Things to Do and See in South Korea

Our Experiences in South Korea

In 2010 we spent a total of six weeks in South Korea – four weeks on the mainland and two weeks on the beautiful Jeju Island. It was a special experience for us as we caught up with many of the students we hosted during their English studies in Australia.

Starting in Seoul, we explored city and did a day trip further afield to Incheon. We then took a trip out to Sokcho on the coast where we climbed the peak in Seoraksan National park.

Next stop was Daego in the centre of the country, Gyeonju, Pusan (Busan) in the south and then the two weeks on Jeju.

Transport was easy, and we learned so much about the food and how to eat it from our local contacts. But perhaps one of the most unusual quirks regarding South Korea, was the fact that the “love hotels” were quite often far cheaper and better appointed than the hostels when you could find them. The look on the ‘receptionists’ faces, when we booked in for a week rather than an hour or two, was priceless. By the end of the week, the elderly madames were giving us snacks and getting us to hold their grandbabies, all the while cackling at our obvious insatiable appetites.

With the new trans-Korean cycling paths, we’re keen to get back there sometime soon to see the country on two wheels.

As with Mongolia (and a few other countries), we were too preoccupied with having fun to write up the blogs. But you can see some of our favorite pictures with some explanations below:

Seoul

Sokcho

Daegu

Gyeongju

Busan

Jeju Island

Guided Tours of South Korea

Korea is an easy and safe country to travel around independently and many people, especially in the cities, speak some level of English. However, it really is a bonus to tap into local expertise to get the most out of the food, history, culture and attractions. So if you’d like some assistance or just don’t have the time or desire to do all the planning by yourself, take a look at some of the tours on offer. You could take the train or bus between destinations and do short tours from there, or get it all in one package on a longer tour.

Short Tours (1-2 days)

Get Your Guide has over 50 different day tours around South Korea. You can take a browse  HERE.

Viator has almost 1000 offers with everything from a “non-touristy trip to the demilitarized zone on the border of North Korea and homestyle cooking classes to luxury catamaran tours on the Han river and scuba diving on Jeju Island.  You can check them all out HERE

Longer Tours

Intrepid Travel has a limited range of tours in South Korea at the moment but you can see them HERE

GAdventures only has one. You can check it out HERE

Tour Radar – Has a much better range including some that combine highlights in Japan.