Geoje travel guide: Windy Hill, Oedo-Botania and the POW camp

Where to stay: the south-east coast or the town

Geoje is large — VisitKorea counts 10 inhabited and 50 uninhabited islands within the city — and the places most visitors come for are on the south-east coast, well away from both bridges. Sleeping there saves you doing that drive twice. Hakdong, in Dongbu-myeon, sits on a 1.2-kilometre beach of black pebbles; VisitKorea notes accommodation and restaurants behind it and a dock offering boat excursions to the nearby sights. The Geoje Hawaii Condo Beach Hotel there, for example, is listed by VisitKorea as 100 metres from a ferry dock for Oedo and Haegeumgang.

Gujora, in Irun-myeon, is the calmer, family-friendly beach: VisitKorea describes the water as shallow and warm, with a 1.1-kilometre beach, raw-fish restaurants and cruise boats to Haegeumgang, Naedo and Oedo. The large Sono Calm Geoje resort, with ocean-view rooms, a marina and the Ocean Adventure water park, is on Geoje-daero in Irun-myeon. Jangseungpo is a harbour town on the east coast, with its own seafood restaurants and the ferry to Jisimdo.

Gohyeon is one of the city's main districts, with shops and chain stores. It suits a late arrival or a trip focused on the POW camp, but you will be driving or taking buses to every coastal sight.

Windy Hill, Sinseondae and Haegeumgang

Windy Hill (Baramui Eondeok) is the grassy headland at the end of the fishing village of Dojangpo, at the entrance to the Haegeumgang islets, with a windmill on top. VisitKorea explains that the name is literal: the site is very windy, and the plants on the hill grow short because of it. Cafés and restaurants around Dojangpo take advantage of the view. VisitKorea lists it as free and open at all hours, so you can come early in the morning or late in the afternoon, when the light is softer.

A short way along the coast road, Sinseondae Observatory is a rock platform reached by a stairway from the road, between Dojangpo and Haegeumgang. The layered blue and yellow rock is the draw, and VisitKorea notes that April and May bring bright-yellow canola flowers across the area. Hammok Beach and a camellia habitat are also close by.

Haegeumgang — 'the Geumgangsan of the sea' — is a rocky islet group in Hallyeohaesang National Park, designated Scenic Site No. 2, also called Galdo. VisitKorea recommends watching sunrise or sunset from Ilwolbong Peak or Sajabawi Rock. To see Sipja Cave, Chotdaebawi Rock and the 1,300-year-old pine on the islets you need a boat: the Haegeumgang Cruise leaves from a quay in Galgot-ri and circles the islets about 500 metres offshore. When we checked on 2026-10-03, VisitKorea listed departures at 10:50 and 13:50 on weekdays and 10:00, 12:00 and 14:00 at weekends, subject to the weather, and noted that a valid ID is required to board. Call ahead (+82-55-633-1352) or check hggtour.net.

Oedo-Botania: a garden island by boat

Oedo-Botania is a small island off the south-east coast laid out as a garden; the name joins *botanic* and *utopia*. VisitKorea gives the whole island as 148,760 square metres in two parts: Seodo, developed as the garden, and Dongdo, kept in its natural state. The garden was designed with Buckingham Palace Garden as its motif. Look for the Venus Garden with its twelve statues, the 'Stairway to Heaven' (replanted with ornamental trees after Typhoon Maemi), a 300-year-old guardian tree on the second Hill of Love, and a lighthouse you can walk inside. K-drama fans know it from the last episode of *Winter Sonata* (2002).

You can only reach it by boat, and VisitKorea's 2023 feature on Geoje says visitors take a ferry from one of seven ports on the island, with two hours of free viewing time on Oedo. In practice that means a round trip of half a day. Hakdong and Gujora both have boats, and some sail past Haegeumgang on the way. When we checked on 2026-10-03, VisitKorea listed Oedo-Botania's hours as 08:30 to 17:00 in winter and 08:00 to 19:00 in summer, and adult admission at 11,000 won; the boat fare is separate and we could not verify it. Book the earliest boat you can in summer and at weekends, and plan your day around the return sailing.

The Geoje P.O.W. Camp and Admiral Yi at Okpo

Between 1951 and the armistice, Geoje held the largest prisoner-of-war camp in South Korea. VisitKorea says it accommodated up to 173,000 North Korean and Chinese prisoners captured by South Korean and UN forces. The camp was overcrowded and violent, and in May 1952 prisoners seized its American commandant, Brigadier General Francis Dodd, an episode well documented in histories of the war. The Geoje P.O.W. Camp Historic Park on Gyeryong-ro is built on part of the site, with an exhibition hall, dioramas of camp life, a repatriation train and outdoor displays of weapons.

Allow about two hours, as VisitKorea suggests. When we checked on 2026-10-03, VisitKorea listed it as open 09:00 to 18:00, closed on Tuesdays and on Seollal and Chuseok days, with adult admission of 7,000 won. The domain long given as the park's website (pow.or.kr) now shows an unrelated site, so rely on VisitKorea's listing or call +82-55-639-0625.

Geoje's older war history is at Okpo, where Admiral Yi Sun-sin won his first victory of the Imjin War in 1592. The Okpo Great Victory Commemorative Park, built in 1996, has a memorial tower, Okporu Pavilion and a shrine to the admiral, with a view over Okpo Bay. VisitKorea listed it as free, open 09:00 to 18:00 and closed on Mondays and public holidays when we checked.

Beaches, Maemiseong and the camellia islands

Geoje is known for its pebble beaches — VisitKorea names Hakdong, Yeocha, Mangchi and Nongso. At Hakdong Mongdol Beach the small black pebbles rattle in the surf; VisitKorea warns that, unlike most south-coast beaches, the water here is deep with rough waves. Gujora is the gentle alternative. From the cruise dock there, the short Sound of the Breeze Path climbs through bamboo and village lanes to the remains of Gujora Fortress, a Joseon-era defence; VisitKorea recommends sneakers and long trousers.

In the north, near the Busan bridge, Maemiseong is the island's most unlikely sight: a castle-like sea wall built single-handedly by a local man, Baek Soon-sam, after Typhoon Maemi destroyed his fields in 2003, by stacking square stones and filling them with cement, without any blueprint. Cafés nearby, such as Café Sibang-ri, look out over the Geogadaegyo link. It makes a good last stop on the way back to Busan.

Off the east coast, Jisimdo is a tiny camellia island — VisitKorea says it has more old camellia trees than any other island on the south coast — about 15 minutes by ferry from Jangseungpo port, and small enough to walk round in two hours. Jangsado Sea Park, a garden island famous for its camellia tunnel, belongs to Tongyeong but is closest to Geoje: VisitKorea gives about ten to fifteen minutes by boat from Geunpo Port in southern Geoje. Rain or wind? The Geoje Botanic Garden (Jungle Dome), a glass dome of tropical plants, is a covered option; VisitKorea listed it as closed on Wednesdays, with adult admission of 5,000 won, when we checked.

A workable two-night plan

This is an editorial suggestion, not a timetable. Confirm boat sailings, bus times and opening days for your dates.

• Day 1 — Arrival: come in from Busan over the Geogadaegyo link, stop at Maemiseong, then drive or ride down to Hakdong or Gujora; sea squirt bibimbap or raw fish for dinner.
• Day 2 — The south-east coast: the first boat to Oedo-Botania, back by lunch; afternoon at Windy Hill and Sinseondae, then sunset over Haegeumgang, or the Haegeumgang Cruise if you skipped the Oedo boat that passes it.
• Day 3 — History and onward: the P.O.W. Camp Historic Park when it opens (not on Tuesdays), Okpo on the way north, or Jisimdo from Jangseungpo in camellia season; then on to Busan or west over the Geojedaegyo bridge to Tongyeong.