If you're into Kdramas, and if you've watched Winter Sonata already, then I'm pretty sure you're very much familiar with Nami Island! Namiseon Island, or more commonly known as Nami Island, according to Visit Korea was "designed with the concept of "Storybook Land, Song Island," [and] hosts cultural events, concerts, and exhibitions all year round. The island aims to promote dreams and hopes in children, and love and memories in couples."
This amusement park/tourist resort opened in 1965 and was awarded with the status of UNICEF Child Friendly Park. According to the official site of Nami Island, it is part of the Naminara Republic which is a "cultural tourism brand" that "declared its cultural independence from the Republic of Korea, has its own diplomatic and cultural policies." There are a lot of activities that you can do in Nami Island and there are also various restaurants, coffee shops, craft shops and gift shops that you can visit whilst here. There's even a hotel here so if you want to explore this place more you can do so by staying the night!
If you want to check out any other information, such as the opening schedule, admission rates and even the ferry ride schedule, head over to the Visit Korea site here or the Nami Island official site here. You should definitely check out their official site if you want to learn more about the history of the Naminara Republic and Nami Island.
This is gonna be a long post since I've included a lot of pictures to really give you a good glimpse of this place. Scroll down whenever you're ready to see and (virtually) visit Nami Island! 😉
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NAMI ISLAND
We allotted the whole second day of our trip to visit Nami Island. Good thing we did so because I actually underestimated how far this place is from the city. Just like any of our other trips, we went here on our own - DIY style haha! We got here through the help of our reliable friend, Google Maps, to give us directions. But if you want other information on how to get here then you can head over to either Visit Korea or the official site of Nami Island. It was easier for us to get to this place DIY-style because we rented a Pocket WIFI from Flytpack before this trip.
We went to Nami Island first thing in the morning and it was a long train ride. We switched train lines about twice before we got here. Checking Google Maps again, the ride going there will take about 2 hours. Our main goal was to go from Eulji-ro to Gapyeong station. I can't remember exactly which station it was but we got off the wrong one when we switched lines! So we were stuck in the platform of an open train station, in winter, for about 20 minutes which is the time it took for the next train to arrive. Good thing it wasn't snowing and we had hand warmers in our coat pockets! But in spite of this, I'd still choose DIY-ing trips because it helps you learn more about the place and to really experience it like the locals do. I don't really enjoy tours - I don't have anything against them - it's just that I love exploring the city, getting lost (not in a scary way), talking to locals to ask for directions and help, and getting from one place to another, all on our own.
When we got off Gapyeong station, there were people giving out bus tour fliers, specifically the one which includes a trip to Petite France. If you're into the Korean variety show, Running Man, then this is where they filmed their Snow White episode. Even though it was tempting, we skipped because we just wanted to head straight to Nami Island. We rode a taxi from this station to the Ferry port.
