Complete Guide to Renting a Car and Driving in Jeju
Thinking about renting a car on Jeju island and wondering what you need to know? This post shows you everything you should know about driving on Jeju based on our recent trip there.
Jeju Island is the paradise island in South Korea and it is no wonder it is the world’s busiest domestic flight route! We recently spent 3 days on Jeju Island exploring its beautiful nature, art scene and cafes.
Although there are public transportation on Jeju, it is far from being the most convenient way of traveling around Jeju. Buses take a long time to arrive and you will have to switch buses if you want to explore different parts of the island.
The most efficient way to explore Jeju is to rent a car and drive, and this is what we did. We enjoyed the flexibility of having a car and we were able to make last minute changes to our itinerary due to weather simply because we had a car and didn’t need to rely on any bus schedules.
However driving in Jeju comes with its own set of rules. Therefore in this post, I will share with you everything I’ve observed from driving on Jeju island and give you tips to help you drive better (and not break any traffic laws) on Jeju.
Quick observations of driving in Jeju
- Cars drive on the right side (US/ Canada side) in South Korea. If you are coming from the UK, Australia/ NZ, Singapore, South Africa or Japan, you will be driving on the opposite side of the road.
- Google Maps does not work well in South Korea, you should use Naver Map or Kakao Map for driving (and public transportation) directions.
- Cars have automatic gears; if you are looking for a manual car you may have some difficulties finding them.
- There are no toll roads in Jeju.
- There are plenty of parking lots on Jeju, so you don’t have to worry about not finding parking.
- There are no 24 hour car rentals on Jeju.
- There are speed bumps (real or fake) everywhere!
- Roads are well maintained and bright, way better than the roads in the US.
Where to rent a car on Jeju
There are numerous rental car companies on Jeju, but most cater to domestic travelers. The most popular car rental agencies among foreigners include:
The first three agencies should speak English and we personally went with Lotte Car Rental, which is associated with Hertz. In fact I rented a car in Seoul from them too and both times I received good services from them.
Klook is a third party agent, so the cars will be sourced from different car rental agencies. If you want cheap prices, the Klook generally has the cheapest prices and Lotte Car Rental has the highest prices. generally has the cheapest prices and Lotte Car Rental has the highest prices.
When we rented a car for 3 days on Jeju, we paid about $150 USD total including insurance for the smallest compact car. If you do rent a car from Lotte, be sure to create a membership and log in first, this way you can save a little bit of money. If you are a foreigner, there is a mandatory insurance Lotte charges you.
Keep in mind that the minimum age to rent a car in South Korea is 21 years old.
What Types of Cars to Rent in Jeju
As South Korea is a large automobile manufacturing country, you can expect that most rental cars you see in South Korea will be local brands, such as Kia and Hyundai. On Jeju I actually didn’t even see any Genesis around when I was picking out my car.
Most parking spots on Jeju are quite small, so unless you have a lot of passengers or luggages with you, I would recommend getting a compact car for the ease of parking.
I rented a Kia Morning, which is this tiny boxy shaped car. The space was perfect for the two of us with two small suitcases, but if we had larger suitcases I don’t think it would’ve fit.
Since it was the cheapest and smallest car, it had really bad motor power. There were many instances where I tried to accelerate and it literally would not. However it wasn’t really an issue on Jeju, so overall I’m happy with that car. The car came with a USB port, screen (for navigation), and a backup camera. The only thing it was missing is the side mirror alert for the blind spots.
If you are looking for more of a regular sized sedan, then I would probably recommend renting something larger, like an Hyundai Avante or Sonata. When I rented a car in Seoul, I got the Avante and it drove so much nicer (as it actually could accelerate).
I read that many people also rented an EV on Jeju as there are a lot of charging stations. I personally didn’t even see that as an option (nor was I looking very hard).
Documents to Bring for Jeju Car Rental
The single most important document you need in order to rent a car in South Korea is an International Driver’s Permit. This is a small booklet that certifies that you can drive outside of your home country in specific countries. The booklet has a list of countries you can use this in.
Without this booklet, you won’t be able to rent a car in South Korea no matter what. In fact when I went to rent a car, both times they only asked for my passport and this International Driver’s Permit, instead of my actual New York driver’s license.
If you are in the US, you can simply go to a local AAA office and get this booklet for $20. You will need to have a passport style photo for this permit, but they can take photos for you at the AAA office for an additional fee (I think it’s $10 plus tax).
The International Driver’s Permit is valid for one year and you can use it in multiple countries within that time. Therefore I am using it in South Korea and Japan (during a trip next year).
Watch the Car Rental Opening Hours
Unlike airport car rentals in the US, Jeju does not have any 24 hour car rental agencies. Lotte Car Rental has the longest hours, from 6am to 11pm.
Therefore if you have a very early flight (before 8am), then you will need to return the car the night before, take a taxi to your hotel, then get a taxi (or hotel shuttle if it’s available) to the airport the next morning.
We had an 8am flight and I didn’t realize Lotte Car Rental only opens at 6am. While we certainly made it to our flight, I would prefer not to feel rushed next time I go to Jeju.
Naver Map is great for navigation
One thing I was worried about driving in South Korea is that I don’t speak Korean, so I was worried I won’t understand the map directions.
To my surprise, Naver Map actually provides navigation directions in English. We used Google Maps to find the Korean names of places we needed to go, then I copied/pasted those into Naver Map to pull up driving directions.
The map did a great job giving directions, warnings (maybe too many) and we never once got lost driving on Jeju. One thing I forgot to mention is that South Korea has excellent cellular reception, so we had good signals even in the most remote part of Jeju island.
Jeju is insanely strict on speed limits
One thing that really surprised me about driving in Jeju is how strict they are with speed limits. Most roads in Jeju have a speed limit of 50-60 kmph, with certain roads that can go up to 80 kmph.
There is pretty much a speed camera at every single intersection and Naver Map actually will tell you that a speed camera is coming up. I did read that some speed cameras are fake, but you can never be too careful when tickets and fines are involved.
Besides speed cameras, Jeju also has certain roads that measure your average speed over a certain distance. So there will be one speed camera at the entrance of the road, and another one 10 or 20 km later. It will literally document the time you enter the first entrance and when you drive through the second camera in order to calculate your average speed.
Naver Map helps us to calculate our average speed and I did see many cars parked on the side of the road in order to bring down their average speed before they exit.
Besides speed cameras, Jeju also has numerous school crossing zones and silver zones (for the elderly) where you have to slow down to 30 km per hour or below.
With all these speed zones and speed cameras, Naver Map would constantly give us these warnings and alerts. When we were driving in the school crossing zone, if our speed limit was even 1 km above 30 kmph, the entire Naver Map screen would flash red!
We actually got so tired of these alerts and warnings the first day that it just became comical by the end of the day, and by the next day we started ignoring all the alerts since there were just way too many.
Traffic lights are also insanely long
This doesn’t just apply to Jeju but more for the entire South Korea. When we were there, we noticed that traffic lights take up to 2 minutes to change! This means that you really should try not to get stuck at a red light, because it is 90 seconds or more every single time.
Things take longer than what Naver Maps says
Because of the speed limits and the long red lights, you should always add 10-20 minutes to your trip. If Naver Map says you will get somewhere in 30 minutes, in reality it is probably more like 40 minutes.
We learned this the hard way when we kept missing sunsets and sunrises, because we forgot about the traffic lights. We kept getting stuck at red lights and it ended up adding 15 minutes to our supposedly one hour trip!
There are real and fake speed bumps and police
When it comes to controlling speed, Jeju has come up with some creative (and cost efficient) ways to make you slow down.
When we were driving, we noticed there were SO many speed bumps (and our Naver Map would graciously call them out). There would literally be a traffic camera followed by a speed bump 5 feet away, and followed by another speed bump.
What we’ve noticed is that while some are legit speed bumps, some are fake! They are literally painted onto the road with the yellow and white colors, making you think there’s a speed bump coming up when it’s completely flat. After getting tricked a few times, we were able to start identifying those (although some still required us to slow down and see that they were fake up close).
In addition, as we drove on the main roads, sometimes we would come across a “person” dressed up in neon clothing waving a red stick. Where they are actually not real. I actually never saw a real police or police car when we were in Jeju.
Locals Drive Fast
Despite all the speed cameras, locals still drive really fast….when there are no speed cameras.
Locals, especially taxi drivers, know which roads/ sections don’t have speed cameras and they really do speed up in those zones.
How do I know that they are locals and not tourists? The differences are in the license plate. All rental cars on Jeju have 허 character in the middle of the license plate. Therefore you can totally tell who is a tourist and who’s not.
Parking space is small, but plentiful
One thing I was worried about was parking in Jeju but it actually wasn’t something to be concerned about.
Most places we went to in Jeju (outside of Jeju-si and Seogwipo-si) had plenty of parking lots. We could find them on Naver when we zoomed in, or we just simply drove around.
Some of the parking lots are completely free, but others required payments after certain amount of time. The gates of the ones that require payments all accept international credit cards and they were pretty cheap (about $1-2 USD) each time. If the machine didn’t work, there is a button on the machine where you can speak to someone and sometimes they just let us go.
The only thing I would say about parking lots is that spaces can be narrow and small and almost everyone backs in! After you back into the space, be sure to close your mirrors since the spots are so tiny.
This is why I would suggest getting as small of a car as possible. There were times when I was thinking that there’s no way I could park there with a bigger car.
You can turn right on red in Jeju but watch out for left turns
You can legally make a right turn when the light is red. This is so different from NYC where we cannot turn right on red. You will need to first make a full stop before turning on red in Jeju.
However when it comes to left turns, you will need to be careful. If there is a dedicated left turn arrow, you must wait for that arrow to turn green before turning. If there is a green light (for people go to straight) but your left turn arrow is not green, you cannot go unless there is a “비보호” sign (meaning unprotected turn).
If there is no dedicated left turn arrow and you see the sign that says “비보호”, you will be able turn left on green. Don’t ever turn left on red.
Watch for the right turn OR straight lane
On some roads, the most right lane often is a lane that you can turn right or go straight (there will be symbols on the pavement).
However if you do stop in that lane waiting to go straight, cars behind you that want to turn right may start honking at you. If you can, try not to drive in that lane so you don’t block people behind you from turning right.
Getting Gas in Jeju: Don’t confuse Diesel with gasoline
There are plenty of gas stations on Jeju and it is easy to get gas. In South Korea, the gas stations generally have 2 colored pumps:
- Yellow pump: regular gasoline
- Green pump: Diesel
Our rental car actually wrote the type of gasoline we need behind the gas tank cover. If you are getting gas yourself, be sure to use the right pump.
For some gas stations, someone will come to your car and ask you how much you want to put in. If they see that you can’t speak Korean, they will just simply ask you how much and you just say “full”.
Most other gas stations are “self serve”, meaning you have to pump the gas yourself. The menu is all in Korean and I literally didn’t know what to do. Twice I had to ask someone to help and when they saw that I don’t speak Korean, they just helped me with the menu! So not speaking Korean while getting gas is not really an issue.
Overall, it was pretty relaxing to drive in Jeju, especially outside of Jeju-si and Seogwipo-si. As long as you pay attention, follow the directions and keep your speed under the limit, you should be fine.
Is it hard to drive on Jeju?
This was my first question when we were planning our Jeju trip. After being there for 3 days, I am happy to say that driving on Jeju is pretty easy, especially if you are used to driving in a city (like New York City or Los Angeles). While driving in the cities (like Jeju-si) can be pretty hectic, it was no worse than driving in NYC or Chicago.
If you are coming from a suburb where things are more quiet, then you might find driving in Jeju more challenging. While I think most of the island is pretty chill, I do think driving in the cities could get some used to.
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