Tours in Korea

Will be going to Jeju island for a week with my husband in June, thought it would be interesting to make a tour of the return to Seoul rather than just fly back, had 1 week or thereabouts in mind for the trip. As it is a limited time, I had hoped that the usual tour operators would offer tours but I cannot find any. Any suggestions or is a bespoke tour really the only option? If so, has anyone any experience of this? Also, what would be a good itinerary (prefer a mixture of culture, UNESCO Worldheritage sites, architecture and - yes, that too - shopping). Any must taste foods? Any other musts? I really would like to make the most of our short time there. Thanks

Tours in Korea

In your position, I%26#39;d fly back to Busan, take train to Gyeongju, where you can see history, religion, architecture. Stay a day or two, then KTX train back to Seoul.

I don%26#39;t know any other way to do it, aprt from self drive.

In G try ssambap!

Tours in Korea

Hi Ethelman2, Is it simple to get to Gyongju by KTX? I%26#39;m just afraid that everything would be in Korean and we might get lost. Do you recommend any hotels/hostels there or tours? Also, we%26#39;re thinking of going to Jeju Island as well. Any advice would be great! Thanks!

CeeNetherlands,

I am sorry that you can not find any tour operators who can easily arrange stuffs for you. I find many local agencies are mainly catered to natives. T.T

I definitely recommend Gyeongju for at least 2-day trip. You can fly from Jeju to Busan, which is less than two hours away. I heard you can take shuttle bus from airport to Gyeongju. Ask your hotel concierge in Jeju if they can help you out with transportation and lodging in Gyeongju. Or I find this site has pretty good info on traveling within Korea, http://www.lifeinkorea.com/travel2/Kyongju

Afterward, may I suggest visit one or two beautiful buddhist temples in Korea? Haein-sa is my favorite because scenery around that temple is quite beautiful, and you can see very old and famous wood block of buddhist teachings. Another plus is that temple is in Gayasan mountain national park, so you can enjoy some outdoor activities. I am not a big fan of temple stay program where you experience monks%26#39;s daily routine, because I need a mordern toilet, but many finds it very unique experience. http://www.lifeinkorea.com/travel2/Temples/67

Although this temple is in same province with Gyeongju, I don%26#39;t think there is any direct bus or train to temple, so you may have to rent a car and drive there. Or you can take train to Dae-gu, then take a bus to temple.

If visiting temple is too much trouble for you then take KTX back to Seoul. You can also squeeze visiting DMZ or Korean National Folk Village which is in outskirts of Seoul, or nearby water park/theme park, Everland.

As per shopping, I think the best bet is Seoul (Namdaemoon and Dongdaemoon markets, Itaewon and Myeong-dong and Insa-dong area) As per food, there will lots of choices! From street foods to beef and pork bbqs and totally vegetarian temple cuisine. Since you will be in June, which can real hot and muggy in Korea, try ice cold noodle soup called Naeng-myeon.

Oh, I forgot to mention there is English announcement at KTX.

to get to Gyeongju by train, take ktx to Dongdaegu and change to a slow train. In Seoul, go to Seoul station with a print out of the train combination you want. the website is called ';Korail'; (google it) or I have

www.korail.com/en/rv/pr21100/w_pr21110.jsp.

key ';transfer'; and put Gyeongju into destination.

I confess to staying in Hilton and renting a car there. Hilton has a good buffet restaurant- I normally hate this sort of eating but this is exceptional. For a car you need an International Driving Permit, but I usually get a car for about 35 Euros for 24 hours. Driving is dead easy.

Don%26#39;t stay in Hotel Kolon.

The location to stay is called Bomum Lake Resort; there are hotels of all classes there. You can get maps etc.

If you don%26#39;t have a car you can take a local tour bus or hire a taxi for a day.

Let me know if you need more info.

Cee: Korea and ALL of the public transport (not buses)including the KTX is English friendly. You will be fine with your own Euro knowledge. Now, to your time frame which is a concern for me and you. If you MUST got tour, then there are plenty respectable ones out there. But why? Are you flying home from Jeju? Seoul? Trains are good, maybe, here, but I need some more info. UNESCO sites would mean for me Sokkruam. Kyungju. Close to Busan kind of. You could limit your tour to the southeast region but then you would miss Seoul. I guess that would be like going through Amsterdam, on a night train. You will love Jeju and the pen... Shoot me a mssg if you need any more info..

Haveafinetrip...

CeeNetherlands:

sorry, the info in my posts may have misled you. Apparently they are not accurate, I have been told.

I would therefore discount them and listen to others.

I am sorry if what I have said has been unhelpful- I posted on the basis of my own personal experience, so it was true at least for me..

Thanks all for the great tips and ideas (keep them coming if you have any more), I%26#39;ll be looking into all of them to see what is possible in our time frame (still to be negotiated with husband). Our (=my) idea is to fly to Seoul, then fly onto Jeju (perhaps staying a few days in Seoul first?) and then making a tour of the return to Seoul for the flight back so that we can see as much as possible of the country with a variety of things.

I%26#39;m glad to hear that English is not a problem as I%26#39;d be happy to organize something myself as long as timing and hotels are ok (as in decent standard and easily reachable, by email and car) and information is available in English. While we don%26#39;t want to be totally ';beat up'; afterwards, we do like to keep a fast pace (you know the kind of trip: ';13 European countries in 10 days';).