When my husband and I decided to honeymoon in Japan and South Korea, I had one requirement for the itinerary: to visit an island, either Okinawa (Japan) or Jeju (Korea). With just two weeks of travel time and many other plans packed into our itinerary, Jeju quickly became the frontrunner given its ease of access. Only a one-hour flight from the South Korean city of Busan, Jeju is often described as the “Hawaii of Korea” (much like Okinawa is shorthanded as the “Hawaii of Japan”—though that island requires a three-hour flight from cities like Osaka to access). I quickly became enamored by photos of the island’s highlights, from the lush volcanic mountains to the famous haenyeo (women free divers) to the little seaside villages with homes built of dark volcanic stone. I also started watching a K-drama called “Our Blues,” set in one such village, with an ensemble cast that gave me a peek into the daily lives of island locals. I was smitten.
Jeju has some busier hubs, like its namesake Jeju City and Seogwipo City, but we decided to stay in one of those aforementioned villages for a quieter experience. Our time in Jeju would fall at the end of our honeymoon, when we knew we’d crave an excuse to sleep in, or spend quiet nights in the backyard after a few too many activities in Osaka and Seoul.
When we found this Jeju Airbnb—charmingly labeled as an “Emotional accommodation with a view of Seongsan Ilchulbong”—we knew it was the spot. Despite the fact that “emotional” gets a bit lost in translation in the title, I was emotional thinking about the moment when we’d be wrapping up our honeymoon and wanting to stretch those final days.
The Airbnb is built into the shell of a 50-year-old house, partially made with iconic volcanic stones, but the interiors have been totally redone with soothing neutral linens, warm brunette wood, and modern amenities like A/C and a projector screen for watching movies. The star of the show? A round window right at the foot of the bed, which looks straight out upon Seongsan Ichulbong, a volcano rising out of the windswept sea and full of lore (the base of it is where working haenyeo famously do a short performance before entering the water to harvest abalone, urchin, and seaweed each day).
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We arrived on a rainy night, when we could barely see a thing as we walked through the courtyard and used the lockbox to enter our cozy little stay. Like other traditional homes on Jeju, the doors are low (my husband, who is around six feet tall, learned quickly to duck on his way in and out). But the warm glow of the room, its plush linens, and a little basket filled with Jeju’s famous tangerine juice, gummy bears, and coffee welcomed us in. We couldn’t see through the picture-frame window that night, but we remembered something even better. The projector installed right above the bed was perfect for our first (and much-needed) movie night of the trip. We hit the button to unfurl the screen in front of the window and cozied up. (And in the truest of luxuries, the Netflix account was already logged in, so we didn’t have to deal with the hassle of plugging in and verifying our own. It’s the little victories sometimes.)