Bright, Beautiful Yeosu, the City to Write Songs About
Yeosu is a city-peninsula in the very south coast of Korea, charmed with blue waters and colorful villages. Being part of the Jeolla province, it and its little islands are renowned for their really great food—especially seafood.
Just to get the vibe right, let’s start with a song.
The city is only 200,000 people, relatively small by Korean standards, but in recent years, it’s become a huge tourist destination thanks to the famous song by Busker Busker.
I headed down to Yeosu Friday night by a Mugunghwa (slow train), leaving Daejeon at 7:30pm and arriving at Yeosu-Expo at 10:30pm.
As soon as I got off the train I saw a huge group of foreign students or maybe military people who started yelling YEEEEESH and taking all the taxis :/
They made me nervous so I tried moving across the road, only to look hopelessly confused. An ahjumma rolled down her window and, in English, went WOMAN. ARE YOU OKAY?? I said YES, bowed, and ran off to get my called taxi.
Once at my hostel, I met up with my friends, regaled them with my story of the huge crowd of frat boys, showered and slept. We woke up at 8am to a very cool morning. Our hostel, Backpackers in Yeosu, was pretty great. They have free breakfast so we made egg sammiches and then began walking to the port.
The nice thing about Yeosu is it’s extremely walkable, so we meandered through aquarium shops and bayside amphitheaters.
Our first few tourist stops were a few cafes, starting with Dongbaekdang. This take-out only bakery is famous for its 쑥 (mugwort) pastries. We grabbed to go, then headed to a second café, Modeuni (Naver says this place is closed but it’s not? Rebranded?).
It has a sort of halmeoni aesthetic. That is to say, antique, with doilies and painted walls. We ordered their special lattes—coconut and black soybean—and ate our mugwort cakes. The mugwort was okay, but Modeuni’s drinks were delicious.
After, we wandered a bit. The weather couldn’t decide if it wanted to be rainy and cold or sunny and breezy. We hopped on a bus to the cable car, but not before stopping at another café for a bagel and a pick-me-up.
The cable car was 15,000 for a round trip, and because of COVID, each family unit gets its own car, so the wait was a bit long. This was so exciting! I’m afraid of heights but each car has a bluetooth connection, and we waved at each cable car.
The car drops you off at Dolsan Island, where we hopped on a looooong bus to get to Hyangiram 향일암 Hermitage, a Buddhist site deep south on the coast. Halfway there, a group of foreigners (the same ones???) hopped on AND WERE REALLY OBNXOIOUS. They blasted some shitty EDM and the bus driver had to stop to make them put on their masks. They made my anxiety skyrocket, but otherwise the hour-long bus ride was nice.
After arriving at the base of the site, we passed by tons of gatkimchi 갓김치 stalls, the famous kimchi made with mustard leaves local to the area. We sampled some and bought our favorite, then bought our tickets to the hermitage (around 3,000 won or so).
Many, many stairs later, we reached the first few levels of the hermitage. Built into the rock, the hermitage is split into many separate buildings, each with its own crazy beautiful view of the Yeosu peninsula.
We walked through tight caves and green ivy vines. The temple itself was very clean; I don’t believe what part we saw was lived-in. After taking many photos, we walked back down to sample more treats at stalls, especially yughwa, a barley-sugar treat. The vendor gave us fresh yughwa, still hot out of the pot.
By this point it was almost 6:30 and we were exhausted—and hadn’t really eaten anything all day.
We found a restaurant and ate 파전, (scallion pancakes), 게장백반 (raw crab with many sides) and 막걸리 (rice wine). It was very seafood-heavy for me, who’s a bit picky but I sampled almost everything. The pancake especially was SO good.
However, staying so late was almost a mistake. We waited half an hour in the dark for a bus, unsure if there was anything coming. At last, a bus did come—the very last one—at 8:17pm. Be careful not to stay too late, friends.
To start Day 2, we took a taxi to the Railbike, a popular tourist spot overlooking the blue waters. It was 31,000 won for 3 people, which I found a little pricey since it’s only a 15-minute attraction, but my friends really loved it.
After, we took some photos on the pier. Lots of cafes and restaurants line the beach but we decided to taxi back to the main area of Yeosu for more options.
We ate a late lunch at Huimang-Seoneo 희망선어, a popular 회 (sashimi) restaurant. Again, we had raw crab plus 삼치, which is Japanese Spanish mackerel. The owner showed us how to wrap our sashimi with dried seaweed and all the sauces. It was really good, even for me, your resident seafood-skeptic.
From there was a short walk to the Geobukseon 거북선, or the turtle boat, a replica of the boat Korea used to defeat Japanese invasions. We enjoyed a sunny walk down the pier, then got hopelessly lost in the colorful villages trying to find our café.
After a half hour and one chat with a local cat lady later, we found our very insta-friendly café, Wide Coffee Stand. It was four levels of beautiful sea-side views, and the drinks were good. The pastries were okay, but again—very aesthetic.
After, we stopped by some souvenir shops and then ended up at another café, this time at In Yeosu 여수에서. This was my FAVORITE.
This café is an old home, so the interior has the traditional paper walls and hardwood. There are several balconies to sit outside in good weather.
Their sangria comes in four options—red or white, regular or sparkling. We ordered two glasses of it—and would’ve ordered a third if we had time.
The kind owner gave us some postcards, and even signed the back when we asked.
But by then, it was time to head back. We grabbed our stuff at the hostel and headed to the station, preparing for another 3 hour train ride.
I can see why Yeosu has songs written about it. The palm trees and painted pink houses reminded us of Florida, the Philippines, Taiwan—in my mind, all I can see is blue water and dense green foliage. And the FOOD. They say Jeolla food is the best and I gotta agree.
If there’s anywhere I could live in Korea, it’d be here. We plan to return when it’s steaming hot, so we can lay on the black sand beaches and bike to Odongdo, another island.
Thanks for reading! Go to Yeosu!