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Mercedes Hutton
Mercedes Hutton

Destinations Known | Asia’s coolest island? Jeju, apparently – or is it just gentrifying?

  • Forget the Philippines’ Cebu, Visayas or Palawan, or Thailand’s Similan Islands – South Korea’s Jeju deserves the title, according to the Asia Times
  • The island has pivoted over the years from catering to Chinese tourists to appealing to youthful South Koreans

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Asia Times has named the South Korean holiday destination of Jeju as “Asia’s coolest island”. Photo: Getty Images
Mercedes Hutton

There are a lot of islands in Asia. So many, in fact, that some might say singling one out for any specific accolade is not only challenging but futile too.

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Still, that doesn’t stop us in the media from trying to match superlatives to destinations, with one of the latest being “Asia’s coolest island”, as decided by online news platform the Asia Times. And the winner is not one of the usual suspects – or Lamma, in Hong Kong.

Forget the Philippines’ Cebu and Visayas (Condé Nast Traveler’s “best islands in Asia, 2020”); or Palawan, also in the Philippines (Travel + Leisure’s current “No 1 island in Asia”); or even Thailand’s Similan Islands (“the most beautiful islands to visit in Asia”, according to The Culture Trip website). It is actually the South Korean holiday destination of Jeju that is, claims the Asia Times, “emerging as Asia’s coolest island getaway”.

Jeju is not without its own, official superlatives. The island is South Korea’s largest and the only self-governing province in the country. It is home to the highest peak in the land – Mount Halla, which stands at 1,947 metres (6,388 feet). And it is also an immensely popular destination for Koreans, attracting more than 15 million visitors in 2019, 13.5 million of whom were domestic tourists.

It also has history; in its assessment, the Asia Times identifies three “ages” of Jeju.

Jeju Island is home to the highest peak in South Korea – Mount Halla. Photo: Getty Images
Jeju Island is home to the highest peak in South Korea – Mount Halla. Photo: Getty Images
“Historically, the island, far from Seoul, was a place of exile,” it states. “In 1948, it was visited by a horror that presaged the Korean war two years later. In response to a communist uprising, troops unleashed a merciless counter-insurgency campaign that laid waste to the island’s interior. Thousands were slaughtered.”
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