Nami Island @ South Korea

By : Chha

Nami Island (남이섬, Namiseom) is not something new for people who know South Korea, it was made famous by the South Korean television series Winter Sonata.

Since the Nami Island is so famous we actually make it a point where we must visit Nami Island during our trip to South Korea. Nami Island is larger than what we expected. It takes us the entire morning just to walk around Nami Island, stop for food and to take a lot of photos.

Photo Source : http://withapinkie.blogspot.com/2013/04/nami-island-part-2.html

We personally feel that there is nothing special about Nami Island, it is only famous for its filming spot of the television series Winter Sonata.

The scenery there is nice and the flowers there is beautiful making it suitable for couples going for a date and having a slow walk round the island but if you are looking for adventure or some extreme activities, you can't find it in Nami Island, haha !

Getting There

Ok, the first thing you need to know is, there are 2 other place you can visit which is on the same route in getting to Nami Island. The 2 place are, Petite France (쁘띠프랑스) and Garden of Morning Calm (아침고요수목원). Commonly people will plan a day trip to visit these 3 places (Nami Island, Petite France and Garden of Morning Calm).

Secondly, you need to make up your mind of which place to stop first either Nami Island or Garden of Morning Calm.

Third, if you plan to visit all the 3 places you will need to leave early as the time taken to travel from Seoul takes around 2 to 3 hours including subway transit time.

If you plan to stop at Nami Island first then :

Take subway at any subway station nearest to you and stop at Gapyeong Station, Exit 3

If you plan to stop at Garden of Morning Calm first then :

Take subway at any subway station nearest to you and stop at Cheongpyeong Station.

Regardless of which station you stop at, proceed to take the Gapyeong City Tour Shuttle Bus

The Gapyeong City Tour Shuttle Bus will be following the route as below :

Gapyeong Intercity Bus Terminal → Jaraseom Island → Gapyeong Station → Namiseom Island → Geumdae-ri Meeting Hall → Bokjjangni Samgeori Three-way Intersection → Petite France → Homyeong-ri → Cheongpyeong Bus Terminal → Cheongpyeong Station (Sin Cheongpyeong Station) → Im Elementary School → The Garden of Morning Calm

Base on the shuttle bus route, it is always advisable to visit Nami Island first.

Gapyeong City Tour Shuttle Bus

Price : KRW 6000

Tickets are valid for the entire day on day of purchase. You can hop on and off the bus as many times as you like, just remember to keep the tickets with you and show it to the driver when boarding.

You can buy the tickets from the bus driver.

So, where to wait for the shuttle bus ? At Gapyeong Station once you take the Exit 3 you will see a small office on your right. Walk into the office, the shuttle bus will stop next to the office and that is the place to wait for the shuttle bus, remember to let the person working there know that you are waiting for the Gapyeong City Tour Shuttle Bus so that they know what you intended to do and will inform you when the bus arrive.

At Cheongpyeong Station, exit the subway station and walk to the bus stop in front of the subway entrance. There will be a signboard showing the route and schedule for the Gapyeong City Tour Shuttle Bus. Wait there.

Once you reach, the bus driver will make announcement that this is the stop for Nami Island but in Korean Language so you will have to listen very carefully. Exit the bus. Remember to take note on where your bus drop you as you will need to come back to the same place to take the Gapyeong City Tour Shuttle Bus again if you would like to go to other destination.

Now, if you are coming from Gapyeong Station, cross the road and you will see a bus stop by the road side. Turn to your right and keep walking straight until you see the Nami Island wharf side car park. If you don't see those things mention as photo below after around 100 to 200 meters walk, then you are walking in the wrong direction.

Enterence to Nami Island Car Park

Building at the side

You will first reach the wharf of Nami Island, buy the entrance tickets at the tickets booth for KRW 8000 per person.

The first thing you will see when you first step on Nami Island is the big stone carved with writing on your left.

With that you are officially and safely landed on the famous Nami Island ! Haha .. !

When you are in Nami Island, there is no worry about food as they have few stalls and shops selling food.

There is also a Mart near to the Wharf where you can buy some snacks or umbrella, if you really needed one, hahaha !

Well, i think this must be the place from the movie Winter Sonata where the actor and actress have their first kiss, correct me if i am wrong because i never watch that movie before, hahahaha !

If you know how to read the sign as above, that might probably help, well we don't know any Korean so we just pick up those few English words and go figure it out our self, hahaha !