14 days in South Korea. Need your advice on itinerary!

Itinerary advice, please

Dear fellow trip Advisors,

me and a friend of mine are (we are both mid 20s) planning our first trip to South Korea. We will stay there for 14 days, arriving in mid April.

After some reading and searching we come up with this itinerary.

1st day Seoul (staying in Seoul)

2nd day Seoul (staying in Seoul)

3rd day DMZ (staying in Seoul)

4th day Seoul (staying in Seoul)

5th day one day trip to Jeonju (staying in Seoul)

6th day trip to Gangneung / visiting Ojukheon (staying in Gangneung)

7th day Odaesan Nat. Park (staying in Gangneung)

8th day trip to Gyeongju (staying in Gyeongju)

9th day Gyeongju (staying in Gyeongju)

10th day trip to Busan (staying in Busan)

11th day Busan (staying in Busan)

12th flight to Jeju /visiting Yakcheonsa temple (staying in Jeju, Jungmun)

13th day Hallim / Stone park / tea plantation (staying in Jeju, Jungmun)

14th day Jeju - flight to Incheon (staying near Incheon Airport)

15th day Flight back home

any comments or tips are very welcome :) We still have some doubts concerning the transport from Seoul to Gangneung and from Gangneung to Gyeongju... Is it doable? We wouldn%26#39;t like to spend half of the time sitting in trains or buses.

Thanks in advance!

14 days in South Korea. Need your advice on itinerary!

Your itinerary sounds pretty good, except are you willing to make a day trip to Jeonju? It takes about 3.5 to 4 hrs by express bus from Seoul to Jeonju. I would either stay one night there, I heard it%26#39;s wonderful place where you can traditional Korean mask dance performance, see some old Korean houses and eat famous Jeonju bibimbop. Or I would pick somewhere closer to Seoul, such as Folk Village at Yongin, Suwon Fortress, or Icheon Ceramic Center, …visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp…

14 days in South Korea. Need your advice on itinerary!

Thanks a lot - that%26#39;s very useful. We will reconsider the options.

It is a wonderful plan.

1. Seoul to Jeonju

There are lots of buses heading to Jeonju every day from Central city but terminal. First bus leaves at 5:30(every 10min) for Jeonju. It takes 2H45M. If you take early one, you might visit lots of places in Jeonju. Then take a bus around 20:00 back to Seoul.

2. Seoul to Gangneung

You can take a bus at Seoul express bus terminal. First bus leaves at 6:00.(every 20 min) It takes 2H50M to get to Gangneung.

* To go to bus termanals to Jeonju and Gangneung, you take subway line 3, get off at Express bus terminal station. There are two bus terminal buildings. For Jeonju is Central city and Gangneung is Seoul(or Gangnam) express bus terminal.

3. Gangneung to Gyeongju

There are about 10 buses heading to Gyeongju everyday. It takes 6 hours. Also there is a train connecting to Gyeongju.(once everyday) It takes 6 hours, too.

4. Gyeongju to Busan

There are a lot. It takes less 1H30M.

5. Jeju to Incheon

There are 4 flights a week at this time.(Wed, Thu, Sun)

Hope helpful for you!

So..nice if I have 14 days in South Korea

but I only have 1 week (10th - 17th April 2009)

2 of us staying at Holiday In Korea.

I would like to experience different places more to nature, culture or traditional area, hiking at beutiful flowerish area with nice view at peak, eco-adventure activities %26amp; learn Korea botani info from nature guide. Please advice me if you know how to travel from the place we stay to those places that I so passionate to go?

These were some trip itinery from my previous trip to Korea:(but that time my korean friend be my tour guide)Now I going on my own backpacker.

I have been Korea last year most of City attractions I already been also 1 week trip: Samcheonggak, Seoul Tower,Namsan area, National Muzium,Gangnam City, Hanggang River biking, hiking at Namhansansang,Namdeamun %26amp; Dongdeamun ,Insadong, Iteawon mosque, Kyung Hee Univ., DMZ, Province Village, Changdeokgung.

This year very important because I would like to explore Korea to make it my dream job as nature guide in Korea come true.I need to know if anyone can give contact or email address for Korean nature guide who can speak English. my korean language is very poor.

Now I am sport recreation officer %26amp; part time local nature guide in Langkawi, Malaysia

Thanks to everyone for the tips and info. It was very useful! We dicussed our itinerary once again and decided to skip Gangneung. After all it%26#39;s our first trip to Korea, so we decided that instead of rushing from one place to another we should take it more easy. We will spend more time in Gyeongju and Jeju (3 nights in each place).

As for the flight, the direct flight to Incheon would be perfect but we will have to fly back on Friday (Gimpo instead Incheon).

I can%26#39;t wait to go to Korea and I%26#39;m sure that I will like it a lot.

Cheers

With 14 days you can see some unexplored parts of Korea. Why go to Busan? it%26#39;s nothing special IMHO, whilst there are some very pretty little places where you can really have an authentic experience.

Why stay in Seoul for so long? there isn%26#39;t really that much to do there, sure, go to Insadong, Seoul tower, the nice palace but 2-3 days is enough. Get out of the cities, go to the small places where you%26#39;ll likely be the only foreigners there.

Two days in Seoul

Day 3 Jeonju, one day in Jeonju,

Day 4 go to Maisan Provincial Park and see Tapsa, and go hiking

Day 5 Sleep in Mokpo, then go to Wolchulsan as a day trip

Day 6 Go to Yeosu, and sleep on nearby Dolsando, getting up early for the incredible sunrise from Hyang-il-am

Day 7 and 8 Jirisan National Park, go to a beautiful little place near Hadong at Ssanggyesa (temple) and stay in a minbak and go hiking, next day take the bus from Jinju up to Jungsan-ri, near the trailhead of Jirisan (Cheongwanbong..spelling) and have a crack at getting to the highest point on the mainland.

Day 9 Go to Haeinsa, one of the best temples in the country, near Daegu, spend the night in the village and go hiking in the park

Days 10, 11, 12 Explore Gyeongju

Day 13 Go to Seoul for the flight.

The above is far more adventurous, interesting, off the beaten track and rewarding than your original plan me thinks.

Thanks, I really appreciate your advice.

We also considered going to less explored places but we don%26#39;t speak Korean and we thought it might be difficult to go from one place to another. That%26#39;s why we decided to take it easy and enjoy the vacation.

I hope that one day I will come back to Korea and explore the other parts of it.

About 5 days in Seoul - we are staying there but we will do some day trips (DMZ, probably Jeonju). Taking into account the jetlag on the first day, we will have 2 days in Seoul, as suggested :)

Cheers!

I try to plan trip to Jeju for 2-3 days, I am going to explore eco-adventure eco-tourism area in Jeju with low budget as backpacker. I haven%26#39;t found yet place to stay. From 10th April- 17th April 2009, any highlight places I should cover? Can any one tell me how can I search the area where the Berjaya Jeju Resort will be build? I planning to get job there when the project completed. This trip will be my first inspiration how I am going to plan for my career in Korea.