Seogwipo Citrus Museum

This public museum is devoted to a single fruit, the citrus that Jeju is famous for. Galleries cover its history, cultivation and industry, while a glasshouse behind the building shows citrus varieties from around the world bearing fruit in every season. It sits at the foot of Wollabong among the orchards of Hyodon in Seogwipo.

Jeju life through its oranges

The museum opened on 25 February 2005 and is run by Seogwipo City. Citrus has shaped island life so deeply that, especially from the 1970s to the 1990s, many farming families paid for their children's education with it. So the museum goes beyond the fruit itself to cover growing techniques, processing and the daily lives of the farmers.

The museum building has one basement and two upper floors (2,315 m²), with a separate World Citrus Garden glasshouse (2,471 m²) attached.

What to see

• Permanent galleries: origins and kinds of citrus, cultivation methods and the rise of processing such as juice, told with panels and video.
• World Citrus Garden: a glasshouse behind the museum full of citrus from across the world. Sources differ on the count, 84 varieties or over 100, including oddities like the Buddha's hand.
• Jeju Native Citrus Hall: a separate glasshouse for the old local varieties grown on the island for centuries.
• Folk relics hall: farm tools and household goods from Jeju farms, including a traditional Jeju pig toilet called a tongsi.
• Outdoors: a picking orchard, an artificial waterfall and walking paths, plus an observation deck overlooking the surrounding orchards.

Hands-on programmes

The museum runs activities such as a footbath, citrus pizza making and seasonal fruit picking. Schedules and fees vary, so check on site or on the museum website.

Good to know

• Jeju citrus comes in many forms: open-field mandarins, hallabong developed especially for Jeju, and greenhouse-grown cheonhyehyang. Most of the citrus eaten in Korea comes from Jeju, and in 2014 the island exported 3,600 tonnes, 1,500 tonnes of it to Britain and 722 tonnes to Canada.
• Since 2013 the museum has co-hosted the Seogwipo citrus expo held every November; the first international citrus expo in 2015 drew about 174,000 visitors.
• The galleries also include an insect gallery, sniffing stations and a 3D video room, which makes the visit easy with children.

Tripto tips

• Hours: 09:00–18:00, last entry 17:30. Closed on 1 January and over the Seollal and Chuseok holidays.
• Admission: adults KRW 1,500, teenagers KRW 1,000, children KRW 800. Parking is free.
• When to go: November and December, when the open-field mandarins turn orange, is the most Jeju-like time. It also works as a rainy-day stop.
• Time needed: about an hour for the galleries and glasshouses, 1.5 to 2 hours with a hands-on activity.