Wild Garden, Fine Table: A Day at Lotte Hotel Jeju

A ten-minute drive from Lotte Sky Hill Country Club Jeju leads to Jungmun Tourism Complex, where distinctive natural scenery and resort facilities cluster along the southern coast. The first thing to stop visitors in their tracks is Lotte Hotel Jeju's "Wonjeng Garden" — a green sanctuary unveiled in September 2022 after a year of renovation. Inspired by gotjawal, Jeju's ancient indigenous forest, the garden flows from its grounds all the way to the shoreline, offering a sweeping panorama that only this island can hold.

"Got" is a pure Jeju word for forest; "jawal" means thorny undergrowth. Together they describe a primeval woodland of tangled rock and brush — an ecosystem so singular that no comparable example exists anywhere else in the world. Lotte Hotel Jeju transplanted the spirit of gotjawal directly into its garden grounds, not by taming the wild forest but by preserving its untamed character intact.

Jeju's sense of time settles over visitors from the very entrance. Stone walls wind between bright blooms, stacked by hand following traditional Jeju methods by master stonemasons and hotel staff alike. Wind passes through the gaps between the stones — a reminder that Jeju's walls were never built to block the wind but to breathe alongside it. The deeper one walks, the denser the canopy becomes. Carefully selected trees, cultivated over years, cast shade overhead while light filters through the leaves and traces shifting patterns on the path below. It is a garden where the temperature drops simply by walking through it.

Midway along the trail, a water feature called Mirror Pond awaits. By day, its surface mirrors Jeju's sky and forest with quiet precision — clouds drift across the water as they pass overhead, and when the wind picks up, sky and trees blur together until the boundary between them disappears. After dark, the pond takes on an entirely different character: lights placed around its edges scatter across the surface like stars, making it impossible to tell the sky's reflection from the water itself. The same pond reveals two different worlds in a single day.

In June 2024, Wonjeng Garden became the first hotel garden in South Korea to be designated a private garden by the Korea Forest Service. Among 150 registered private gardens nationwide, no hotel had previously made the list. International recognition followed: the garden received the main prize in the product design category at Germany's Red Dot Design Award 2024 and became the first hotel landscaping project in South Korea to win the main prize in the environmental category at the American IDEA 2024. It also took a silver prize at the Good Design Korea Award 2023.

Before the garden's spell has fully faded, the table at La Seine beckons. The upscale buffet brings together culinary traditions from around the world, with the horizon stretched long across the windows — a view that keeps drawing the eye back to the sea even as guests settle in with their plates.

The breakfast buffet opens at 7 a.m., offering traditional Korean porridge and soups alongside a live omelette station and a bakery counter. The signature dish is eggs Benedict: a poached egg cooked to precise softness, balanced by a well-judged sauce that makes for a memorable first bite of the morning. Press a knife into it and the yolk runs slowly.

June brings something extra. Eight dishes conceived by French and Italian chefs are added to the menu for the month. Sebastiano Zangregorio, Lotte Hotel's Italian executive chef, contributes his signature gnocchi alla Nerano, a dish rooted in the Nerano region of Italy. Frédéric Érié, chef at Pierre Gagnaire Seoul, presents four preparations in the style of southern France. With Jeju's sea filling the window, it is easy to imagine sitting in a coastal village on the French Riviera — a table with an ocean view has a way of putting the mind at ease wherever it is found.

A walk through the garden, a meal facing the sea — and the day rounds itself off naturally. What began on a golf course in Seogwipo passes through garden and table before returning to the water. A day on Jeju ends at the sea no matter where it starts. The sound of waves, and the sweet dreams it brings, are simply part of the deal.