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The Boseong Green Tea Festival is scheduled for May 8-11. Boseong green tea is considered by locals to be the country’s best. |
 By Brian Deutsch
Contributing Writer
Though South Jeolla Province (Jeollanam-do) has four distinct seasons, its finest are spring and fall. The festivals at these times of year not only get the locals excited, but get out-of-towners, Korean and foreign alike, to make weekend trips there.
Some people complain that there are too many festivals, that each village, town and county will find any excuse to call outdoor trot music and makkoli a festival. There are dozens of festivals in the province alone, and yes, quite a few are nothing special.
Fortunately, the province's best sites have merit in their own right, merit which is augmented by the festivals that run each spring. These must-visits do not overlap, meaning your weekends can plan themselves for the next few weeks.
The Hampyeong Butterfly Festival starts April 24 and runs through May 10. Hampyeong has set itself up as a regional eco-tourism destination, and has chosen butterflies as the medium for it.
The town, ordinarily home to fewer than 11,000 people, feels more like an amusement park these three weeks. The space devoted to butterflies at the festival is surprisingly small, but the site is massive and covered with ponds, performance spaces, colorful flower gardens and duckie boats, making for a pleasant day if the weather agrees. Buses run regularly to Hampyeong from Gwangju and Naju, and the festival is a short walk from the terminal in Hampyeong.
From May 2 through May 7 is the Damyang Bamboo Festival. The bamboo forest in Damyang county is over 42 acres large, and visitors are surrounded by cool, quietness and green. Perhaps it won't be so quiet with thousands of visitors, but the forest is the largest of its kind in the region and worth a visit.
Many films and television shows have been shot in Damyang's scenic bamboo forest, and not only did they survive, but they're represented by plaques along the eight paths that wind through the site. Catch a bus to the forest from the terminal in Damyang.
From May 3 through 5 is the Nagan Folk Culture Festival at Suncheon's Nagan Folk Village. Described by another foreign blogger as "Part museum, part artists' colony and part time machine," it's one of the best-preserved folk villages in the region, and is actually home to over two hundred residents.
The wall around the village was built hundreds of years ago to keep pirates out, but today keeps tradition in. The village is accessible via city buses 63 and 68, which run their routes a combined 17 times per day. The tourist information booth at Suncheon Station and the Suncheon city website can provide you with information on when and where to catch it, though it's good to get there early.
The following weekend, May 8 through 11, is the Boseong Green Tea Festival, held at another of the region's representative tourist sites. Established by the Japanese during the occupation, there are actually several fields that seem to undulate as they cover Boseong county's many hills.
Boseong green tea is considered by locals to be the country's best, and you can not only buy and drink your fill, but also eat items such as samgyeopsal and kalguksu made with it. Guests with time to spare may also want to check out the green tea spa in Yulpo.
And for those staying overnight, there are, of course, motels in Boseong, like everywhere else, but guests able to spend a little more money might consider a night at one of the many pension houses that overlook the fields. Buses run often to the fields from the terminal in Boseong, which, in turn, is easily accessible via Gwangju and Suncheon.
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