Planning on a day trip to Nami Island in South Korea? Here are some of the top things to do on Nami Island.

This beautiful fall weather gets me reminiscent about a trip to Seoul, South Korea last October. I didn’t get a chance to finish my post about one of my favorite places we went to visit. So here is a guide to visiting Nami Island!

After a few days in Seoul, we decided we wanted to see a different side of South Korea. Jeju Island was a bit too far (you have to take a plane to get there), so we decided on Namiseom Island or Nami Island for short. There’s a few ways you can get there, but we ended up getting there by taking Seoul’s amazing subway system. If you need to know how long it takes to get to Nami Island or how to get there, check out my How to Get to Nami Island guide.

What to Do on Nami Island

Walk around the paths along the perimeter of Nami island. Don’t just stick to the main paths! You’ll find some peace and quiet just by taking that left or right down a side path.
Admire the recycled artwork. There’s an abundance all over Nami island. It’s very creative and inspiring!
Eat! Try the ice cream or get a little snack. Unless you have packed your own food, you’re going to end up hungry!

Earlier in our trip we met a couple from Singapore in the Gwanghamun market. This was our first day in Seoul, but for them it was their last. One of their favorite parts of the trip was Jeju and Nami Island. One tip I’d like to pass along from them is to get there early!! They had also taken the subway like we had, and taking this instead of a tour bus allows you get there before the crowds. It also allows you to leave at your leisure. It took us about 1 ½ hours to get to Nami Island, and it was well worth it! We had arrived before 9:30, and it was already a bit busy with tourists. But about after 10:30 am is when the place became overwhelmingly busy. You can definitely see in the pictures below why everyone loves escape to Nami Island.

Arriving on the Island we took a few obligatory pictures out front. Then when everyone was walked straight ahead, we decided to venture off to the left of the island. The picture below is the first row of beautiful trees we saw. It was early enough that we didn’t see anyone until we ended up walking halfway around the island and came into the main walking areas. I would suggest walking around the perimeter of the island first. It was nice to feel like you were all out there on your own.

Once we got to the main area of the island, there were lots of other things to see. There was a lot of artwork, restaurants, shops, and also a place to rent bikes, etc. I didn’t know too much about Nami Island beforehand, so it was nice to see they had different activities you could do there. One thing I thought was commendable was that there were a lot of recycled artwork incorporated into everyday things or structures on the island.

After walking around for a while I was starving! We ended up going into the first restaurant we saw. One tip I can provide here is to make sure to walk around before choosing a place to eat. I was surprised they had a few restaurants that we only discovered after we ate. Nonetheless it was still great food. I just wish my stomach was able to fit more. That way I could have eaten at a few different places! After lunc, we had some amazing ice cream; green tea and cookies and cream. All I could think was, “Do they use some sort of different milk for their ice cream? Or is it just this good?”

After the ice cream it was more walking around and exploring. Since it was October the leaves on the trees were just starting to turn into different colors. It created such a magical fall scene. I’ll let the rest of the pictures speak for themselves! It was jaw dropping to see all of the different foliage. Different shades of deep red and bright yellows were everywhere. I’m sure if we had arrived 1 week later more trees would have been brilliantly colored and leaves would be crunching underneath my feet. Living in California doesn’t allow me to really experience the autumn season at all, so this ended up being one of my favorite sights we saw while in South Korea.