To get around on our first day and see more of the island we booked a Jeju City bus tour. The tour goes around Jeju city, starting at the airport and continuing on and stopping at 22 different places of varying degree of interest. Tickets for a day pass are 12,000 won and can be paid on the bus or purchased online. We booked ours through Trazy. It was a little cheaper. I had our code on my phone and sat down where the guide told me to so she could take note of it and give me our wrist bands. My aunt and uncle headed upstairs to grab seats.
There were a lot of spots we wanted to visit but due to time and how infrequently the buses came (once an hour) we quickly shortened our plans. We had caught the bus at stop #4 Jeju Folklore and Natural History Museum and made a goal to visit #9 Dongmun Traditional Market and #9 Halla Arboretum. Three stops doesn’t seem like a lot but in the heat it was. Of our stops the only one I’d been to before was Dongmun Traditional Market. It was a great place to take my aunt and uncle who wanted to try some street food.
After the market and lunch we re-boarded the bus and had to the Arboretum. Some of the stops dropped you off right where you wanted to be. The staff was helpful and always asked where we were going and then pointing us in the right direction when we stopped. However the Arboretum wasn’t near the bus stop and was a longer hike in the heat than we expected which knocked my uncle out for the count for the rest of the day and he quickly turned around and headed back downhill to catch the next bus. We found the bus really convenient and it was a nice way to get around without having to hail a taxi or figure out the bus system. Plus it was nicely air conditioned. However beyond the booklet there wasn’t a lot of information about each stop and it sounded like as we went there was a bit more about each stop by the guide in Korean. Also the fact the bus only came by once an hour was a bit difficult, because if you just missed it you’d find yourself having to wait an extra hour. It only does it’s route nine times and the whole thing takes two hours. But for our first day in Jeju it was a great way to get around and have a better understanding of Jeju city. You can also use public transportation passes to take the bus for a couple stops.
