Nami Island, nicknamed Selfie Island by Korean locals, is a beautiful little island a couple of hours out of Seoul. You might be trying to figure out if you should go for the day, or possibly plan an overnight trip to Nami Island. This post will give you all the information needed to decide if Nami Island is worth staying overnight. Read on to find out.
Why visit Nami Island?
Nami Island is famous for nature and it changes with each season. In summer you’ll find flowers and bunnies and squirrels run around. I’m spring you’ll be wowed by cherry blossoms. Autumn brings a variety of colourful fall foliage that will blow you away. In winter you’ll find a snowy wonderland. It’s the Disneyland of the floral and natural world.
What time to visit Nami Island?
Being so beautiful, it gets busy. If you want photos with nobody around, then you’ll need to catch the 9am ferry and beat the crowds. The day trip crowds arrive by about 10 am onwards and start to thin out by about 3:30pm. Avoid trying to catch the between 3-4pm, because the line will be huge around this time with day trippers heading back to Seoul on their tour buses. It’s still busy-ish at 4pm, but more people leave Nami Island, the closer it gets to sunset.
How to get to Nami Island
To get to Nami Island, you can catch the subway to Gapyeong Station on the Gyeongchung Line.
From there you can jump in a taxi to the Nami Island ferry pier. I did read that they’d are shuttle buses running from Gapyeong Station to the ferry pier, but I didn’t see any. It was easy to catch a taxi, so it wasn’t a problem.
Once on Nami Island, you’ll find restaurants and cafes, so you won’t need to take food or drink with you for the day trip.
Is it worth staying overnight on Nami Island?
You can stay overnight, but accommodation is not great value, being that it is such a popular island. If you do stay overnight, I’d advise considering just bringing an overnight bag and leaving your luggage in a storage locker at Anguk station close to Insadong. Seoul is great for luggage storage. I wouldn’t fancy dragging a large case around the island or through the crowds on the ferry.
I’d only advise that you stay overnight if you really want to have the island to yourself before the 9am ferry arrives in the morning. There isn’t that much to do after dark, so you have to be committed to having the place to yourself in the morning, to make it worth an overnight trip.
An overnight on Nami island is only really worth it if you really want to have the morning to yourself without the crowds. Otherwise it’s best to either arrive on the 9am ferry, or come later in the day and stay for sunset and head back to Seoul after dark.
Staying longer in South Korea? You may also be interested in reading about traveling to Jeju Island without a hire car. or awesome things to do in Busan.
