Nami the Winter Sonata island is a must-visit place for those who adore the movie. I would never have visited this place if it wasn’t for my cousin and her colleagues who wanted to visit this place. For that, I’m so glad that I tagged along. It’s such a beautiful place. Thank you for inviting me along Oyong, Suzie, Anne, Bie, Zain and Nur Misuary.
Transportation to Nami Island
I went to Heukseok station to meet them, and together we took the subway to Cheongnyangni station. At the station, we bought the ITX train ticket to Gapyeong from the ticket machine. The ticket costs 4,300 won for one way. But we couldn’t get seats for the train departing at 11:17 am so, we got the next available train at 12:17 pm.
We had lunch at Mister Donut and then stepped out from the station to appreciate the snowfalls. It’s a chance you don’t want to miss out if you live in a tropical country.
We could also take the subway to Gapyeong, but then we would have to change to another station and spend about two hours on the train, and we would miss the chance to feel the snowfall.
Cheongnyangni station
Another way to get to Nami Island:
Shuttle Bus
Insa-dong / Namdaemun to Nami Island
Direct Shuttle Bus (Mon-Sun)
* Seoul Insa-dong – 9:30 Nearby the West Gate of Tapgol Park
* Seoul Namdaemun – 9:30 Sungyemun Square Bus Stop in front of Namdaemun Market
* Nami Island – 16:00 Parking lot in front of the ticket office
Adult: 15,000won (round trip) / 7,500won (one way)
Child: 13,000won (round trip) / 6,500won (one way)
Car – Using Navigation
Address search: 1024, Bukhangangbyeon-ro, Gapyeong-eup, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, Korea
Name Search: Nami Island Ticket Office / Nami Island Gapyeong Wharf
* Parking fee: 4,000won (for a day)
With the ITX train, the journey only takes about 40 minutes. There’s a shuttle bus for Gapyeong conveniently located in front of the train station. You can purchase the city tour bus ticket from the driver for 6,000won. Once you get the bus ticket, remember to keep it with you because you will need to show it to the driver whenever you get on the bus from another stop. If you lost the ticket, you would need to pay again.
Don’t forget to take the bus schedule for your reference. Having it with you would enable you to time your tour in the area. But sometimes, when the bus is full, you would still need to wait for the next one to come.
However, if your destination is only Nami Island, it’s better to share a taxi with your friends. The price is just 4,000 won, and you don’t have to wait for the bus. The distance from the station to the island is only 1.9km, so another way to go is by foot, it will take roughly about 20 minutes walk.
The distance to the pier from the bus stop in Nami is about a two-minute walk. There are two ways to get to Nami Island depending on your budget.
1. Ferry / 8,000 won / 15 minutes (Roundtrip – Including entrance fee)
2. Zip wire / 38,000won / 4 minutes (Including entrance fee and return ferry)
The ferry schedule
7:30am – 9:00am Every 30 minutes (Gapyeong wharf)
9:00am – 6:00pm Every 10-20 minutes
6:00pm – 9:40pm Every 30 minutes (Nami wharf)
Nami Island
Don’t forget to grab any brochure you could get in an English version. It would help you understand better the place you are going. Here’s some of the information for Nami Island.
Situated 63km from Seoul in the middle of the Han River, Nami Island looks like a leaf floating gracefully on top of Cheongpyeong Lake.
The island has an area of 460,000㎡ and a circumference of 5km. Formed with pebbles and sand, there are no mountains on the island, but there are trees tall enough to touch the sky. Wide grassy gardens where deer, ostriches, rabbits, squirrels, ducks and countless types of birds flourish Nami Island is a place where not only nature but also human beings can coexist.
Nami Island was named after General Nami, a notable figure in Korean history who courageously fought in battles but died at the age of 26.
Seasonal rain used to transform this land into an island, and with the construction of Cheongpyeong dam, it is now an island all year long. In 1965, thousands of trees were planted by Mr Byeong-Do Minn.
Today Nami Island is a place for rest and relaxation. Human beings, animals and trees share peace, love and harmony far away from crowds and civilization.
Here are some of the pictures taken on the beautiful island.
I bet every K-Drama fan knows about this place especially the fan of Winter Sonata.
During winter, they set up quite a few areas with fireplaces for the traveller to warm up their body from the freezing temperature.
There are a few restaurants & cafes on this island like Nammoon for Authentic Korean food, Dongmoon for Asian food (Halal), Di Matteo for traditional Italian pizzas, Swing Cafe, Snow Cafe, Sonata Cafe and others.
There is also a hotel here, and if you wish to spend a night here, you can contact Hotel Jeonggwanru at 031-580-8000.
The Price:
Rooms @ 97,000won – 169,000won
Bungalow @ 160,000won – 380,000won
Cottages @ 119,000won – 149,000won
We finished our tour of the island at about 3 pm and hurried to the bus stop to catch the ride for 3:25 pm, however, it was full. We had no other choice but to wait for another one to come at 3:55 pm. The bus stop was not a shelter type, we had to stand for about half an hour and endured the cold temperature.
When the bus arrived, we hopped on and were lucky to get a seat. The rest of the unlucky passengers had to stand for about twenty-five minutes before getting our seats when we got off at Petite France.
Travel Date: 13th January 2017