As far as I know, the Gehyeon Traditional Market (KR: 거제고현시장) is the biggest market in Geoje Island. There is an Okpo Traditional Market but it’s much smaller.
Geoje Gohyeon Sejang (KR: 거제고현시장) or Geoje Gohyeon Traditional Market is in the downtown area of Geoje Island. The market is good for locals to shop at.
The Parking Building for Gohyeon Market. The parking building is connected to the main area of the market. If you buy food from the market, you can ask them for Free Parking Ticket.
The driving lane is pretty small and tight for both lanes of traffic (서행 means Slowly, 좌우확인 means Right & Left traffic)
The Free Parking Ticket (Kr: 주차권 Juchakwan) that I got from the fruit shop, you have to put your car license plate number and the free ticket, then it will be free to drive out the parking lot. The machine didn’t give us any receipt but it worked when we drove out.
If you didn’t get a free parking ticket like us, you can use your credit card to pay.
The Market sells different local food, they differ a little bit by the season.
As we are living in the island, fish and seafood are more varied. (We just don’t know how to cook them!)
The most popular seafood here is the Oysters (Kr: 굴) during the cold weather. One of the best dishes in Geoje Island is “Oyster Rice Soup”.
Kimchi Shop…
Must-Try if you are a big fan of Korean food! The salted Oyster (December – March), Salted Octopus (Summer Time).
This is one of our favorite shops, the hot donut shop. They seem to make it to order, I mean you have to order what you want first then they will start to fry it for you. So it takes a while to wait.
The fried twist donut is the best for us…
I was looking for crab marinated (my favorite), I found one shop here but it wasn’t what I was used to having.
We found the best Meat Shop, they have both cooked and fresh pork/meat.
We like to get the big fresh ribs here (they cut the way you want), and also some cooked pork leg! The price is a little cheaper than from the grocery shop.
The Best part of living in South Korea for us is to get to try their local fruit! And anything that they can grow up here, it tastes really good.
For Summer (June- August), I would recommend you to try Korean Peaches and Korean Watermelon! They are quite pricy but if you get a good one, you will get the best fruit you ever had in your life!
During December – March, try the Persimmon, Oranges, and Strawberry!!!
vi
*Exchange rate during our visit: $1 = 1,190 won (July 2020)
To be honest, I like to get fruit from the Grocery shop in the mall more than at the market…
My first bad experience was buying peaches from a very old lady in the BUSAN market, she yelled at me like I was trying to kill her (everyone in the market looked at me like I was crazy!), but all she was trying to say to me was, “DON’T TOUCH”…
So, I never tried to touch anything in the market again… LOL
But I still like to go to the local market!
Especially, the one really closes to where we live, Okpo. The Okpo (International) Market is smaller than Gohyeon but it’s about the right size for the area.
As I mentioned the local market is really for the locals – it’s not really a tourist market.
There is another traditional market in Tongyeong which is about 30 mins drive from Gohyeon, it’s more interesting for local food “Gimbab” and “Honey Bread”. The market is also located next to the “Mural Village”.
See more our trip in Geoje Island: https://www.somethingjam.com/south-korea/geoje-island-south-korea
