Jeju Island: Christmas Eve on the South Coast

Jeju Island’s unique geography and fascinating history will take several posts to cover. In this post, discover the beauty of the island’s south coast with volcanic cliffs and waterfalls. We filled our Christmas Eve day with visits to some of Jeju’s most famous sites. Since we couldn’t be home for Christmas, Jeju was a wonderfully soothing place to spend the holiday.

As a bonus, we even put an international spin on an Italian Christmas Eve tradition: The Feast of the Seven Fishes. In our Japanese-insired Korean version, it became the Feast of the Fourteen Fishes! First, though, we had some walking and exploring to do.

Jusangjelloi Cliffs

This volcanic rock formation topped with palm trees was formed when Hallasan, the volcanic mountain at Jeju’s center, erupted into the sea of Jungmun. The hexagonal columns are formed when molten lava cools quickly. Our visit very much reminded us of viewing Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.

The easiest way to access the cliffs is to drive into the Jungmum Tourist Complex and park there. We had fun walking around the park and along the cliffs. Plus you can also access Cheonjeyeon Falls from this area.

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Cheonjeyeon Falls

Crossing Seonimgyo Bridge (“seven nymphs bridge”) within the Jungmum Tourist Complex takes you to the trail to access Cheonjeyeon Falls, which actually consists of three different sets of falls along a wooded path.

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There is a large park marking the entrance to the falls trail, including Cheonjeru Pavilion, which provides excellent views of the surrounding area. The Pavilion displays scenes from the legend of the seven nymphs, which says that the falls were so inviting that maidens from the court of God used to bathe in the pool and play their instruments there. The legend also says that anyone who bathes in the pool with have ongoing health. Hence, the falls have also been called the “Pond of God.”

Cheonjiyeon Falls

Yep, this is a different set of falls from Cheonjeyeon Falls described in the previous section. Cheonjiyeon Falls are also on Jeju’s south coast, but they are outside of the Jungmum Tourist Complex and closer to the island’s second-largest city, Seogwipo.

The park around Cheonjiyeon Falls is also a scenic place to see dol hareubang, or “stone grandfathers.” These statues are commonly found all around Jeju, but the collection at the falls includes some of the original statues moved from other locations around the island. It’s thought that the dol hareubang originally were placed around fortresses as guardians against bad spirits and eventually became guardians of the common people.

Jeongbang Falls

From Cheonjiyeon, it was possible to walk to Jeongbang Falls. We walked through a small harbor and down Chilsimni Food Street to our last set of falls, Jeongbang.

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These falls were the most impressive of the day as they fall directly into the ocean, a dramatic setting especially at sunset. I can’t vouch for it, but I’ve read that these are the only falls in Asia that fall directly into the ocean.

Plenty of visitors took advantage of the opportunity to eat fresh seafood right on the rocks, prepared by a few women who were rapidly seating customers and prepping dinner from live ingredients. We didn’t partake, but it was a fascinating scene to watch.

One thing was for sure – we left this park in the mood for some fresh seafood! Happily, we had no further to go than the short walk back to Chilsimni Food Street, one of the area’s famed locations for chowing down on fresh, local ingredients.

The Feast of the Fourteen Fishes

When we quickly spotted an open Japanese-style restaurant with a view, we grabbed a table. The restaurant offered only set menus, so we ordered the smallest one (seriously!) and waited to see what would happen.

First, we got this very reasonable amount of food to eat in front of our delightful view…

Then, another course arrived. Also very reasonable.

And then this course of sashimi…

And then this whole grilled mackerel with a skillet of seafood rice, a typical Jeju dish. We also had abalone porridge, another Jeju “must eat,” although to our palate it tasted pretty bland. Most everything else we had was more flavorful.

Somewhere in there we also got some sushi, tempura, and a soup. And then the seafood stew came out last. Because when you’ve already eaten more than a dozen different kinds of seafood, who doesn’t want to start on a freshly prepared seafood hotpot? Although admittedly, we um… pretty much ate it all.

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When we finally finished all of our courses, we figured we had eaten basically all of Jeju’s must-eat seafoods, including abalone, hairtail, mackerel, squid, conch, sea urchin, octopus, and prawn. The other half of what we ate didn’t translate well into English, so we will just say that even when we didn’t know what we were eating, it was all fantastic! Even more amazing, the cost for this meal was less than $50/person.

Finishing our evening with a nighttime walk around the harbor, we were left feeling we’d had a Christmas Eve to remember.

Next: what to do on Christmas Day in Jeju?

Did you miss a post? You can read about Jeju’s Northeast coast and the haenyeo, diving women, here.