“Travel is like an endless university. You never stop learning.”
Huinnyeoul Cultural Village
Unlike Gamcheon Cultural Village which is much popular with international visitors while Huinnyeoul is a much popular choice with the locals. It is a small town near to the coast that comes with labyrinth alleys among the high hill in Yeongdo district offering stunning views of the ocean and the town. Huinnyeoul Cultural Village is located off on an island that is connected to the mainland via 4 bridges, no need to cross over via ferry anymore like olden days.
Like Gamcheon Cultural Village, it was once a rustic village for the refugees of the Korean War which ended in 1953 (my mum was not born yet).
Today, after much effort of preservation and conservation, it is now transformed into a fascinating culture and art village that filled with colorful houses, beautiful murals, cafes, restaurants, shops and limitless scenery.
There is no entry fee to enter the village, but this town is still filled with local residents thus, it will be good to come after 9am and leave after 6pm while keeping the volume down and throw your trash in the bins. Prepare to smile and greet with the friendly residents here as you walk through the place. The main road of Huinnyeoul Cultural village is "Jeoryeong-ro" that comes with 3 bus-stops and there are 14 entry points of stairs to the village on this main road.
The interior of the village and the coastal area is link via 5 stairways
The First Look we received
Wow.... the breeze, the waves and the sights - this is what greeted us at the Information Kiosk of the Huinnyeoul Cultural Village.
The Alleys
Similar like Gamcheon Cultural Village, these small narrow alleys are built on stairs, and they are maze like.
Jeoryeong Coastal Trail
Coastal trails are very common in Busan as it is located right next to the Sea of Japan.
Jeoryeong Coastal Trail is located right in the vicinity of Huinnyeoul Cultural Village, in other word there is both "land" portion and also "sea" portion that built up this village. Jeoryeong Coastal Trail is in the pretty ocean blue color, stretches 3km from the start of the "sea" portion at the start of the village until Huinnyeoul Coastal Tunnel.
It feels so leisure to walk along this well paved path, feeling the ocean breeze patting on my face, at the right side of where I am standing is Dodo Island, Songdo Yonggung Suspension Bridge and Songdo Beach.
This trail can further be extended on the rocky path all the way to Jungni Beach and Haenyeo Village (which we will share more below)
On the day of our visit, this trail was under renovation and blocked entries, so we can only snap the photos above.
However, we managed to be at the start of this trail when we were outside of the Huinnyeoul Coastal Tunnel - see below.
Footbath cafe
Who do not like to be seated comfortably with soft background music while sipping your favorite drink while enjoying the ocean view while having a relaxing footbath?
100% recommended. They don't have food, but they have tea and hot chocolate. After walking around the area and seeing the shops this is a nice place to rest up a bit.
Nice got foot bath with a drink for 30 mins. Only 15,000 won per person. Coming here with someone you love and watching the ocean together would be really great, right?
The Blue Stairway
This spot is one of the popular places here for snapping photo, there is tend to some people here waiting for their turn to take turn for that "perfect shot'. We are early and there is nobody here except us!
The Five Stairways Yeongdo
There are a total of 5 stairways that link the village to the coastal area and each stairway has its own unique characteristic. Here are the few we snapped; all connect between the village to the coastal.
Manmeori Stairs
Dodoli Stairs
These stairs are made from pebbles, something different than the usual ones.
Fifth Stairway - Paino Stairs
This is the most popular one as it starts from Isongdo Observation Deck, these stairs will lead you to Huinnyeoul Coastal Tunnel.
Here is at the end of the stairs, some nice benches close to the beach, this is right next to the tunnel.
Huinnyeoul Coastal Tunnel
As we reached the base of the Paino stairs, there we are at the Jeoryeong Coastal Trail. Only a small portion is available for visitors to chill and enjoy the ocean close as construction was going on nearby, so the trail was blocked.
This small tunnel is another attraction here, the exterior is made up of rocks and the interior was renovated for visitors.
Located right next to the Rainbow Piano Stairs, this 70m long tunnel was dug out from the rocks that gave the residents a shortcut to reach to the other side of the coast. Residents used to go through a longer route by going up to the Piano stairs and coming down by Dodoli stairs just to bypass the rocky walls of the coastal.
The interior is made up of beautiful lights with artistic decorations that are nice for some photo.
At the end of the tunnel, there is such a wonderful view. But you cannot go far as it was closed to further exploration.
Upon entry into the tunnel, we felt the cooling air immediately, it is much cooler here than in the open.
As we walked out of the tunnel, it led us to pebble coast and some rocks formations. No way to go further as constructions were seen not far away, which means the path that connect to Haryeo Village is closed.
So, we took few photos and went back to the tunnel again and need to climb back the piano stairs which we panted all the way, some steps were steep, and my knees went jelly after we made it up to the top.
Isongdo Observatory
There are benches lying around which is ideal for us to catch our breath after climbing up from the notorious Piano Stairs.
The view here is very pretty, relaxing and breezy.
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| Construction can be seen here. |
Huinnyeoul Observation Deck
After challenged climbing up the Piano Stairs, we took another flight of stairs to reach this point. By the time we reached here, we were desperate for a seat and luckily there are plenty to choose from.
Bird eye view of the village overlooking the ocean. Every point you look is a view from the postcard.
This is the legendary "slow" postbox that will start to send letters one year from now.
Here we took bus 7 to go further into Yeongdo-gu where we will have lunch and Jungni lighthouse.
Okcheon Sashimi Restaurant
A traditional small seafood restaurant by the sea located at the pier of Haenyeo (women divers) Village.
The ingredients used are all very fresh. We went on a Sunday lunch time it was pretty crowded but glad there is one more table available for us.
One of the best meals I’ve had in Busan, the young owner speaks a little English, great food and amazing view of the ocean and lighthouse.
We ordered seafood ramen, abalone sashimi and sea urchin gimbap.
As with most restaurants in Busan, drinking water is provided for on complimentary, and it is refillable
Jungni Harbor Lighthouse
This petite red lighthouse is located in Jungni Port, right infront of our lunch venue.
Standing at 35m tall, it plays an important role in guiding ships and vessels to Busan port which is the 6th busiest port in the world.
Yeongdo Haenyeo Village
This location is quite remote, much further in from Huinnyeoul Cultural Village, Haenyeo means female divers (海女), who dive into the ocean with to fish out all fresh seafoods early in the morning to sell to restaurants or markets.
Girls as young as 11 years old will start to receive training and today, the oldest Haenyeo in the world is already in her 80s and has been diving for a living for more than 65 years. This traditional profession dated 434AD in Jeju. We did not manage to visit as this place is closed for renovation.
😍Here, we reach to the end of this blog on the amazing Huinnyeoul Cultural Village, coming up next is Haedong Yonggungsa Temple.
Meanwhile, here are the links on our PLAYs and EATs in Busan and Seoul:
4) "YEOGI"! Cheongsapo (Haeundae) @ Busan - coming soon
5) "YEOGI"! Dongbaekseom (Haeundae) @ Busan - coming soon
6) "YEOGI MASITSEUMIDA"! What did we eat in Busan? - coming soon
2024 is a blessed year for us that we travelled quite a bit, here to share some of the links of the blogs:
Between 2022 to 2023, we visited The Netherlands & Belgium, here to share : Amsterdam, The Hague , Rotterdam , Kinderdijk
and Antwerp.
We even moved to stay in Denmark during the peak of Covid : Relocation from Singapore to Aalborg, Denmark
Feel free, you are most welcome to browse through my other blogs to France, Japan, China, Thailand, Malaysia and cruises etc.
Next Trip: Chiangmai Thailand & Muar Malaysia while Japan is in the plan - Please stay tune by liking my Facebook page: followblueginger, Instagram page : followblueginger , TikTok page: bluegingerkaren and Tumblr page :followblueginger.
Thanks, and Cheers
"I travel because seeing photos in books and brochures was not good enough for me, To be there, that was everything"
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