Jeju Lava Tubes, Korea: Manjanggul Open Again, How Foreigners Book Geomunoreum, and the Closing Days and Bus Traps Through Winter

Last updated: 23 October 2026. Fees, hours, booking rules and closing days were re-read on 23 October 2026 on Jeju Province's World Heritage Office pages for Manjanggul and Geomunoreum and the office's reopening notice; the reopening details are from Gukje News, Jeju Sori and Yonhap (29–30 May 2026); bus times are from Jeju's bus information system (read 16 September 2026); the October festival section is from the 2026 World Heritage Festival's official site and Jeju Province's announcements. Sources are listed at the end.

Jeju's lava tubes are the part of the island's UNESCO listing you can walk into, and for two and a half years the main one was shut. Manjanggul (만장굴) closed after a rockfall at its entrance on 29 December 2023 and reopened on 30 May 2026, after a ₩12.1 billion renovation that laid a walkway along its whole public section. Several English pages still describe it as closed, or describe the old uneven floor.

The other half of a lava-tube day is Geomunoreum (거문오름), the volcanic cone whose lava flow made Manjanggul and the other caves. It is a guided walk with 50 people per departure, closed every Tuesday, and booked from the first day of the previous month. Its Korean booking page has a "Foreigners Only" button that lets you book with a Google account, which no English guide we found mentions. The closed caves that Jeju's World Heritage Festival opened from 3 to 18 October 2026 are shut again, so from now through winter the walk-in Manjanggul and the booked Geomunoreum are what you can actually do.

This guide gives the fees, the booking rules, the closing days from November to March, the buses, and what English guides still get wrong.

Manjanggul's main passage, photographed in 2022, before the renovation added a walkway along the public section. The tunnel here is up to 18 m wide and 23 m high. Photo: 강형원, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Jeju's own Manjanggul page lists a lantern first under what to bring, and the new LED lighting is dimmer than before: a Black Diamond Spot 400-R headlamp recharges by USB and keeps both hands free on the damp walkway. As an Amazon Associate, EpicKor earns from qualifying purchases.

Quick Guide: Jeju's lava tubes this autumn and winter

Manjanggul: what reopened, and what it costs

Manjanggul is part of the Geomunoreum Lava Tube System, which UNESCO inscribed in 2007 as part of "Jeju Volcanic Island and Lava Tubes". The whole tube is about 7.4 km long; visitors enter by the second entrance and walk about 1 km upstream, ending at a lava column about 7.6 m tall, which Jeju describes as among the largest known. The main passage is up to 18 m wide and 23 m high.

It closed on 29 December 2023 after rock fell near the entrance. The province spent ₩12.1 billion on a safety and visitor-access project finished in March 2026, and reopened the cave on 30 May 2026. What changed:

• A walkway now runs along the whole public section, with safety structures where the rockfall happened. A World Heritage Office official told reporters, the day before reopening, that once you are down the entrance stairs, even a stroller is easy to push.
• The lighting is now dimmer LED, to protect the cave.
• The temperature on that visit was about 14°C; Yonhap notes that even in midsummer the cave stays at 10–15°C, like the inside of a fridge. Bring a layer.

Fees and rules, from the province's Manjanggul page:

• Adults (25–65) ₩4,000, youth (13–24) and soldiers ₩2,000, children (7–12) ₩2,000; groups of 10 or more pay ₩3,000 / ₩1,500 / ₩1,500. The page does not list exemptions, so do not assume seniors get in free.
• Open 09:00–18:00, tickets and entry until 17:00 (the province's reopening notice: 매표시간 9시부터 17시까지, 관람시간 9시부터 18시까지). Neither page lists separate winter hours, so plan on the same 17:00 last entry in December and January; in practice the limit on a winter afternoon is the bus, not the ticket office.
• Closed the first Wednesday of every month: 4 November and 2 December 2026, then 6 January, 3 February and 3 March 2027.
• Free parking for 135 vehicles.
• Free guided talks, 09:00–16:00; sign up on the spot.
• No high heels, no pets, no food. The page's own packing list: a lantern, trainers, a raincoat or hat for rain, and a warm jacket.

The walk is about 2 km there and back on the walkway; most English guides allow about an hour. The entrance has stairs down into the tube, so a wheelchair cannot get in unaided; the province does not publish a wheelchair statement.

The climb back out of Manjanggul's second entrance in 2020. The stairs are still the only way in; the renovation added a walkway beyond them. Photo: AhmadElq, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Geomunoreum: the booking rules in full

Geomunoreum is a 456 m forested cone near the World Natural Heritage Centre in Seongyo-ro, Jocheon. It was designated a natural monument in 2005 and inscribed by UNESCO in 2007. You cannot wander in: every visit is booked for a set departure from the centre, and most visitors walk with a guide.

When and how many. Departures run from 09:00 to 14:00, every 30 minutes, 11 times a day, with 50 places per departure, so up to 550 a day. English guides that say "450 a day" or "the last tour is at 13:00" are working from an older schedule.

When you can book. Online and phone bookings open at 09:00 on the 1st of the month before your visit and close at 17:00 the day before, first come, first served. The province's own example: for 10 May, you can book from 09:00 on 1 April. If places are left, you can turn up the same day and join at the desk; phone first to ask.

When it is closed. Every Tuesday is a "nature rest day". It is also closed on Seollal (the Lunar New Year; in 2027 Seollal is Sunday 7 February, with the holiday running 6–9 February) and Chuseok, and closes completely in bad weather (기상악화시 전면통제) — in winter that means snow, ice or strong wind on the cone, so check by phone on the morning of a stormy day.

Which route you can take. There are three courses, and the late departures limit your choice:

Self-guided walking is also not allowed on the 13:30 and 14:00 departures. If you want the full course, book 13:00 or earlier.

How a foreigner books. The booking page (jeju.go.kr/wnhcenter) has three buttons above the calendar. The "Foreigners Only" button leads to a page that says "You can reserve after [Login with Google]" — so instead of the Korean phone verification most Korean booking sites demand, you sign in with a Google account. The page also carries a short English summary of the rules. Groups of 20 or more must book by phone. Confirmations arrive by KakaoTalk or text.

Rules that catch people:

• Cancel and you cannot rebook the same date. To change the date or number of people, phone the office instead.
• Arrive 10 minutes before your slot to buy your ticket and collect the entry pass. Walking in without a pass means removal and a penalty under the heritage law.
• No slippers or high heels, and no pets. Wear proper walking shoes.
• No food, except emergency sweets and chocolate.
• No toilets on the trail. Use the one at the centre before you set off.

Fees: adults ₩2,000; youth, soldiers and children ₩1,000; groups of 10 or more pay ₩1,600 / ₩800. Children 6 and under enter free. One detail for older travellers: the exemption for people 65 and over applies to Koreans only, so a foreign visitor aged 65 pays the adult fee.

The forested crater of Geomunoreum, the cone whose lava flows formed Manjanggul and the other caves. Photo: Liszt uhm, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (2016).

Getting there without a car

Both sites are on the east side of Jeju City, and both can be reached by bus from Jeju Bus Terminal, but the second leg to Manjanggul is the trap.

• Geomunoreum: take bus 211, 221 or 222 (the Beonyeong-ro routes; 212 goes via Gyorae and does not stop there) to the Geomunoreum Entrance stop (거문오름입구), then walk about 10 minutes to the World Natural Heritage Centre, where tours start. The heritage centre's exhibition is listed by travel sites as closed on the first Tuesday of each month; the official page does not say, so call 064-710-8981 if that day matters.
• Manjanggul: take bus 201 along the coast road to Gimnyeong (김녕), about 59 minutes from the terminal, then change to 711-1 or 711-2 for the 10-minute ride to the cave. From Gimnyeong, the 711-1 leaves at 06:52, 08:03, 09:43, 10:52, 11:45 and 13:14, and the 711-2 at 06:45, 08:35, 10:25, 11:38 and 12:55. Going back, the last timetabled buses leave Manjanggul for Gimnyeong at 12:25 (711-2) and 13:40 (711-1). These times were read in September; check bus.jeju.go.kr before a winter trip in case the timetable has changed.
• After 14:20, the 711 buses become call-only "Opseo buses" (옵서버스). You phone the call centre (1877-8257, last call 20:30) and a bus comes to you. A visitor who planned an afternoon cave visit around the timetable will find no scheduled bus. The province's own page gives the walk from the Manjanggul entrance stop as about 30 minutes.

There is no direct bus between the two sites. Without a car, the realistic order is Geomunoreum in the morning, Manjanggul before the timetabled 711 buses stop, or a taxi for the middle leg. Our Jeju car rental guide covers the other option.

You might like: Jeju Buses, Korea (2026): ₩1,150 a Ride, the 600 and 601 Airport Buses to Jungmun, Foreign Cards That Tap

The World Heritage Festival (3–18 October 2026) is over: what that means now

Jeju's World Heritage Festival (세계유산축전 – 제주 화산섬과 용암동굴), hosted by the Korea Heritage Service and Jeju Province, ran from 3 to 18 October 2026 around the Geomunoreum lava tubes, Hallasan and Seongsan Ilchulbong. It opened on 3 October with a ceremony at Manjanggul, marking the 80th anniversary of the cave's discovery in 1946 and the 100th birthday of Bu Jong-hyu (부종휴), the local man the province credits with making the cave's value known to the world. It was the only time this year the public could enter caves that are normally closed.

One of the upstream caves of the Geomunoreum Lava Tube System, closed to the public outside special programmes. Photo: Cultural Heritage Administration, Wikimedia Commons, KOGL Type 1 (2018).

What the festival offered, from its own site, so you can recognise it if you see it advertised next year:

• Special Expedition (특별탐험대): small-group trips into Bengdwigul (벵뒤굴), a 4.5 km maze-like tube with traces of human use, or into Manjanggul's first entrance and Gimnyeonggul (김녕굴), Thursday to Sunday between 4 and 18 October, for 8 or 10 people at a time, ₩10,000 each. Booking opened on Ticketlink on 20 August, with foreigner-only listings; when we checked in mid-September, Ticketlink showed no dates left for any of the cave trips.
• Walking Tour: three routes of 5.7 to 9.2 km between the lava tubes, ₩5,000, open to anyone, with shuttle buses.
• Heritage Explorer Bus (15–18 October) and a Manjanggul full-length expedition (7.4 km, 9–11 October) for six people chosen in August.

From now on, none of these caves can be visited. Bengdwigul, Gimnyeonggul and the rest of Manjanggul are back to "closed to the public" on the province's pages. Neither the festival site nor Jeju Province had announced a 2027 edition when we checked on 23 October 2026, and we found no published visitor count for this year's Jeju festival. If a 2027 festival runs, the pattern this year was: programmes announced in July, Ticketlink sales opening in late August, and the cave trips showing no places left within about four weeks. Watch Ticketlink from August, not October.

The lava column that ends Manjanggul's public section, about 7.6 m tall. Photographed in 2020, before the walkway renovation. Photo: AhmadElq, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Visiting from November to March

What you can do this winter is the ordinary visit, and winter suits it better than you might think.

• The cave is warmer than the road. Manjanggul stays at about 10–15°C all year, so on a cold, windy east-coast day the 2 km walk underground is the most sheltered part of the trip. Keep the jacket on anyway; the walkway is damp.
• Geomunoreum is the weather-sensitive half. The walk is an outdoor forest trail over a volcanic cone, and the office closes it completely in bad weather. Book the 09:00–11:00 departures, which leave room to switch to Manjanggul the same day if the trail is shut.
• Book early for holiday weeks. Bookings for a December date open at 09:00 on 1 November; for a January date, on 1 December. With 50 places a departure, the Christmas and New Year weeks and the Seollal holiday in early February are the dates most likely to fill.
• The heritage centre's exhibition next to the Geomunoreum start is listed by travel sites as closed on the first Tuesday of the month (not stated on the official page — call 064-710-8981). Tuesday is a Geomunoreum rest day anyway, so plan both for another day.
• Bus timing matters more in winter. Sunset is around 17:30 in December, and the Manjanggul connecting buses become call-only after 14:20 (see the bus section above), so a late-afternoon cave visit without a car or taxi is a bad plan.

The other caves you will see mentioned

Jeju's heritage office lists eight caves in the World Heritage lava tube system, and Manjanggul's 1 km is the only part open to ordinary visitors. Gimnyeonggul (705 m, also called Gimnyeong Sagul) and Bengdwigul are marked "closed to the public" and open only through programmes like the festival's. Yongcheondonggul and Dangcheomuldonggul, known for their limestone formations inside a lava tube, are also closed.

On the west side of the island, Hyeopjae and Ssangyong caves are lava tubes inside Hallim Park, a private garden park with its own ticket and hours (09:00 to between 16:30 and 17:30, depending on the season). They are not part of the World Heritage listing, and are a different trip from the east-side caves.

What English guides still get wrong

• "Manjanggul is closed." At least one English travel site still says the cave is closed until August 2025. It reopened on 30 May 2026.
• The numbers. English Wikipedia gives the tube as 8.9 km long and 30 m high; the province's page says about 7.4 km and 23 m.
• Geomunoreum's schedule. Guides still say 450 visitors a day, tours only until 12:30 or 13:00, or bookings from two days before. The official schedule is 11 departures from 09:00 to 14:00, booked from the 1st of the previous month.
• Course lengths. The official courses are 2.1, 5.0 and 6.7 km.
• How foreigners book. Most English pages say "call". The booking page has a Google sign-in for foreigners.
• The 65+ exemption. At Geomunoreum it is for Korean citizens only.
• The afternoon bus. No English guide we found warns that the Manjanggul connecting buses become call-only after 14:20.

Before you go

• Book Geomunoreum on the 1st of the previous month if your date is a weekend or holiday; choose 13:00 or earlier for the full course.
• Avoid Tuesdays for Geomunoreum and the first Wednesday for Manjanggul (4 November, 2 December 2026; 6 January, 3 February, 3 March 2027).
• Wear closed shoes and bring a layer for the cave, and use the toilet before the Geomunoreum walk.
• Plan buses around the 14:20 switch to call-only service, or combine the day with a rental car or taxi.
• For the rest of the trip, our Jeju, Busan or Gyeongju comparison, Jeju haenyeo guide and Korea festival calendar have more.

You might like: Hallasan, Jeju, This Winter: Gwaneumsa Reopened, the 11:30 Cutoff and the No-Show Ban

FAQ

Q: Is Manjanggul Cave open now? Yes. It reopened on 30 May 2026 after closing on 29 December 2023 because of a rockfall at the entrance. About 1 km of the cave is open, now with a walkway, from 09:00 to 18:00 (last entry 17:00), closed the first Wednesday of each month (next: 4 November and 2 December 2026, 6 January 2027).

Q: How much is Manjanggul's entrance fee? ₩4,000 for adults, ₩2,000 for youth aged 13–24, soldiers and children aged 7–12. Groups of 10 or more pay ₩3,000 and ₩1,500.

Q: How do foreigners book Geomunoreum? On Jeju Province's booking page (jeju.go.kr/wnhcenter), choose "Foreigners Only" and sign in with a Google account. Bookings open at 09:00 on the 1st of the previous month and close at 17:00 the day before; same-day places may be available at the door.

Q: Is Geomunoreum open on Tuesdays? No. Every Tuesday is a nature rest day, and it is also closed on Seollal and Chuseok and in bad weather.

Q: Can I visit Bengdwigul or Gimnyeonggul? Not at the moment. They opened only through the World Heritage Festival's small expeditions (₩10,000, 4–18 October 2026), which sold out by mid-September and have ended. No 2027 dates had been announced by 23 October 2026.

Q: Is Manjanggul open in winter? Yes, with the same 09:00–18:00 hours and 17:00 last entry; the province lists no separate winter hours. It closes on the first Wednesday of each month. Geomunoreum stays on its Tuesday rest day and closes in bad weather.

Q: How cold is Manjanggul? About 10–15°C all year, and about 14°C when reporters visited in May 2026. Bring a jacket even in summer.

Sources

• 제주특별자치도 세계유산본부, 제주세계자연유산 「만장굴(일부 공개)」 (jeju.go.kr/jejuwnh/heritage/lavatube/manjanggul.htm): 관람시간·입장시간, 휴관일(매달 첫 번째 수요일), 관람요금, 주차, 해설사, 관람준비물; 김녕굴·벵뒤굴(비공개) pages (re-read 23 October 2026).
• 제주세계자연유산센터 공지 「만장굴 재개방 및 관람안내(26.5.30~)」 (jeju.go.kr/wnhcenter/news/notice.htm?act=view&seq=2019357): 매표 9–17시, 관람 9–18시.
• 제주세계자연유산센터 「거문오름 탐방안내」 (jeju.go.kr/wnhcenter/black/visit.htm): departures, 50 per slot, Tuesday rest day, Seollal/Chuseok and bad-weather closure, booking window, fees and the 65+ Korean-only exemption (re-read 23 October 2026); booking page and foreigner booking page (read 16 September 2026).
• Visit Jeju (Korean): Manjanggul listing; Hallim Park hours.
• Gukje News, Jeju Sori (30 May 2026) and Yonhap via Jnuri (29 May 2026): reopening date, ₩12.1 billion project, walkway, lighting, temperature, stroller access, 80th anniversary.
• Jeju bus information system (bus.jeju.go.kr): routes 201, 211, 212, 221, 222, 711-1 and 711-2, timetables and Opseo call-bus hours (read 16 September 2026; the system was down for maintenance when we tried to re-check on 23 October).
• 2026 세계유산축전 – 제주 화산섬과 용암동굴 (worldheritage.kr): dates, Special Expedition, Walking Tour, Explorer Bus; Jeju Province announcement via Financial News (31 August 2026): 3–18 October, opening ceremony at Manjanggul, 80th anniversary and Bu Jong-hyu centenary; Jnuri and Sisa Journal (20 August 2026): booking on Ticketlink. Ticketlink availability checked 16 September 2026; no 2027 edition or Jeju visitor total found on 23 October 2026.