Sangumburi Crater

Sangumburi is a maar - a crater formed by a steam explosion where rising magma met groundwater, blasting out a hole without building much of a cone around it, which is why the rim barely rises above the surrounding plain while the crater itself drops around a hundred metres and measures several hundred across. It is one of only a few maars in Korea and is a designated natural monument. Because the floor is deep and sheltered, its vegetation is layered: warm-temperate plants on the sunny southern wall, cooler-climate species on the shaded northern one, several hundred species in total, and descending into it is prohibited for that reason. What visitors walk is the rim path and the grassy approach, which is planted with eok, silver grass, that goes pale and feathery from October and is the reason for the autumn crowds. Ponies graze the approach and the eastern oreum landscape spreads out from the rim.

What you actually see

• The crater bowl - the deep flat-floored maar from the rim.
• The silver grass - the pale autumn cover on the approach.
• The layered vegetation - different plants on each crater wall.
• The oreum view - eastern Jeju's volcanic cones from the rim.

When to go

October and November for the silver grass, which is the season and the crowd. Spring and summer are green and much quieter.

Honest expectations

Descending into the crater is prohibited - the visit is the rim and the approach path. It is ticketed and takes about an hour. Autumn weekends are busy and the paths are narrow.

Nearby

Geomunoreum and Bijarim are east; Jeju City is 30 km north.