Places in Korea: Oedo Paradise Island

An unusual but worth seeing tourist destination if you happen to be traveling to Geoje Island is the Oedo Paradise Island.

The island is quite beautiful but small island this is part of the Hallyeo Haesang National Park in Southeastern South Korea:

This small island is easily spotted from Geoje Island due to the many small ferry boats transferring passengers to and from this scenic island:

This island may be small but it does have an interesting history.  In 1969, Lee Chang-Ho began to come to Oedo while fishing to avoid the wind and waves on stormy days. He and his wife began to cultivate the land on the island for 30 years to make it into the garden paradise it is today. The island covers 264 square kilometer and just about every meter of it has been touched by the gardening work of Lee Chang-ho and his wife.

The island has many camellias, palm trees, and other exotic plants. The Venus Garden on the island is designed after the French Versailles and displays twelve sculptures.

The island also has the Paradise Lounge, where you can order something small to eat and drink but beware it is pricey. It also has a small gift shop to buy souvenirs from the many famous dramas filmed here.

The most famous is the Winter Sonata drama.

The sites in the drama are well marked on the island an are swamped with female Japanese tourists. The Sculpture Amusement Park on the island just left me wondering what the heck is up with all the weird children sculptures that are supposed to be Korean children’s games.

I began to think this guy was a pedophile. I don’t know when sticking your head up someones rear end became a children’s game?

Overall the island is worth checking out especially if you traveled all the way to Geoje Island to begin with because it is so far out of the way in Southeastern Korea.

Oedo island is easily reached from Geoje by traveling to the Haegumgang Park entrance at the far southeastern side of the island. At the park you can buy a ticket to see Haegumgang and Oedo Island for 8,000 won at the dock. The boat is quite comfortable but times are subject to change depending on wave and weather conditions. The round trip time of the tour is 4 hours but worth it.