It is a place where people come to visit regardless of season!!!
Odongdo Island, when reencountered, touches one's heart even more. The golden radiants unshine
that comes through thick leaves onto the newly decorated red clay roads and neat Korean bamboo roads,
is never that of this world.It is called Odongdo because it looks like paulownialeaves from far away.
As the island is thick with camellia trees, it is also a famous symbol of Yeosu, as a camellia island.
The beautiful Odongdo Island was selected as Korea's top 100 beautiful roads.
It only takes 10 minutes from downtown. Walking along the breakwater for 15 minutes, you can get to the island. As the artists of Yeosu Branch of Korean Fine Art Association had been working on the mural, the road was selected as one of the 100 Most Beautiful Roads in Korea. The island is also a part of the Hallyeohaesang National Park. When it comes to camellia flowers, Odongdo Island in Yeosu is the first place to go. Over 3,000 camellia trees starts to bloom in January and the flowers fully blossom in March. You can overlook Odongdo Island from the Jasan Park on a hill, where people start tours around the western part of the city.
The island is connected to the mainland with the 768m of breakwaters. You can either take the Dongbaek(camellia) Train or just walk to get to the Odongdo. At the end of breakwater road, there's a wide road to the central square and also a trail to the top of the island
There are two famous legends of Odongdo Island. At the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, a phoenix came to the Odongdo Island to eat Odong tree fruits, and a man named Shin-Don saw it and ordered people to cut down all the Odong trees on the island. The other legend is about a beautiful lady who threw herself into the seawater from the cliff because of the bandits who tried to rape her. Her husband heard the news and made a grave at a corner of the island. And in the winter, camellia flowers and green bamboos came out around the snow-covered grave site. That's how the camellia earned the nickname Yeosimhwa.
Follow the circuit paths that go around the island...
Pass the central plaza with the musical fountain and go up along the barefoot park and you will see the sorrowful legendary monument of Odongdo Island. Walk along the road with various paths and you will succumb to the different charms of Odongdo Island. Walking along the trail to the top, there is a green bamboo tunnel.
Then the road is connected to the circular walkway of the island. You can easily see the camellia flowers and green bamboos here and there. The Admiral Yi Sun-shin trained his soldiers here and also made arrows out of the bamboos. Coming out of the green bamboo tunnel, there are fields of silver magnolia and camellia, a large and long rock heading toward sea, and then finally the top of the Odongdo Island with a white lighthouse. If you walk along the trailing paths near the lighthouse, there comes a trailing path that splits from Baramgol entrance to central plaza and Western Odongdo Breakwall entrance. Walk down to the central plaza and you can see the replica of Geobukseon ship and Panokseon ship and a monument that says " Yangmuhonam Shimugukka" in the central plaza, and beside that is the musical fountain that is operated with the exception of winter season.
In the central park there is Yeosu Expo Memorial Hall so you can watch a video and a 3D video on the procedure on the successful attraction of Yeosu Expo and Odongdo Island, and you can experience 4D video experience hall too, in a family unit.
The theme park in Odongdo Island has a lighthouse with height of 25m, a musical fountain park, and a barefoot park. Odong lighthouse which first began its operation in 1952 not only helps ships coming in and out of Yeosu harbor and Gwangyang harbor, but also attracts over 200 thousand visitors every year.
2.5km of forest tunnel style walkway is nice place to go on a walk with your loved ones, especially when camellia flowers start to fall. Beside the trail like a maze, the beautiful rocky seashore is full of odd rocks and cliffs. The rocks look like folding screen, conches, roof and elephants and so on.
Odongdo has some 3,000 blushing camellia trees through very winter and spring. In the year 2011, Yeosu government replaced all the concrete structures of trails to well-being tracking course made of red clay for the visitors.