Korea: Nami Island

I have been hearing a lot about this place from my friends who already had the chance to visit South Korea.  The same stories I heard them kept on saying was that this was where they shot the Korean TV show - Winter Sonata.  I was my first time to visit South Korea and I thought it might be worth it to go there.

With my usual practice before I go on vacation, I always spend some time researching on how to go the places I plan to visit and the details such as transportation to ride, their costs, and all the other things that comes with it.  And this one was no exception.  The options for transportation in Seoul were the train/subway, bus, or taxi. The taxi was scrapped out from our options because it proved to be costly.  The cost for the bus was okay, but in the end we chose to ride the subway because it was the easiest to understand.

The travel time from Anguk station (where we stayed) to Nami Island took a total of around 2 hours.  From the readings I did in the internet, I had some confusion because sometime there were other who mentioned different kinds of trains and/or bus to ride on.  So, here I will share with you how exactly we got to Nami Island, to help you avoid confusion if you plan to visit Nami Island in the future.  The sequence of the transportation that we rode were: 1) Subway; 2) Taxi; 3) Ferry.

Subway
From the Anguk station, we bought a subway ticket going to Gapyeong station.  In going to the Gapyeong station, there were 2 option on how do the transfers in the subway.  The first option had 24 station stops, while the second one only had 21 station stops.  For both options, you need to make 2 train transfers.

The first option (24 stations) is shown below.

In this first option, these are the steps:
1. From Anguk station (orange line), you need to ride up to the Oksu station
2. In Oksu station, you need to transfer to the Light Blue Line.  The directions on where to go for the transfer can be easily seen inside the stations
3. From Oksu (light blue line), you will ride up to Mangu station, and make another transfer.  You will need to transfer to the train the goes to Gapyeong.
4. Ride the subway until you reach the Gapyeong station.

The second option (21 stations) is shown below.

For the second option, these are the steps:
1. From Anguk station (orange line), you need to ride up to the Jongno 3 station
2. In Jongno 3 station, you need to transfer to the Blue Line.  Take note that in this second option, the transfer is to the Blue Line.  In option 1, it was the Light Blue Line.
3. From Jongno 3 (blue line), you will ride up to the Mangu station, then make the transfer to the train going to Gapyeong
4. Ride the subway until you reach the Gapyeong station

The difference of the second option from the first option is only in the first part, where you will make the transfer in the different station, and the second option passes 3 stations lesser.

Be careful when you read the other past article on how to ride the train going to Gapyeong.  Other articles will tell you to transfer to another kind of train.  That was before when they didn't have the direct connection of subways to the Gapyeong station.  But today, you will only need to ride one kind of train.

The cost for the whole subway going to Nami Island is 2,050 WON.

Taxi
After you reach the Gapyeong station using the subway, you need to take a taxi when you go out of the station.  Just tell the taxi driver that you are going to the Ferry Station or Namiseoum.  The cost for the taxi is around 4,000-5,000 WON.

Ferry
When you reach the ferry terminal, you need to buy a ticket going to Nami Island.  The cost of the ticket is 8,000 WON.  It is already inclusive of the round trip ferry ride and the entrance to Nami Island.

Now for the fun part, we go inside Nami Island, which they also call Naminara Republic.

When we landed on the island, we already saw a great surrounding by the entrance.  But that was just the start.  Here are some pictures that we want to share with our readers.  These were taken as we entered the island.

The central walkway of Nami Island is called the Central Korean Pine Tree Lane.  This starts from the entrance and will take you all the way to the end of the island.  But you can also turn left or right to to explore more on what's inside.  The view of the row of trees are just magnificent.

Because I thought the trees were so beautiful, I took another shot in black and white.

As I mentioned above, this place is famous for the shooting place of the TV Show Winter Sonata, there were some places labeled to that show.  In the map that we got in the ticket booth, there were two spots labeled where they made the Winter Sonata kiss.

This is called the First Kiss Bridge, where the first ever kiss scene in Winter Sonata can be viewed from afar.

Then a actual first kiss happened in this open field.  You can just imagine the freedom you'll feel having a big open space like this one.  Like you just want to lie down on the ground the whole day and just think of nothing.

We also passed by a place where stones are placed on top of each other.  The practice is that visitors pick up a stones and make their wish.  Then they will put the stones on top of the other stones.  It is believed that the wish will come true if the stone will not fall off its position.

Here are some other pictures taken inside Nami Island...