Gwakji Beach

This guide to Gwakji Beach in Jeju opens with an old island legend: a village swallowed in a single day by the sand beneath your feet, with no record of when it happened. It follows the generations who settled here anyway, wading out at low tide to dig clams and shellfish from black volcanic sand, a practice archaeologists trace to prehistoric shell mounds. You'll hear about a stone-walled spring near the shore that shaped how villagers once lived. Go at low tide, when the beach empties toward the water.