At first glance, Healing Stay KOSMOS looks like it came straight out of a science fiction movie where man, fleeing some global calamity in the distant future, has settled on a new, pristine, earth-like planet. Contrary to appearances, this filmic setting is located on Earth, specifically, on a volcanic island 120 kilometres east of the Korean Peninsula. Featuring a dense landscape of mountain peaks, caves and waterfalls encircled by rocky shorelines—a setting not unlike the remote island in Jurassic Park—it makes for the ideal backdrop for Healing Stay KOSMOS, a luxury resort where guests can relax in an utopian venue throbbing with the rejuvenating energy of the otherworldly landscape and serenity of the wide open sky.
Sitting atop a large underwater stratovolcano in the East Sea, the South Korean island of Ulleungdo is blessed with a spectacular topography and a unique local ecology that provides a scenic setting for walks, hikes and boat rides as well as an ideal location to sit back and observe the celestial phenomena. But more than that, Ulleungdo is also known for the potent “chi” energy fields whose rejuvenation power is said to flow through the island. In this respect, KOSMOS couldn’t be more ideally located on the side of Songgot-bong, or “Ice Pick peak”, a rock formation that looks as awesome as it sounds. And if that wasn’t enough, the resort is built on the edge of a cliff that plunges dramatically thirty metres down to the sea, with great views of Elephant Rock, a rock formation in the middle of the sea in the shape of an elephant with its trunk dipped in the water.
Photo by Kim Yong Kwan