KMK: Jeju | Manjanggul Tunnel

Disappointed. That’s how I felt after experiencing Manjanggul which is one of the great lava tunnels of Jeju. Maybe I was expecting too much. I had visions of Journey to the Center of the Earth and Land of the Lost floating in my head and that probably was a bit of an overreach. Definitely.

I don’t want to deter you from going. I mean when we first walked up to the gate I was eager for some adventure and ready to get my exploration on. We bought out tickets and headed for the steps down into the dank dark tunnel below. The folks coming up, huffing and puffing, with sour looks on their faces should’ve been my first clue but I was oblivious.

We snapped a few pictures on the stairs unknowing that those would be the best shots of the trip. You see, once we’ve gone down inside the tunnel the light disappeared except for the occasional hazy halogen on the floor. We moved along the wet stones cautiously, following the few others also exploring the cave. In the dim light the cavern walls resembled crocodile hide. We followed the curving cavern for minutes, wanting to see if rounding the next curve would bring something new, but instead only more of the same dank boring tunnel stretched ahead. Eventually we gave up and turned back.

Maybe one of the other Lava Tunnels would be a better experience, but I’m definitely not recommending Manjanggul.