Woljeongri Beach

Woljeongri was a quiet fishing stretch until about fifteen years ago, when the first cafés opened on the road behind the sand and the combination of white shell sand, very shallow water that goes emerald in sun, and a café terrace to look at it from turned into a Jeju formula that has since been copied along the whole coast. The beach is not long - a few hundred metres - and the water is shallow enough to wade far out, with wind turbines turning on the headland and Jeju's black basalt breaking through the sand at the edges. Behind it the road is now continuous cafés, guesthouses and rental shops, which is either the appeal or the problem depending on what you came for. Paddleboards and kayaks are hired on the sand in season. The Jeju Olle trail passes along the coast, and Haenyeo Museum and the Gimnyeong maze are nearby.

What you actually see

• The emerald shallows - shallow water over white shell sand.
• The café road - the terraces facing the water.
• The wind turbines - the machines on the headland behind.
• The basalt edges - black lava rock at the ends of the sand.

When to go

June to September for swimming; April, May and October for the colour without the crush. Sun is needed for the emerald - grey days flatten it.

Honest expectations

It is small and heavily commercialised - the café strip is the character now. Summer weekends fill the beach and the parking. Water is very shallow, so little real swimming.

Nearby

Hamdeok is west along the coast; Gimnyeong and the Manjanggul lava tube are close.