Trip to South Korea Dec 2009

Hi,

I and a group of 10 friends are planning for a trip to south korea at the end of this year.. problem is i know next to nothing about things to see and do while there (e.g went to china end of last year and i knew i wanted to see great wall and teracotta worriors etc... you know, i had som idea of what i wanted to see)...

So i would really appreciate your suggestions and experiences... what are the MUST DOs and DON%26#39;t.. and MUST SEEs

THanks in advance =)

Trip to South Korea Dec 2009

Oh umm... we%26#39;re planning for a 7-10 day trip..

Trip to South Korea Dec 2009

not so high profile as China, but still very much worth doing.

I%26#39;ll start with my usual suggestions:

DMZ trip;

Seoul: Changdeok palace; Cheongyechon stream; Namsan Tower;

Suwon Folk Village;

Gyeongju, and rent a car for at least two nights.

BUT it will be cold in December, so be preapred!

thanks for that ethelman2!

we%26#39;re looking at possibly going on a tour group? is that a good idea or is it better to organise it ourselves?

i usually go on my own plans but half the group are leaning towards going with a tour group as we haven%26#39;t been there before...

in the end, it also comes down to costing as well... we aren%26#39;t sure if it%26#39;d be cheaper with a tour grup or not, so w have to look into that too

Seoul has very convenient public transportation system and English signs at subways and major tourist sites and markets. Plus, there is hop on and hop off style bus that goes to major tourist sites. I would do Seoul in free style. Besides palaces, I liked National Museum of Korea and Samsung Leeum Art Museum which have excellent collection of Korean arts, Namsan Hanok village is also nice, but you can also make a day trip to ';Folk Village'; at Yongin. I also liked to shop and gallery hopping at Insa-dong.

If you are nervous about excursion out side of Seoul, definitely take 2 or 3 day group tour. I second ethelmann%26#39;s suggestion on Gyeongju.

Since it%26#39;s December, which can be really cold, why not visit hot spring. Korea is famous for spa also called as ';jjimjilbang'; Check out this place, …visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp…

Have fun.

on blee246%26#39;s points: it is actually quite easy to get around, but I agree that you may find it hard in concept.

To get to Yongin Folk village (near Suwon) you can simply- and VERY cheaply- take the train- about US$2 each and then take the shuttle bus, which is included in the folk village entrance fee.

Or you could take a bus ride from Seoul for quite a lot more.

I once did an overnight to Gyeongju on a bus tour, and it cost me about 300,000won, I think. It was fine, except it was rushed and the hotel was not very good. The guide also knew less about Gyeongju than I did....

Instead, you could easily take the KTX express to Dongdaegu, change to a normal train and get to Gyeongju. Book, say, Hilton, take taxi from station and maybe rent a car there. But until you%26#39;ve done it, it is a bit formidable.

The first time I visited S Korea, I was taken around everywhere. The only disadvantage was that I didn%26#39;t get to try for myself.

In Seoul, BTW, travel is very easy on metro, so don%26#39;t take any tours. Except perhaps the City hop on/off bus to get oriented.

hi,

thank you both for the info... have you been to japan before? it sounds just like the japanese transport system... i went to japan a year ago and bought a japan rail pass, just wondering if there%26#39;s anything like that in korea?

also: of all the places you mentioned will we be able to cover all those places within 7 days?

thanks again!

p.s. how much should we budget for this trip of 7 days in korea in general?

I have been to Japan, and I think Seoul%26#39;s metro is even better. (bigger cars^^) All line are color coordinated plus there are English signs and announcement at each station. The cab fare is certainly cheaper that Japan. If I have to go certain place that is not close to metro station, I would travel first to vis subway than hop in a cab to my final destination which cost me about $1 USD. If the language is the problem for you, you can ride on higher class taxi called ';mobum'; which is black sedan type of car, there is English interpreting system.

As per budget, I am not sure what%26#39;s your style, budgect or luxury? Seoul is cheaper than Tokyo and since Korean Won has devalued a lot recently, it certainly has became cheaper but it%26#39;s not a bargain destination like Bangkok.

When I stayed there for week, I spent about 15,000 won for transportation alone (metro only) For meal wise you can have many choices from 2,000 won kim bop (hand roll) to +20,000 won Korean beef bbq. There are so many options. You can find mid-priced range hotel around 100,000 won or more, but there are cheaper lodgings or more luxurious kind, too.

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/index.kto

is a good place to find information on Korea.

Hi blee246,

THank you for that information... we%26#39;re looking at mid range because it is a group trip but we are now past the ';backpacking'; style travel (i.e. budget) but of course what we mean by budget is youth hostels... we%26#39;re more than fine with motel type accomodation...

and for one weeks travel, we%26#39;re probably looking at spending a maximum of US$800 per person all inclusive (including spending money)... so that will be about US$1600 assuming two people share one room... is this unrealistic?

we are also interested in staying in traditional Hanok accomodation... what are you%26#39;re thoughts on this?

Hi, I think you can manage with that budget. Just to make sure your motel is in tourist area not love motel^^ I think Myeongdong IBIS is quite popular mid-range hotel in this forum. As per Hanok stay, it%26#39;s certainly worth staying for couple of days just for the sake of experience. Although I used to sleep on floor until I was 14 years old, I am so used to sleep in bed now, I was glad to sleep on bed after my two-days stay at traditional Japanese ryokan. I guess I got too westernized...