Growing up, a trip to the seashore boardwalk town meant fudge shops and salt water taffy. My sister and I would climb on the rocks, jumping from one to another hoping to not fall as we slowly made our way to a lighthouse ending. In Korea, boardwalk towns have small cafes, ice cream cones as long as an arms width and stairs leading down to the waters edge enough to dip your feet in the water; an atmosphere so close to home, yet strikingly new at the same time.

Wolmido is a carnival boardwalk town with jacked-up prices, untrusting rides, and decaying decorations. Why would anyone ever consider this place such a charm? I will fully acknowledge that most people believe Wolmido to be a waste of a trip. There’s not much there, I’ll always here people say. Well, I fully disagree with this claim. Wolmido has four things that every tourist attraction should have that most people who visit I believe overlook.

Number one, Wolmido has aged character. You can tell the place isn’t new, but rather it is quite old, worn but loved. This can be seen in every statue that has paint tearing off, and every stair crack that has a cockroach crawling up from it’s holes. This has to be my number one draw to this dinky island. Since I live in such a smart, high-tech, futuristic part of Korea, traveling less than 30 minutes and having this evidence of age is a nice contrast.

Second of all, Wolmido captures the spirit of the younger Korea generations. Sure, Seoul has escape rooms, virtual golf, and shopping districts, but Wolmido has something even more precious to bring out the youthful side of what many consider an overworked, career bent youth population. The “Disco Pang Pang,” a slightly tilted spinning ride, that bumps along to music as it swiftly rotates. The ride’s main appeal is it’s operator, who is a charismatic guy that

controls the ride specifically to target certain riders and bump them out of their seats. He makes jokes, laughs at the daring individuals who attempt to hold on tight, and bumps the ride at just the right moments to get you to lose your grip. Past 9pm this ride is crowded with high schoolers giving it a try and a large crowd of people of all ages watching to see what will happen. 

Wolmido’s third charm has to be it’s unexplainable decorations/artifacts. Nothing is more exciting to me than randomness. There’s a highway near my home back in Massachusetts where at one of the bends there’s a dinosaur that looks down at you from an elevated point. That’s always my favorite part of the highway ride. Wolmido has similar fun touches. One restaurant has a spooky halloween interior on the first floor entrance level, leading up a staircase where instead of a haunted house there lies a traditional Korean restaurant. Definitely got my attention. On another occasion we played several rounds of a snipper carnival game, thinking we had gotten the highest score the man had ever seen. When we asked what we had won, the man gave us a queer look, indicating that we would not receive a prize. When we didn’t walk immediately away he handed us a small bone shaped stuffie. Pretty sure it was designed to be a dog toy.

Number four is a highlight for any place to have. In order for a tourist attraction to be a classic, it must have spontaneous events. If a place is the same with every visit, people are going to lose interest. But if things keep changing there will always be a reason to go back. We visited Wolmido on a Korean national holiday, not thinking much of it. Along the boardwalk there were two stages set up, each with a wide range of unique performances. There were singers, dancers, guys wearing shiney gold vests, the whole array that you would want for a paid concert for free in the streets. We enjoyed several performances, while listening to many more as a lively background beat.