Nami island

Nami-seom or Nami island is another 'romantic spot' in Korea, located in Chuncheon City this beautiful tiny island attracts 1.5 million visitors on average year. According to wikipedia, its name originated from General Nami, who died at the age of 28 after falsely accused of treason during the reign of King Sejo, the seventh king of Joseon Dynasty of Korea. Also known as 'Naminara Republic' since 2006, it's an imaginary country that has invented its own passport, currency, stamps for promoting its tourism. Naminara Republic is fully equipped with facilities including Tourist Info Centre which provide currency exchange for the tourist.

Famous as the shooting place of 'Winter Sonata', a famous Korean Drama by KBS in 2002, the beautiful forest path of pine trees is a must see spot in this island.

(Some snaps in Naminara Republic)

We opted to get to this island by bus from Dong Seoul Terminal headed to Chuncheon, after one and half hours ride we got off at Gapyeong bus terminal. Staff from our hotel suggested to take taxi from this point to Nami-seom wharf which would cost about 8,000 won, just say "Nami seom ga juseyo" he said, but we decided to take our own adventure riding the local bus from Gapyeong station, it took us only 10 minutes to the wharf where we boarded the ferry for another 10 minutes to the island.

If you'd rather take the train, you can take train from Cheongryang-ri station to Chuncheon and then take taxi from the station to the ferry wharf.

Enjoying the beautiful Naminara Republic for about 2 hours wasn't long enough for us but we had to rush back to Seoul for our last day visit in the city and yet to visit another places on our list.

(Our mode of transport: local bus and ferry)

(Nami seom's map, courtesy of Chuncheon City)