South Korea · Jeollanam-do
Where to Stay in Yeosu, Jeollanam-do
Yeosu is a coastal city of southern Korea on the South Sea, a port of islands and camellias with a great naval past under Admiral Yi Sun-sin.
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Where to stay in Yeosu
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Where you stay in Yeosu turns on the harbour or the islands. The streets by the waterfront keep the naval hall, the night market, and the cable car within a walk, and staying downtown suits anyone here for the sea city. The harbour glows at night.
Boats leave for the islands. Out toward Odongdo and the coast, the city gives way to islands, hermitages, and quiet coves. A room by the sea trades the harbour for the camellia island, the cliff shrine of Hyangiram, and the ferries to the isles.
Green islands fill the strait. Stay downtown for the harbour, or by the coast for the islands. The port lies a short way back.
About Yeosu
Yeosu is the island port of the southern coast.
What is Yeosu known for?
On a peninsula among the many islands of the South Sea, it was the naval base of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, where his turtle ships were built, and it keeps his great wooden hall of Jinnamgwan, the cliff hermitage of Hyangiram over the sea, the camellia island of Odongdo, and the grounds of a world exposition on the water. Green islands dot the sea. The tides run through the straits.
What are the main landmarks in Yeosu?
The wooden hall of Jinnamgwan stands over the harbour of Yeosu. The great old naval command hall on its stone terrace, the largest single-storey wooden building in Korea, looks over the sea, the emblem of the city, above the port. A cliff hermitage clings to the coast.
Hyangiram hangs on its rock over the water to the south, while the camellia island of Odongdo, the Expo grounds, and the Hamel museum mark the shore of Yeosu.
What is the history of Yeosu?
Yeosu was the great naval base of the southern sea. In the sixteenth century it was the seat of the Left Jeolla naval command, and here Admiral Yi Sun-sin gathered his fleet and built the armoured turtle ships that broke the Japanese invasion. The admiral held the sea.
From Yeosu his ships won the battles that saved the coast, and his wooden command hall of Jinnamgwan still stands above the harbour. A foreign castaway also passed this way. The Dutch sailor Hamel, wrecked on the Korean coast, was held for years near Yeosu before he escaped to tell Europe of the hidden kingdom.
The sea still rules the city. In the modern age Yeosu grew as a port of ships and chemicals among its islands, and it drew the world to a great sea exposition on its shore, while pilgrims still climb to the cliff hermitage above the waves. The islands still ring the harbour.
Yeosu keeps its naval hall and its islands on the southern sea.
Where is Yeosu?
Yeosu lies on the south coast of Korea, on a long peninsula reaching into the South Sea. The city spreads over hills and harbours at the tip of the land, ringed by hundreds of green islands and quiet straits, with the open sea to the south and the ranges of the mainland behind. Wooded islands fill the bay.
The sea winds through the straits.
What is the climate of Yeosu?
Yeosu has a mild, wet coastal climate. Warm summers and soft winters cross the coast, kept gentle by the sea, with heavy rain in the summer monsoon and warm colour in the hills each autumn. The sea softens the winters.
Camellias bloom through the cold months.
How do you get to Yeosu?
Yeosu lies on the south coast of Korea, at the end of the line from Seoul. A bullet train and highways run to it down through the country, and its airport links the capital. Ferries cross to the southern islands.
Seoul lies far to the north.
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Updated August 2026