Jeju Island appears in Korean dramas regularly. Most of the time, it's used for what it looks like — exotic, atmospheric, visually distant from Seoul. A backdrop. A destination.
Our Blues (우리들의 블루스) did something different. The 2022 tvN drama — written by Noh Hee-kyung, one of Korea's most respected dramatists, with a cast that included Lee Byung-hun, Shin Min-a, Han Ji-min, Kim Woo-bin, Cha Seung-won, Uhm Jung-hwa, and Lee Jung-eun — used Jeju not as a backdrop but as a protagonist. The island's fishing culture, its haenyeo divers, its small markets and coastal roads, its wind and its light — these are not scenery in Our Blues. They're the material the story is made of.
The drama follows multiple interconnected stories of people at different stages of life, all living and working on the island. The omnibus structure means the Jeju locations aren't incidental stops but essential contexts for each character's situation. To visit the filming locations is to understand why the drama is set where it is — which is a more interesting kind of pilgrimage than most.
Table of Contents
- Why Our Blues' Jeju Is Different
- Geumneung Beach & Biyangdo Island: The Drama's Heart
- Sinchang Windmill Coastal Road: The Opening Image
- Gapado Island: The Barley Field Romance
- Goseong 5-Day Market: Where Life Happens
- Seongsan Ilchulbong & Pacific Rim Peace Park
- Hallim Area: The Pub That Wasn't There
- Mokpo Bonus: The Kiss Scene That Left Jeju
- Planning Your Our Blues Jeju Trip
- FAQ: Our Blues Filming Locations
Why Our Blues' Jeju Is Different
There are two types of K-drama Jeju. The first type uses the island's most famous faces — Seongsan Ilchulbong at sunrise, Udo Island's turquoise water, Hallasan against a clear sky — as romantic backdrops for Seoul characters temporarily escaping their urban lives. The second type, rarer, uses the island's less-famous interior and western coast: the fishing villages, the traditional markets, the wind farms, the small islands that most Jeju tourists never see.
Our Blues belongs to the second category. Writer Noh Hee-kyung researched Jeju's fishing community culture for years before writing the script. The haenyeo — Jeju's female free divers, whose tradition of diving without oxygen equipment is a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage — are not props in Our Blues. They're characters with full story arcs. The island's 5-day markets, its windmill roads, its tiny offshore islands accessible only by ferry: these are what the drama treats as its real setting.
The result is a Jeju travel itinerary that most visitors never encounter. The beaches are quieter, the fishing villages more authentic, and the small islands genuinely remote. Our Blues is, among other things, an excellent travel guide to the parts of Jeju that remain outside the tourist economy.
📍 Geumneung Beach & Biyangdo Island: The Drama's Heart
금능 해수욕장 (Geumneung Beach) Address: Geumneung-ri, Hallim-eup, Jeju-si, Jeju-do
비양도 (Biyangdo Island) Ferry from Hallim Port (15 minutes each way; limited daily departures)
Geumneung Beach — white sand, clear water, and the constant presence of Biyangdo Island offshore — is the closest thing Our Blues has to a home base. This is where Lee Yeong-ok (Han Ji-min) works as a haenyeo with the other female divers, where Lee Dong-seok (Lee Byung-hun) drives his truck and sets up his mobile shop, where the rhythms of the fishing village community play out.
The beach itself is one of the quieter swimming beaches on the western coast — less developed than Hyeopjae Beach nearby, with a more local character. The seafood restaurants adjacent to the pier are worth the visit independent of any drama connection: the haenyeo divers who fish Biyangdo's waters bring their catch directly to shore.
Biyangdo, the small island visible from Geumneung Pier, is where some of the haenyeo scenes were filmed specifically — the island provides the mid-ground in almost every ocean shot from this area. It's reachable by a 15-minute ferry from Hallim Port with limited daily departures (typically morning and afternoon). The island has hiking trails to Biyangbong Peak and distinctive heart-shaped lava rock formations. Plan a half-day minimum for the island visit.
This Got Me: the haenyeo culture in Our Blues hit differently from how it's usually presented in tourism materials — postcards and YouTube clips of women in white suits emerging from the water. In the drama, it's a livelihood with real physical cost, generational tension, and a specific bodily knowledge that takes decades to acquire. Visiting Geumneung Beach knowing that context changes what you see in the women who actually still dive here.
📍 Sinchang Windmill Coastal Road: The Opening Image
신창 풍차 해안도로 (Sinchang Windmill Coastal Road) Location: Sinchang-ri, Hangyeong-myeon, Jeju-si (western Jeju coast)
The windmills of Sinchang are among the first images of Our Blues — Lee Yeong-ok driving elderly haenyeos along the western coast, the white turbines turning against the sea. It's an image that functions both as Jeju establishing shot and as something more specific: the particular loneliness and beauty of the island's working coast, away from the resort areas.
The Sinchang Windmill Coastal Road stretches 6 kilometers along the cliff edge of western Jeju, with the turbines visible from Geumneung Pier running the length of the coast. There's an observation deck that's particularly good for sunset photography — the angle places turbines, ocean horizon, and western sky in the same frame. Walking sections of the coastal path, especially in late afternoon, produces the specific Our Blues light that made the drama's opening so visually striking.
📍 Gapado Island: The Barley Field Romance
가파도 (Gapado Island) Ferry from Moseulpo Port, Seogwipo (approximately 20 minutes each way)
The romantic date between Lee Yeong-ok and Park Jeong-jun (Kim Woo-bin) — one of the drama's most visually lush sequences — was filmed on Gapado, a small flat island south of Jeju's main island. What makes Gapado distinctive is its barley: in spring (typically March to May), the island's fields turn a deep green that makes the low, flat landscape look like a living carpet extending to the sea on all sides.
The drama filmed here specifically for that visual — the couple in the middle of an improbable green ocean, the island's flatness making the sky enormous, the barley moving in the coastal wind. Gapado's walking circuit is approximately 4 kilometers around the island's perimeter, completing in roughly one hour. The island has cafés and a small pension for overnight stays; the ferry returns last in the late afternoon, so an overnight booking allows for early morning light on the barley fields.
Spring visit (late March to early May) is strongly recommended for the barley season. Summer and autumn offer different but still beautiful conditions; winter can be cold and windy but atmospheric.
📍 Goseong 5-Day Market: Where Life Happens
고성 오일장 (Goseong 5-Day Market) Location: Goseong-ri, Seongsan-eup, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do Open: Days ending in 4 or 9 (4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 24th, 29th of each month)
The market scenes in Our Blues — where Lee Jung-eun's character and her colleagues sell their catches and produce — were filmed at the Goseong 5-Day Market in eastern Jeju. The market is a short distance from Seongsan Ilchulbong, making it easy to combine in the same itinerary.
Traditional Korean 5-day markets (오일장) operate on a rotating schedule: this one opens on days ending in 4 and 9. The Goseong market is one of the few genuine traditional markets remaining on Jeju where local producers bring seafood directly from the fishing boats, agricultural products from the island's farms, and traditional foods prepared by vendors who have been coming to the same market for decades.
Unlike the tourist-facing markets in Jeju City's main commercial areas, Goseong operates primarily for local residents. The experience of moving through it is noticeably different — less English signage, more genuine market chaos, better prices. The seafood section in particular reflects what's actually being caught in the waters off eastern Jeju.
📍 Seongsan Ilchulbong & Pacific Rim Peace Park
성산일출봉 (Seongsan Ilchulbong) — UNESCO World Heritage The volcanic tuff cone that defines eastern Jeju's silhouette appears as backdrop throughout Our Blues' eastern coast scenes. The 30-minute ascent to the rim reveals a 600-meter-diameter crater and panoramic views of the Olle trails, Udo Island offshore, and the surrounding fishing villages. Entry fee applies; sunrise visits require early arrival and crowds, but the crater itself is beautiful at any time of day.
환태평양 평화공원 (Pacific Rim Peace Park), Seogwipo The beach where Cha Seung-won's character's high school flashback was filmed — friends on a southern Jeju beach — is at this park in Seogwipo. Less-visited by tourists than the eastern beaches, the park has the particular quality of southern Jeju's ocean: darker water, more volcanic rock, a more isolated atmosphere.
📍 Hallim Area: The Pub Area
Hallim County, Jeju-si
The pub where Han Ji-min's character works in the drama was a purpose-built set — the building itself doesn't exist outside of production. However, the set was constructed near Hallim on the western coast, close to a secluded beach that the production used for surrounding scenes. The beach itself is worth visiting even without a specific drama building to photograph. The Hallim area is close to Geumneung Beach, making it a natural part of the same western Jeju day.
📍 Mokpo Bonus: The Kiss Scene
목포 복만동 (Bokman neighborhood, Mokpo, South Jeolla Province)
Not technically a Jeju location — but the viral kiss scene between Shim Dal-gi and Kim Jae-won was filmed in the Bokman neighborhood of Mokpo city on the South Korean mainland. For fans wanting to complete the Our Blues pilgrimage, Mokpo is a 5-hour bus journey from Jeju via ferry to Mokpo Port. The city has its own considerable appeal: a well-preserved Japanese colonial-era downtown, excellent seafood (nakji — octopus — is a Mokpo specialty), and Yudal Mountain for city views.
Planning Your Our Blues Jeju Trip
Western Coast Day: Sinchang Windmill Coastal Road (sunset) → Geumneung Beach and Hallim pier area → Biyangdo Island ferry (morning departure for best availability)
Eastern Coast Day: Goseong 5-Day Market (check schedule) → Seongsan Ilchulbong → Pacific Rim Peace Park, Seogwipo
Island Extension: Gapado Island (half-day from Moseulpo Port; plan around ferry schedule)
Best season: Spring (March–May) for Gapado barley fields and mild temperatures. Summer for swimming at Geumneung Beach. Year-round for windmill road and Seongsan Ilchulbong.
FAQ: Our Blues Filming Locations
Where is the main village in Our Blues located? The central fishing village atmosphere is based around Geumneung Beach and the Hallim area in western Jeju. The pub was a purpose-built set near Hallim, but the surrounding beach and community atmosphere are real and visitable.
Can I visit Biyangdo Island as a day trip? Yes, but the ferry schedule is limited — typically morning and afternoon departures from Hallim Port, with the last return in the afternoon. A half-day minimum is recommended. Overnight stays are possible at the island's small pension.
When is the best time to visit Gapado for the barley fields? Late March to early May for the green barley season that was featured in the drama's romantic date scene. The island is visitable year-round but the spring barley is the signature visual.
Is the Goseong 5-Day Market open every day? No — it opens on days ending in 4 or 9 (4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 24th, 29th of each month). Check the calendar before planning your eastern Jeju day around it.
How does Our Blues' Jeju differ from tourist Jeju? Our Blues was deliberately set on Jeju's western and eastern coasts rather than the tourist-heavy southern coast and Jeju City. Locations like Geumneung Beach, Sinchang, and Goseong market are significantly less crowded and more authentic than the island's main tourist circuit.
The Takeaway
Our Blues offers what the best travel-inspiring dramas do: a reason to go to places you wouldn't have found in a guidebook. The western Jeju coast with its windmills and fishing villages, Biyangdo's quiet trails, Gapado's spring barley — these are the parts of the island that the haenyeo community has always known and that most visitors miss entirely.
The drama didn't romanticize Jeju. It showed it honestly — the physical work, the economic precariousness, the generational weight. And somehow, in being honest about those things, it made the island more beautiful than any sunset photograph from Seongsan ever has.
Have you been to the western coast of Jeju, or is your Jeju experience mostly the eastern and southern circuit? Tell me in the comments.
Internal Links:
- K-Drama Locations #3: Crash Landing on You
- Jeju Island: Seongsan Ilchulbong Sunrise Peak Guide
- Tongyeong: The Naples of Asia Food and Travel Guide
- Korea Hidden Gem Travel Destinations 2026
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