Four places on Jeju's east side, and who decides how far in you get

Four places on the east of Jeju. All four are places you park and walk into, and in all four the question of how far you walk is answered by somebody different.

At one, the operator decided, for the sake of conservation. At one, you decide, at the moment you book. At one, the extent is simply the path a landowner cut. And at one, nobody has decided at all.

The four in a line

Manjanggul — 1 km of 7.4
Only the second of three entrances is in use, and you may walk a kilometre in from it. Conservation set that limit, and the operator's own listing calls the cave partly open.
Geomunoreum — one route of three
About 1.8, 5.5 and 10 km, and the longer two are guided. You choose when you book rather than when you arrive.
The Secret Forest — the owner's loop
Private land. A landowner rather than an institution set the extent, and even the rest days go on Instagram rather than a calendar.
Seopjikoji — nobody set one
The publisher carries only "open all year" and the parking charges. No opening time, no distance, no marked route.

Manjanggul — the limit was set by conservation, not by a timetable

The numbers here are unusually plain. The cave runs about 7.4 km and its main passage reaches 18 m wide and 23 m high. Roof collapses left three entrances, of which the public may use only the second, and from there you may walk 1 km.

At the end of that kilometre stands a lava column about 7.6 m high. It is said to be the largest known anywhere, and it is also where you turn round. So the walk is not a through route but an out-and-back: you return by the way you came.

🔵 The reason for the limit is written into the operator's own listing. In its index this cave is not "Manjanggul" but "Manjanggul (partly open)", while the caves inscribed alongside it — Bengdwigul, Gimnyeonggul, Yongcheondonggul, Dangcheomuldonggul and the upper tube group — are each marked closed to the public. What is inscribed and what can be seen are not the same list.

Manjanggul admission

Adult(ages 25 to 65)	₩4,000
Youth(youth and soldiers, ages 13 to 24)	₩2,000
Child(children aged 7 to 12)	₩2,000
Group (10 or more) · Group(groups of 10 or more, adult)	₩3,000
Group (10 or more) · Group(groups of 10 or more, youth and soldiers)	₩1,500
Group (10 or more) · Group(groups of 10 or more, children)	₩1,500

Source: Jeju World Heritage Office — Manjanggul (partly open). About 7.4 km long; the main passage 18 m wide and 23 m high; roof collapse left three entrances, of which the public may use the second, and 1 km may be walked; the lava column at the end of the open section, about 7.6 m, is said to be the largest known. Closed the first Wednesday of each month. Admission 4,000 won adult (3,000 group), 2,000 youth/soldier (1,500), 2,000 child (1,500), groups from 10. Enquiries 064-710-7903. Parking free, 60 large and 75 small bays, 135 total. Guides 09:00-16:00, free, signed up on site. Bring a torch and trainers, plus a raincoat and warm jacket in the wet; no high heels, no pets, no food brought in. Note: this page's viewing hours and its suspension notice sit inside HTML comments and are therefore not published (measured 2026-09-10). · Sep 10, 2026

The operator does not publish an opening time

The page carries a closing day, a fare table and the size of the car park. It does not carry opening or closing times. The nearest thing to hours is the guide service: 09:00 to 16:00, meeting at the ticket office, an hour long, free, and signed up for on the spot.

The cave is dark and the floor is wet. The operator lists a torch and trainers as things to bring, and a raincoat and a warm layer in wet weather. High heels, pets and food brought in are all barred.

Geomunoreum — you choose the extent, but not on arrival

This is the cone that made Manjanggul. Lava from here ran about 14 km to the coast and left the Geomunoreum Lava Tube System behind it, and in front of the cone a collapse trench runs about 2 km long, 80 to 150 m wide and 15 to 30 m deep, where cave roofs fell in.

This is the only one of the four where the extent is yours. There are three routes.

The summit course — about 1.8 km, 1 hour. The only one of the three you may walk without a guide.
The crater course — about 5.5 km, 2 hours 30. A guide comes with you.
The full course — about 10 km, 3 hours 30.

Geomunoreum departure times

Every day	09:00every 30 min11 a daylast entry 14:00
World Heritage guide service · Every day	09:00–17:00

These are not opening and closing times but the span of departures, and that 14:00 slot is the last one you can join. Fifty people per departure. When you come out depends on which route you took, and the operator states that as a duration rather than a time. In bad weather the site closes completely.

Source: Jeju World Heritage Office — Geomunoreum. Walks depart 09:00-14:00 every thirty minutes, eleven a day, fifty people per departure; closed every Tuesday as a rest day for the site, and on Seollal and Chuseok themselves; closed completely in bad weather. Booking by phone or online until 17:00 the day before. Admission 2,000 won adult (1,600 group), 1,000 youth/soldier (800), 1,000 child (800); groups from 10, with a separate list of exemptions. Three routes: the summit course (unaccompanied, about 1.8 km, 1 hour), the crater course (with a guide, about 5.5 km, 2 hours 30), and the full course (about 10 km, 3 hours 30). The collapse trench is about 2 km long, 80-150 m wide and 15-30 m deep. · Sep 10, 2026 · Jeju World Heritage Office — heritage guide service. The Geomunoreum guide runs 09:00-17:00, meets at the visitor centre entrance, and is given as 1 hour for the summit course, 2 hours 30 for the crater course and 3 hours 30 for the ridge course. Note: the third route is called the full course on the Geomunoreum page and the ridge course here. · Sep 10, 2026

🔴 Those are not opening and closing times. Walks leave every thirty minutes from 09:00 to 14:00, and that 14:00 slot is the last one you can join. Eleven departures a day, fifty people each. When you come out depends on which route you took, and the operator gives that as a duration rather than a time.

Booking closes at 17:00 the day before

Bookings are taken by telephone and online, up to 17:00 on the day before the walk. Every Tuesday is a rest day for the site itself, so there are no walks; nor on Seollal or Chuseok. In bad weather the site closes completely.

Geomunoreum admission

Adult	₩2,000The same table lists exemptions: under-6s and over-65s, Jeju residents, national merit holders, disabled visitors, basic-livelihood recipients, and 4·3 victims and their families, among others.
Youth(youth and soldiers)	₩1,000
Child(children)	₩1,000
Group (10 or more) · Group(groups of 10 or more, adult)	₩1,600
Group (10 or more) · Group(groups of 10 or more, youth and soldiers)	₩800
Group (10 or more) · Group(groups of 10 or more, children)	₩800

🔵 A list of exemptions is set out under the fare table — under-6s and over-65s, Jeju residents, national merit holders, disabled visitors, basic-livelihood recipients, and the victims of the 4·3 incident and their families, among others.

The Secret Forest — the limit was not set by an institution

A cedar path on private land west of Andol Oreum. It was the owner's own track until enough people came looking for it that he opened it, and the entrance fee now pays to keep the wood.

At the two places above, the World Heritage Office set the extent. Here the landowner does, and nothing shows that difference better than the rest days.

The Secret Forest, walking hours

Every day	09:00–18:30

There are days it does not open and no calendar carries them: the publisher says only that rest days are announced on the operator's Instagram. It is private land the owner opened, and that account is the only place the closure is published.

Source: Visit Jeju — Secret Forest (address 2173 Songdang-ri, Gujwa-eup; the account of private land opened to visitors with an entrance fee charged for its upkeep; eight photo zones; an unpaved loop of about 30 minutes; the hinoki cypress section. Its visitor note reads that animals may come along if the owner brings a lead and waste bags, and that closing days are announced on Instagram; accessibility is marked 'difficult'.) · Sep 9, 2026

Rest days go on Instagram, not on a calendar

The publisher says the forest can be walked every day from 09:00 to 18:30, and then adds that rest days are announced through the operator's Instagram. So the existence of closing days is published and their dates are not. That is why this site marks the record's closures as undisclosed rather than as none.

🔵 There is no car park, so cars are left along the lane at the entrance. Tickets are sold from a mint-green truck at the gate, which also sells drinks, snacks, and umbrellas and rain capes when it is wet. The loop is unpaved and takes about thirty minutes.

Seopjikoji — nobody set an extent

A headland running out to sea west of Seongsan. Koji is the Jeju word for a cape. Hills covered in red scoria run into rock cliffs, and on the grassland stands Hyeopjayeondae, a Joseon-era beacon station about 4 m high and 9 m to a side, designated a provincial monument.

Its place on this list is the empty cell. The publisher's visitor note contains "open all year" and the parking charges, and nothing else: no opening or closing time, no distance, no marked route.

Seopjikoji parking

Seopjikoji car park, standard small vehicle	₩1,0001,000 won for the first 30 minutes, then 500 won per 15 minutes, capped at 3,000 won a day.

Source: Visit Jeju — Seopjikoji (address 262 Seopjikoji-ro, Seongsan-eup; the two published readings of Seopji and the meaning of koji; Sinyang beach, the rape flowers, the grassland, the sea cliffs and Seondolbawi; the scoria at Bulgeun Oreum; the beacon mound at about 4 m high with sides of about 9 m, designated a Jeju Provincial Monument; Seongsan Ilchulbong as the backdrop; the visitor note giving year-round opening and the Seopjikoji car park tariff). The page states no admission fee of any kind. · Sep 9, 2026

🔴 "Open all year" is a statement about closing days, not about hours — it does not say the place is open around the clock. That is why this site puts no times on the record: there is nowhere to copy a figure the publisher never published.

🔵 It is worth knowing there are two car parks. Seopjikoji's own is 1,000 won for the first 30 minutes for a standard small vehicle, then 500 won per 15 minutes, capped at 3,000 won a day; the Phoenix Island car park is 5,000 won a day.

Putting the four together

All four are on the east side, but they are not one cluster. Measured on the coordinates this site holds, Manjanggul and Geomunoreum are about 10 km apart in a straight line, the Secret Forest is about 4 km from Geomunoreum, and Seopjikoji is about 22 km from Manjanggul. None of those is a walking distance or a driving time, and no official source we could find states how long the roads between them take.

If you are ordering them, the one with a booking is the fixed point. Only Geomunoreum has times that cannot move — a booking that closes at 17:00 the day before, departures every thirty minutes, fifty people to a slot — and the other three can go either side of it. Manjanggul closes on the first Wednesday of the month and Geomunoreum every Tuesday, so those two days come off the plan first.