Last Updated on April 24, 2026
When planning my trip to South Korea with my baby, Luna, and my best friend, Nikki, and her baby, I had never heard of the island of Jeju. I originally was thinking to combine a trip to South Korea with a trip to Japan. However, with my total trip duration of 2 weeks, and not wanting to rush the trip (especially with a baby!), I eventually decided to save Japan for another time and focus my sights on another destination within South Korea. That’s when my Korean friend, Songly, mentioned Jeju island. I started researching the island and watched some videos on YouTube and was blown away. Known as the Hawaii of South Korea, the island is a tropical paradise, complete with mandarin fields and volcanic beaches. Only a short 1 hour flight from Seoul and a perfect destination with kids, Jeju is a must-visit. Read below for how to travel to Jeju Island with a baby and find my entire 3 day, 4 night itinerary.
How to get to Jeju Island from Seoul
When traveling to Jeju Island from Seoul, there are many flight options. I think at least one flight per hour. I booked our flights with Korean Air, as my Korean friend advised they were the best airline. Flights for myself and Luna (Luna was free since under age 2 ) cost 204,200 Korean Won (around 118 EUR) round trip. Beware that when flying to Jeju Island from Seoul, your flight leaves from the Domestic airport (Gimpo) not the Incheon International airport. We easily took the metro to the Gimpo airport (super easy).
Renting a Car on Jeju Island
Renting a car in Jeju was very challenging. The prices for foreigners are very high compared to the prices for nationals. My Korean friend Songly helped us to find our rental car. Many car companies on Jeju Island do not rent to foreigners at all. We ended up renting our car with Jeju Robot car rental. They have a shuttle bus located at the airport that comes every 30 minutes. In order to rent a car in South Korea you MUST have an international driving permit in addition to your physical driving license. This goes for the majority of licenses (but you can check your country to be certain). We had to pay an excess charge of 40,000 Korean Won for foreigners (about 24 EUR) to the rental agency. This is because they are afraid that foreigners will get speeding tickets and never pay them since they reside outside of Korea (???). Regardless, the car only cost 226,670 Korean Won (138 EUR) for 4 days (so 34.50 EUR per day) which is quite reasonable. My advice would be to rent a car early as the cars available to foreigners and the companies renting to foreigners is very limited. And you NEED a car on Jeju! Do not count on buses!
How to Travel to Jeju Island with a Baby – Where to Stay
Jeju island is small; but regardless, getting from one side of the island to the other is about 2 hours by car. That means you should choose where you stay strategically depending on the activities you would like to do. We decided to stay on the West coast at Hyeopjae Beach. We stayed at a great Airbnb located only 3 minutes walking from the beach. Also, the beach is GORGEOUS and perfect with children because of the calm, shallow water. To note – we visited in early October and the weather was perfect for the beach! There are also plenty of restaurants nearby and grocery stores. It was an ideal place to base ourselves and about 1 hour drive from the airport. But beware that it is an almost 2 hour drive to famous Sunrise Peak Seongsan Ilchulbong.
Use KakaoMap when driving on Jeju Island
As mentioned in my post on Seoul, Google Maps only works in South Korea for walking and public transport. When driving, you need to either use KakaoMap or Naver (download the apps on your phone). The rental car company will also offer to sell you a navigation system, but if you have one of these apps downloaded it is not necessary. I went ahead and saved all the destinations we planned to visit in KakaoMap ahead of time in order to make navigation faster and easier.
Read more: How to Plan a First Visit to South Korea with a Baby | Seoul Itinerary
How to Travel to Jeju Island with a Baby – Our 4 Night Itinerary
Our 3 day itinerary for Jeju felt like the perfect pace with 2 babies. We averaged around 2 activities per day, which was enough to feel like we were doing something and seeing the sights without overwhelming ourselves. It was also important to organize ourselves by general area of the island we planned on visiting each day so that we could be the most efficient with our time. Find our full itinerary below:
Day 1: Fly from Seoul to Jeju. We flew with Korean Air (highly recommend) and landed at 14:10. We took the shuttle to our rental car (reserved at 14:30) and then drove to our Airbnb at Hyeopjae beach (about 1 hour drive from airport). We ate dinner at this burger restaurant on the 3rd floor which was super kid friendly and with beautiful views of sea. Then we ate mango bingsu (Korean shaved ice) downstairs here. Delicious!
Day 2: Explore South Jeju. Go to a tangerine farm (great with kids!), pick some tangerines and visit the petting zoo. Stop for lunch en route to the Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls. Trek to the waterfalls (there are 3 waterfalls, leave stroller in car, take baby carrier). Afterwards drive to the Cheonjiyeon Waterfall. The walk to Cheonjiyeon Waterfall is stroller friendly.
Day 3: Explore East Jeju. Visit the women’s divers museum (Jeju Haenyeo Museum). Continue to Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak). Watch the women divers put on a real diving demonstration at 2pm. Eat at the restaurant there. Afterwards, hike Sunrise Peak to the top for spectacular views.
Day 4: Relax in West Jeju. Stick closer to the Airbnb for a relaxing last day in Jeju. Head to Hyeopjae beach and enjoy the beautiful sand and shallow waters (perfect for kids!). After lunch visit Hallim Park for beautiful botanical gardens and animals.
Day 5: Check out of airbnb and drive to airport, dropping off rental car. Fly back to Seoul with Korean Air.
How to Travel to Jeju Island with a baby – Explore South Jeju
Enjoy Tangerine Picking
Jeju island is very famous for its tangerines! You will see them on souvenirs everywhere, as well as to buy. A great experience with kids is visiting a tangerine farm to pick tangerines. We went to The Little Prince Tangerines which is perfect for children as there is a small animal petting farm. You receive a bucket of food to feed the animals as well as marshmallows to roast over the fire pit. At the cafe you also buy your pails to pick tangerines at the farm which is located a few minutes driving away from the cafe and farm. We had a great time both feeding the animals and then picking the tangerines. I would highly recommend it!
Go Chasing Waterfalls on Jeju island
After the tangerine farm, we continued our journey south to the Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls. There are three waterfalls here; however, the first one is only present when there is a lot of rainfall. When we visited we could only see two of the three waterfalls. Be aware that there are a lot of steps, so you cannot bring a stroller. If you bring one, you’ll need to leave it at the ticketing entrance. I carried Luna in the stroller, which I would highly recommend. Overall, it is a lot of walking and a lot of steps, so be aware of that when visiting with children. I was really exhausted after the experience, especially carrying Luna and the heat and humidity on top of that! After the Cheonjeyeon Waterfalls, we drove about 30 minutes to Cheonjiyeon Waterfall. This waterfall is much more accessible with a stroller. We easily walked the pathway with the kids and strollers, took some photos and then made our way back to the car park. Both waterfall experiences were beautiful. If you are looking for ease and accessibility, I would recommend Cheonjiyeon.
How to Travel to Jeju Island with a baby – Explore East Jeju
Drive to the Women’s Divers Museum to learn about their unique culture
The next day we decided to explore east Jeju. From our Airbnb to the Haenyeo Museum (women’s divers museum) is a 1 hour 40 minute drive. We set out early because our plan was to visit the museum first, spend 1 hour there, and then continue to Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak) to watch the women’s divers demonstration at 2 pm and eat lunch there. My best friend Nikki who joined me on this trip is an avid diver, so this was the real highlight for her of the trip. The museum is very fascinating with beautiful photographs of the women divers, most of whom are upwards of 60 years old. The children also enjoyed running around and playing with the diving buoys.
From the museum to Sunrise Peak is about a 20 minute drive. However, from the parking lot you need to walk up as if you are climbing the peak, go past the ticketing booth (you don’t need to pay if you are just going for the diver demonstration), turn left and then go down many many stairs until you reach the seafood restaurant and the black sand beach where the diver demonstration is. Give yourself time because it is not easy to find! Also, there is only one demonstration per day and a lot of people come to watch it. We were lucky, as we arrived 1 hour ahead of time because we thought it started at 1pm. The demonstration is a whole show with song and dance, followed by the women jumping in the water to free dive and catch seafood.
Hike Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunset Peak) for spectacular views
We ate lunch in the town, but you can eat at the restaurant where the women’s diver demonstration is. The problem was that they only served shellfish and Nikki has a severe shellfish allergy. After lunch, we came back and this time paid the entrance fee and continued upwards to hike Seongsan Ilchulbong. When hiking with children, you cannot bring a stroller but definitely bring the baby carrier if you are carrying a baby. There are a lot of stairs! We stopped to take photos along the way and at the peak there is an ample seating area to take a rest and take in the view. I would definitely recommend it, but be prepared for an intense climb up! It took us around 30 minutes to get to the peak.
How to Travel to Jeju Island with a baby – Relax in West Jeju
Head to the beach and eat a local lunch
For our last full day on Jeju island, we decided to stick closer to home and walked to Hyeopjae beach. The beach is beautiful with lots of white sand and shallow pools perfect for the kids to play. We hung out there all morning until lunch time. For lunch, we went to a spectacular tiny restaurant next to our Airbnb called Baerong Garden. Unfortunately the garden wasn’t open, so we ate inside. But the food was delicious and the owner so kind! It’s a tiny tiny restaurant so be prepared to wait or make a reservation in advance. Nikki had a dish called ‘devil in a basket’ or something like this, and she was crying because of how spicy it was! But she said it was the best thing she had ever eaten!
Drive to the botanical gardens of Hallim Park and have sushi dinner
Only a few minutes drive away from our Airbnb and Hyeopjae beach are the botanical gardens of Hallim Park. We went after lunch and the girls’ naps and had a wonderful time. The gardens are beautiful, plus there are animals such as birds to keep the children entertained. We also even descended into a few caves which were beautiful if a bit creepy! After the gardens, we had a delicious seafood dinner at Badaae. We had so much delicious sashimi and other items and paid less than 60 EUR for the entire meal. I would definitely recommend!
And that rounds up our time on Jeju island. Overall, Jeju is a beautiful destination that is incredibly family friendly and great for budget conscious travelers. I would highly recommend adding Jeju to your South Korea itinerary! If you have any other Jeju spots you think we missed, please add them in the comments below.
