OEDO Botania — Attraction in Geoje-si

Went there during Chuseok holiday by ferry from Jangseong-po Boat Terminal. Overall trip was around 3.5 hours. Tried to book the ferry ticket online but couldn’t get through as they only accept local card. However, although we tried to use local bank card; we still cannot proceed with the payment. So we just went and arrived around 8.10am and lucky us we managed to be on the ferry scheduled at 9am.

Ticket was actually cheaper online rather than at the counter. We paid for ferry and the island entrance at the counter. If you are resident of Geoje; you can request for refund of entrance island at the booth counter as soon as you arrive at Oedo Island.

Parking is free and the staff was really efficient controlling traffic coming in and out of the parking without compromising the customer’s safety. Well done!

The island is beautiful. It’s like a hiking and loads of walking at the island. Beautifully and careful maintained. Basically you have about 2hrs to explore the island. Needs to monitor your time properly there as I notice the ferry was really punctual and very efficient. They even left 2minutes earlier than expected. I guess they just do the head count and as soon as it’s enough, they just prepare to leave.

There are also cafes and machine selling drinks. I would suggest to buy juices in one of the cafes. Great souvenior I would say because the juice bottle is pretty with Oedo Botania printed on it. Other souveniors also available in the souvenior shop just before you take the boat home.

On the ferry, they sell some sort of drink which I think can helps if you’re dizzy on water. I personally don’t like the ferry ride. Quite scary and the boats swings so much. They have prepare some black plastic bags around at the front of the biat just in case you need to vomit. They will also give you a tag and let you know the departure time.

Overall nice trip and recommended to visit at least once when you’re...

To sum up this attraction in one sentence: It was overcrowded and very tacky.

We arrived with our tour from a ferry and you could barely move without bumping into someone. The island has potential but the aesthetic is ruined mainly by the extremely tacky statues. The way they went about imitating classical European art feels cheesy and unimpressive. Maybe if you’ve never seen real Ancient Roman statues, you might be impressed but otherwise it’s a waste of time to go for the “art”.

The natural beauty of the island could be quite nice although I think the garden designs aren’t that beautiful and a lot of the plants, such as the palms seemed anemic. If they just focused on the plants that were native to the climate and dropped the goofy statues, I could see some possibilities.

It would be nice to walk around this island if it wasn’t so packed, maybe they should limit the guests. The bathrooms were also very smelly. I definitely...

BLUF: A-. Despite the one-stop, the tour was very nice. First, thank our guides, Bruce & Jin, for leading a great tour. The overall cost for two adults was $219 for four sites. The rendezvous site seems to be in a general location, with the main collection point at the Busan Train/Bus station. The bus was small but comfortable. The first stop was Oedo Garden. About sixty years ago, Oedo was just an isolated, barren, rocky island without electricity or telephone services. Only eight households lived in Oedo due to its difficult access and lack of a dock in the early years of an independent South Korea. However, due to the vision and determination of Mr. Lee and his wife, Choi Ho Suk, they gradually created the entire garden. At first, they grew tangerines and bred swine. However, when that failed, the two decided to create a Romanesque botanical garden. I believe the garden and boat ride out to it were worth the time...