Boseong Green Tea Fields

Boseong, in the far southwest of Korea, is the country's best-known green-tea region, where the humid, misty hills are terraced and combed into flowing rows of neatly clipped tea bushes that follow the contours of the slopes in mesmerising curving lines. The largest plantation opens its hillsides to visitors, who can walk up between the rows to viewpoints over the sea of green, through avenues of tall cedars planted along the paths, and the effect, especially when morning mist drifts through, is genuinely beautiful and quite unlike anywhere else in the country. The new leaves are picked in spring, when the fields are at their freshest green, and the region turns its harvest into green tea, ice cream, noodles and all manner of tea-flavoured foods. In winter parts of the fields are strung with lights. It is a short but memorable stop in Korea's deep south.

What you actually see

• The terraced tea rows - the curving lines of clipped bushes flowing over the hills.
• The cedar avenues - the tall tree-lined paths climbing through the plantation.
• The hilltop viewpoints - the panoramas over the green fields, best in morning mist.
• Green-tea foods - the ice cream, noodles and sweets made from the local harvest.

When to go

May and June bring the freshest, most vivid green as the new leaves flush, the loveliest time; morning mist adds atmosphere. Summer is lush but hot and humid; the fields stay green into autumn. Winter is quieter, with light displays at the main plantation. Weekends are busiest.

Honest expectations

It is a fairly long way south, so it usually means a detour or a stop on a wider trip through Jeolla rather than a quick outing. The main plantation is the one geared to visitors, and it charges and gets busy at weekends and in the peak green season. The walk up to the best viewpoints is a real, if short, climb. The colour depends on season, so timing matters for the classic emerald scene.

Nearby

The southern coast and the Suncheon Bay wetlands are within reach; the city of Gwangju lies to the north.