Wednesday, March 28, 2012

South Korea Trip Day 4


Itinerary : Petite France - Nami Island - Hongdae


How to go to Petite France : From Hongdae Station take line 2 (green line) to Wangsimni Station, then transfer to Jungang Line and get off at Cheongnyangni Station. In Cheongnyangni Station transfer to another train (still in Jungang Line) and get off at Mangu Station, then transfer to Gyeongchun Line and get off at Cheongpyeong Station. Take Gapyeong circle tour bus from exit 2 and get off at Petite France.

Yes it was a long journey to reach Petite France from Seoul. We did some research in the internet, some said the shuttle bus service was terminated on September 2011, some said go to Gapyeong station and take taxi, etc. We did our own research and found the easiest way without ride any taxi which is expensive. If we see in the map, Jungang line connected Wangshimni to Mangu, but when we rode the train, the announcement said that Cheongnyangni was the last station. We were confused! We were supposed to reach Mangu Station. Apparently we have to transfer to another train in Cheongnyangni Station to continue the journey to Mangu Station.

Arrived at Cheongpyeong Station, we should take a bus to Petite France. The thing is we didn't know what bus and where to take. A blog said to walk 10 minutes away from subway station to reach bus terminal then catch bus from there but we didn't see any direction sign to bus terminal. Cheongpyeong Station was empty when we reached there. There was tourist information booth near exit 1 but it was closed. There was a bus timetable at the road side but we didn't know what bus was that. There was no places' name, only time.

Took picture while waiting for someone passed by :p


We waited for quite a long time alone until someone passed by. We asked him. He was really nice and helped us search for it. Unfortunately he also couldn't find it. We tried to ask an uncle who also passed by. He talked a lot in Korean but the point was he didn't know -.-" We went to exit 2 and tried to look for any bus terminal sign, but there was nothing. We went back to exit 1 and found some girls so we asked them. They said there's a bus in exit 2, it would arrive at 11.30 and it was still couple minutes pass 10.00. We weren't so sure so we headed back to exit 2 and tried to look for any bus sign. Again there was a timetable the same with the one in exit 1. We were clueless!

We went back to exit 1 and the tourist information was already opened! YAY! We asked the officer there. She gave us brochure about the shuttle bus timetable and explain to us about it. We only need to pay one time then we're free to take the bus as many times as we want for a whole day.

Bus ticket and brochure
Bus timetable
She's so kind, she offered us to wait inside the booth since it was cold outside. We went inside and wait there. There was an aunt who was the shuttle bus tour guide. She said she will ride the bus we were about to ride so we just need to follow her. Thank God! We spent about 1 hour inside the booth chit chating with 2 nice aunties. They gave us a cup of warm tea and a boiled egg.  At 11.30 we rode the bus going to Petite France. We paid the ticket to the bus driver. He gave us a ticket which we should keep and showed it everytime we want to take the tour bus.

Bus tour guide and tourist information center officer

It took about 30 minutes to reach Petite France from Cheongpyeong Station. Petite France located up in a mountain. The road was twist and turns. The auntie gave all the bus passengers 25% discount coupon to enter Petite France. I don't know is it for all year long or not. Finally we reached Petite France! Total time we spent was about 3.5 hours *fyuh*


Petite France was famous for the filming location of Beethoven Virus drama and Running Man. It's a small area built with France theme. The Little Prince is the main character in there.

The Little Prince Statue
Some of the buildings were used for galery. There were antiques, dolls, instruments, paintings and Little Prince findings. Some others are used for guesthouse.


There were also some performances held. There were puppet, a magic show, etc.


There were small stamps booth in some certain location. 10 in total, if you can collect them all, you'll get some kind of souvenir. We only got 7 of them. At the ticket booth, they provide a white linen for the stamps. We didn't know at first. We found about it later but too lazy to went back to ticket booth, so we collected the stamps on our note book.


We had lunch in restaurant there. I had beef omurice which was really expensive!

Shrimp Omurice and Beef Omurice
We spent 2 hours in Petite France because the next tour bus arrived at 14.10. We had to rode on the bus and went to Nami Island.

It was only about 10-15 minutes journey from Petite France to Nami Island ferry terminal. We bought the ferry ticket at the "immigration" and got on the ferry.


It took 5 minutes to reach Nami Island. Nami Island is beautiful romantic place to go with boy/girlfriend, husband/wife. It's a quite big island and we only had 2 hours to explore. The lake and some fountains were still frozen. They were beautiful.


Nami Island is famous for Winter Sonata filming location starred by Bae Yong Jun and Choi Ji Woo. There's a statue of them in the filming location and also a bridge of the first kiss location.

First kiss bridge
Bicycles used in Winter Sonata filming
Choi Ji Woo and Bae Yong Jun statue
After took some photos everywhere, we headed back to ferry terminal and went back to Seoul. Next stop is Hongdae.

Ferry queue
How to go to Hongdae : from ferry terminal take tour bus and get off at Gapyeong Station, then transfer to Gyeongchun Line and get off at Sangbong Station. At Sangbong Station transfer to Jungang Line and take off at Wangshimni Station. At Wangshimni Station transfer to line 2 (green line) and get off at Hongdae Station.

We back to Hongdae area again that night because we wanted to explore the area more and try more street foods. I stopped by convenience store and bought cold Banana Milk. I've been curious about it for a quite long time since I watched the CF. It was really good. I loved it!


We walked along Hongdae streets towards clothes and accessories section. We stopped by an accessories store and bought 3 pairs of earring which were cheap! Only KRW 2000 per pair. Believe it or not, even Korean can be lost too. A Korean boy asked us Uniqlo direction. Maybe he thought we were Korean. Luckily we knew because we passed it everyday since it's located right across the street of Hongdae Station. I found it quite amazing actually. Foreigners told local about the direction. LOL! That wasn't our only experience. Some people asked us for direction on the streets and in subway station but of course we didn't know since we depended on subway map to travel around.

We had ddeokbokki (rice cake), kim, octopus and 2 odeng for dinner. The portion was quite big. We shared those 4 and still couldn't eat them all. I've tried ddeokbokki in Singapore before and I hated it, but the one in Hongdae was actually delicious! The octopus was chewy but not hard at all and yes, yummy!




Gapyeong circle tour bus - KRW 5000/day
Petite France - KRW 6000
Beef omurice - KRW 10.000
Nami Island ferry + entrance - KRW 8000
Ddeokbokki - KRW 2500/serve
Kim - KRW 500/piece
Octopus - KRW 500/piece
Odeng - KRW 500/piece


40 comments:

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jeann11 said...

Hi Christine, did you need to walk to Cheongpyeong bus terminal to take the bus to Petite France? Or did you take the bus directly from Cheongpyeong subway station exit2?
I read from another blog that the walk from Cheongpyeong subway station to bus terminal is about 10mins. Thanks!

Christine said...

Hi Jeann,
There's no need to go to bus terminal. I took the bus directly from Cheongpyeong subway exit 2. There's a timetable at the road side. The bus arrives at Cheongpyeong subway station in certain time for 5 times a day. It didn't late and only stopped for 1 minute or 2

Yee Boon said...

Thanks for the great info :) planning to visit these 2 beautiful places at September ;)

Christine said...

Hi Yee Bon :)
Glad to hear that my blog can help you. I heard Nami Island is really beautiful in autumn. Have fun in Korea!

Anonymous said...

Is petite france wheelchair friendly?And how about Namsan tower, I read that there are many stairs, can wheel chair go there ? thank you for your info

Christine said...

I think it's still possible to go Petite France if you use wheelchair. They have a track for it but only in some areas. Some are required walking and most of the building's door are pretty narrow. You won't be able to explore the whole area with wheelchair.
I'm not so sure about Namsan Tower. To reach Namsan Tower you have to climb a quite long wooden stairs. As I remember I didn't see wheelchair track there.
But Korea is very care to the disables. I watched once on TV they have special facilities for wheelchair in MRT stations, so maybe they have one too in Namsan Tower. You can ask Korea Tourism Organization for more information about this

Unknown said...

sis bisa minta rincian itinerary gak? soalnya saya kok suka sama perjalanan sis christine... soalnya november ini mau ke sana sis saya...hehe... kirim email dong qq_hizkia@yahoo.com
thx yaa

Anonymous said...

Hi Christine,

I really like your blog very precise and will help me a lot for my trip in Nov, which I plan to go Petite France and Nami Island.

I can manage till Mangu station but the below you mentioned I have a doubt, from Mangu station to transfer to Gyeongchun line is it within Mangu station or must I get out of Mangu Station and walk to transfer to Gyeongchun line? If need to get out pls advise which exit and how to to get to Gyeongchun line?

("Mangu Station, then transfer to Gyeongchun Line and get off at Cheongpyeong Station")

Thanks in advance.

best regards,
Margaret

Christine said...

Hi Margaret,

The transfer is within Mangu station. When u get off at Mangu station look for sign to transfer to Gyeongchun line. Just to be remember all transfers between MRT are within the station. No need to get out :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Christine,

So kind of you and thank you so much.

By the way I am Running Man fan too. maybe will visit HAHA's restaurant if time permits.

Once again thank you and take care.
Margaret

Anonymous said...

Hi christine,
Your blog is really helpfull, i plan on going to SK too and visit petit france and nami island. Could you share the first departure of gapyeong circle bus? Since i need to set the departure time from seoul :)

And i read that you have taste jjajangmyeon, may i know how its taste? =P
I've tried once in malaysia and its kind of plain

Thank you for answering ^^

Christine said...

As you can see in the red timetable pic up there, the 1st bus departs from Cheongpyeong station at 08.25. Are u going to Petite 1st or Nami 1st?

The Jajjangmyeon I eat was good. It wasn't plain. You should try it in Korea. It should be more delicious than in other countries.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info christine, i 've tried to zoom the brochure but it's kind of blur. Haven't decide yet to go to nami 1st or petit 1st -.-a
But i will try jajjangmyeon for sure ^_^

And 1 question again, i see that you take sangbong station from gyeongchun line from nami island, is it possible to take sangbong station to gyeongchun line and get off in gapyeong station?

Thanks once again :]

Christine said...

If I see the map it should be possible to take gyeongchun line from sangbong to gapyeong. The gyeongchun line starts from sangbong station.

If you go to Nami 1st then u hv to get off at gapyeong station and take the circle bus according to the green timetable.

If you go to petite france 1st, get off at cheongpyeong station and take the circle bus according to fhe red timetable

Anonymous said...

Hi Christine,

From Hongdae station to Cheongpyeong Station estimate how long is the journey?

thanks,
Margaret

Christine said...

Ya klo pake bingung2, nyasar2 dikit gt kasi aja 1.5-2 jam.

Anonymous said...

Christine,
English pls I cant understand Malay?

Thanks,
Margaret

Christine said...

Oh.. Really sorry. I didn't know how I thought u were writing in Indonesia -.-'
If u count the lost n confuse when u find the way, just give it about 1.5-2h.

Unknown said...

Hi I will be going to korea next feb and would like to know if it's possible to get your itinerary ? Tqvm

Christine said...

Hi Candice,

Unfortunately, I've deleted the printable itinerary but I've posted my whole itinerary here in my blog. So you can follow as what I've written here :)

Anonymous said...

Christine,

Thank you very much I managed to get to Petite France n Nami with your great help!

Too bad cannot find Ha Ha restaurant n was too tired & cold so we gave up in the end! Maybe next time will have better luck.

Just came back from Seoul last week n we had a great time.
Best regards,
Margaret

Christine said...

Hi Margaret,

Wow! great to hear that you made it to Petite France n Nami Island :D I heard Nami is really beautiful in autumn. Is it really that pretty?

Korea is so much fun and I bet you're gonna miss her really soon. I did and still do. I want to go back there again someday :)

Anonymous said...


Hi Christine,

This is Lily and I am a Malaysian. will be going to Seoul and plan to visit Petite France. I will be staying at Myeongdong thus will take subway fm Myeongdong.

Do you know how to start fm Myeongdong station , too many stations and lines



Lily lcmflily@yahoo.com

Christine said...

Hi Lily,

From Myeongsong take MRT to Dongdaemun History n Culture station. In here u should transfer to line 2 (green line) and get off at Wangsimni station. From Wangsimni u can follow my instruction above :)

Anonymous said...


Hi Christine,

Thank your for your prompt reply. I still hv some queries

I have done some research and realised I can go on this routing

From Wangsimni take Jungang Line to Sangbong station

From Sangbong station take Gyeongchun Line to Cheongpyeong station

I am not really sure must I transfer to another train (still in Jungang Line) and get off at Mangu station and then transfer to Gyeongchun Line and get off at Cheongpyeong Station
since I connect at Sanbong station which is not same as yours.
Right now I really do not have the subway maps so I cannot figure our properly.


Rgds..Lily

Christine said...

It is the same route as ours (wangsimni to sangbong) and the announcement at that time said cheongnyangni was the last station. So whether u get off at sangbong or mangu, u hv to change to another train at cheongnyangni. But it can be different by the time u're there so u better listen to the announcement well when u about to reach chongnyangni. If it doesn't say cheongnyangni is the last station, I guess u can continue until Sangbong/Mangu without change train.

Anonymous said...

Hi Christine,

Nami is really very beautiful in Autumn, all the leaves on the trees are so red. Took very nice pics there.

Yes I miss Korea too and now its snowing too!

Yup will definitely go back to Seoul and hope soon......

Regards,
Margaret

Shirley said...

hi Christine thanks for your info.. it is really helpful.. can you tell me what time did you ride on the bus from Nami back to Hongdae? thanks :)

Christine said...

I took Bus from Nami to Gapyeong station at 16.15

ching said...

Hi Christine :) I'd like to ask some questions. I want to visit Nami Island, Petite France and Garden of the Morning Calm for a day. The station I should go to first is Gapyeong station right? How would I know which bus stop I should wait in, once I arrive the station? Thank you!

Christine said...

Hi Ching,

If you want to go to Nami Island first then yes you hv to depart from Gapyeong. I think you should ask in tourist information booth. If they hvn't open yet then you can ask ppl around for the bus stop to go to Nami. If you don't speak Korean, try to find youngsters, they usually understand English

Koyuki said...

Your blog is so informative!

I made a post on Korea cosmetic coupons, hope it's helpful for everyone! =) http://koyukipalaceeng.blogspot.ca/2013/01/korea-coupons-cosmetics.html

Anonymous said...

Hi Christine, I am Lita from Indonesia too! I will go to Seoul on late March 2013 with 2 other travel mates, and interested to go to Petite France and Nami Island at the same day. Could I have your email address so I can contact you personally and ask about the direction? Maybe it is easier for us to communicate in bahasa :) Thank you. My email address: lita_tedja@yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Hi....I'm planning to go to petite france and nami island. I'm a bit confusing bout the ttansportation from petite france to nami island ferry terminal.
Could you please help to describe it? Thx -Sylvia

Christine said...

Hi Sylvia,
You can board on circle bus at the cross road of Petite France. The bus comes at certain time as you can see it in the red time table (Petite France row). The next stop from Petite France is Nami Island.

ruffeecola said...

nice to read. thanks for sharing your experience.

Anonymous said...

Hi Salam kenal,
Gw juga abis dari Petite France kemaren. Tapi sayangnya gak ke Nami Island, padahal itu masih beku yah. Ah nyesel kan.

Eileen said...

Hi Christine,

did you go to gangchon rail park as well on the same day? I am going to gangchon rail park and am thinking to add nami island or petite france to the same trip as well. and how long did it take you to visit both petite france and nami island together including the travelling time. thanks!

eileen

Christine said...

I didn't go to rail park. It took about 7-8h. It was longer than it should be coz I missed the bus to petite france so I had to wait for the next bus.

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