South Korea Day 3.1

Day 3

November 28, 2018

Petite France & Nami Island Tour

I booked a combo tour of Petite France and Nami Island through the Klook app, which cost about $33 per person with discounts. Petite France, as the name suggests, is a small French Cultural Village made up of 16 French-themed houses. A few K-dramas were also filmed there, including my sister’s favorite, My Love From the Star (or something titled like that). We met our guide and hopped on the tour bus at Myeongdong Station, which was only a 5-minute walk from our hotel (Ibis Styles Ambassador - Seoul Myeongdong). We arrived at Petite France about 50 minutes later and found the place very charming. It was one of the coldest days of our trip and so we found ourselves taking refuge in one of the cozy houses a few times. Walking around, we also saw a marionette show and an Eiffel Tower replica. (Read more about Petite France here.)

The Nami Island ferry dock was about a 15 minute ride from Petite France. While waiting to board, the wind picked up and we had to cover our faces from the wind chill. Face masks have become a handy “fashion” accessory in Asia. Thanks to the cold season and the microdust fog that often reaches Korea from China.  

It was obvious that it wasn’t the best season to vist Nami, as it was a period of transition from post-peak fall to winter. No colorful leaves, no fresh snow. Still, the beautifully lined trees were pretty and I’ve never had a more enjoyable cup of hot mocha than I had there. My sister explored the different filming spots of the famous K-drama, Winter Sonata and I was happy to take her pictures. After about an hour and a half of exploring, we hopped back on a ferry and headed back to the mainland where our tour bus was waiting to take us back to Seoul. Nami Island was named after and is the home of the tomb of one of Korea’s military heroes, Gen. Nami of the Joseon era.