Petite France, South Korea

It is also called Le Petite Prince French Cultural Village. Located between Nami Island and Cheongpyeong Lake and near Homyeongri.

French Cultural Village

It was a filming site for famous Korean Drama like Secret Garden and Man from the Stars and also for Running Man, a Korean Variety Show. There are memorabilia from the different Korean Drama in the cultural village.

Saint-Exupery and Little Prince

Aside from the picturesque French village, it is the home for the gallery of the famous French author Antoine Marie Roger De Saint Exupery. 

You can check out the Saint-Exupery Memorial Hall. There are life-size images of Saint-Exupery’s renowned book of Little Prince.


My favorite spot in the cultural village is Fountain Square and the Butterfly Garden which is overlooking the Cheongpyeong Lake.


You can also go inside the different buildings and check out the decorations, art paintings, galleries and also to appreciate the European style houses.

There are special French art performances in the Amphitheater. For more information, you can check the website for the performance times.

There’s a miniature Eiffel Tower of Paris in the cultural village.

How to get there

From Nami Island you can ride a shuttle bus with the Gapyeong Tourist Attraction. It is a 15 – 20 minutes bus ride from the island bus stop. You can see the bus stop along the road. You will also see the entrance tunnel in Petite France.


Going back to Seoul, you can also wait for the shuttle bus going to Cheongpyeong Station and take the subway going back.

You can check the previous post from Autumn in South Korea

Nami Island

Nami Island is one of the favorite destinations. It is located at the Chucheon area. Nami Island is the result of the construction of the Cheongpyeong Dam.


Nami Island is dedicated to General Nami who led the victory against the rebels during the Joseon Dynasty. The tomb of General Nami is the first attraction that can be seen alighting the ferry. Carved in his tomb is a poem he wrote.

The Metasequioa road and Central Korean Pine Tree Lane is the most famous attraction in Nami. This was the filming site for the famous Korean Drama “Winter Sonata.”


The Winter Sonata park is dedicated to the memorabilias inside the park inclduing the life size image of the actors and the bike they used during filming.

Nami Island is designated as a Unicef Child Friendly Park. They are one of the 14 parks in the world and the first in Korea.

Another place is visit is the handicraft studio in Nami Island.
There are different hotels in Nami Island. You can spend a night on Hotel Jeonggwanru. There are coffees and restaurants around the area.

Another attrection is the Namipungwon Garden, home of the different plants and trees.

After Nami Island, you can go to Petite France. From my previous post Autumn in South Korea you can check how to get to Nami Island.

Autumn in South Korea

One of the four seasons in which Filipinos like me will not experience in my country is Autumn. My first Autumn was in South Korea.

Arriving in South Korea

We arrived in Incheon International Airport at 8PM in the evening. When we had our passport stamped, I waited for our luggage and I head to the Travel Center. I bought a ticket for the express train going to Seoul Station. When we reached Seoul Station, we took a taxi to look for Seoul City Hotel.
The driver was an old man and he had a hard time looking for the hotel. But after checking the Korean characters, we were able to find it. It was already cold in Korea when we arrived. Even the taxi’s aircon was off, and the windows were open and we could still feel the breeze of the cold night.

Seoul City Hotel

Seoul City Hotel is located in Teorgyo-gil and we were near Hoehyon Station. We were greeted by the manager Mrs. Kim and she immediately took us to our room. But before that, I talked to her on how to go to Nami Island. And she gave me maps to check and assisted me with the map guide in Korea on what to ride going to Nami Island. The following morning we had our breakfast in the rooftop of the hotel. They served Korean food and some American food. Our view from the top was buildings from the nearby establishments.

Going to Nami Island

I inquired about the card to use in the station and the receptionist wasn’t speaking in English. But the guy inside the booth went to us and explained to us how to get the card and how to reload it.
From Hoehyon station we need to transfer to two other MRT Lines to reach Gaepyong station. The first transfer was in Dongdaemun, where we transferred from Line 4 to Line 1. Upon reaching Hoegi Station, we transferred to GyeongLine.

Upon reaching Mangu Station, we transferred to Gyeongi-Jungang Line. We alighted at Gapyeong Station. From the station, we went to the other side of the street to wait for the bus going to Nami Island.

Gapyeong Station

The bus from Gapyeong Station is about 10 to 15 mins. Many tourists rode the same bus. Upon reaching the bus station in Bukhanganbyeon-gil road, we checked the different restaurants nearby.

Winter Sonata Cafe

Winter Sonata Cafe

My mother and I saw the Winter Sonata Café, which was on the second floor of Master Koffee. Winter Sonata Café includes pictures and memorabilia inside the restaurant. We ordered our food here and took a rest from the long ride going to Nami Island.

Winter Sonata Cafe Restaurant

Getting to Nami Island

After having lunch, we looked for the main entrance of the ferry that would take us to the island. You will easily spor the immigration going to Nami Island.

We also saw the Zip line going to Nami Island. this is another option in getting to Nami Island.

Zip Line

We bought tickets first and then we lined up to the entrance for the 15 minutes ferry ride from the wharf. The ferry was full of different nationalities.

Ferry Boat at Gapyeong Wharf

The boat ride was short and we were on the island, where different flags welcome the tourist. After which we started touring the island. After Nami Island you can go to Petite France.

GSA Summit

Mentors are invited for the Annual Global Science Alliance (GSA) Summit in The New York Academy of Sciences in New York for the annual gathering of young scientists, international researchers, mentors, mentees and their parents or guardians. It is held every July and it was on its third year.

I went to New York to attend the Summit last July 24 -26. The highlight of the event was the gathering of the future STEM leaders across the globe, showcasing their projects and achievement from the different mentoring programs of the academy. I also met notable persons from the academy especially those program managers who handles the GSA and the Mentoring programs.


While the mentees were having their activities, the mentors were also invited a talk by Josh Henkin.

On the third day the mentees were also awarded with their winning projects.

I was glad that there was a lot of young scientist from my countries whom I met during the summit. There were seven from young Filipinos who attended the event.

For more information about the mentoring program please check NYAS Mentorship.