeong-dong Station, take LINE 4 train heading to the direction of Chungmuro Station to get to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station.
When arriving at Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station, change to LINE 2 and take the train heading towards Sindang Station to get to Wangsimni Station.
When arriving at Wangsimni Station, change to JUNGANG LINE and take the train heading towards Cheong-nyangni to get to Mangu Station.
When arriving at Mangu Station, change to KYEONGCHUN LINE and take the train heading towards Galmae Station to get to Gapyeong Station, which is our destination.
This train journey from Myeongdong to Gapyeong will cost you KRW 1950 (T-Money Card) or KRW2050 (Cash) one way.
Once you are at Gapyeong Station, you need to take a short taxi trip (costs about KRW2500-3000) to get to the ferry wharf to Nami Island. You could also walk but it will take you 20-30 minutes and the direction to the ferry wharf is not straight forward.

By Bus

Take the subway from Myeongdong Station to Insadong. First, take the train fromMyeong-dong Station on LINE 4 to Seoul Station. Once arriving at Seoul Station, change to LINE 1 and take the train towards City Hall station to get toJonggak Station.
Upon arriving at Jonggak Station, get out of the station using EXIT 3. Walk to theeast direction for about 250 meters until your rach Tapgol Park. The Bus Stop for bus to Nami Island is right next to the Tapgol Park at Insadong.
Take the bus directly to the ferry wharf of Nami Island. NOTE THAT the bus departs at 9:30am. The return bus will leave Nami Island ferry wharf at 4:00pm in the afternoon to head back to Insadong.
The two-way ticket for shuttle bus to Nami Island costs KRW23,000. This is not expensive given that it also includes the KRW8000 “Entry Visa” (ferry included) to Nami Island.