Traveling South Korea Mini Guide

Are you traveling to South Korea aka Asia’s “It girl”? Come learn more in this Traveling South Korea Mini Guide and find out why this country is becoming a must see travel destination on many peoples list. She has a little something for everyone.

Unless you are living in the year 1945, when South Korea was still unified with North Korea, there’s a high chance you’ve heard of this country. South Korea has been a hot topic for years with its pop culture, and 16 episode K-dramas, that will have you sitting in the same spot in front of Netflix (or Viki?) for hours on end. Even the skincare has been making a name for itself, names like Innis Free and Dr. Jart popping up in Sephora’s all over the world.

South Korea as a travel destination is on the radar for many and for good reason. Don’t even bother rolling your eyes when your uncle asks, “You going to North or South Korea?” Just ignore him.

However there is more to Korea than just its multi-billionare dollar entertainment and skincare industry. And while you may have set your eyes on Seoul for your travel plans, may I let you in on a secret: I suggest taking the train to Busan and diving in for an adventure. (Plus Busan is the only place that can clearly survive a zombie outbreak).

Info	South Korea
Capital	Seoul
Language	Hanguk-eo
Currency	Won
Internet:	One of the fastest in the world
Hello in Korean:	annyeonghaseo (안녕하세요)
I’m hungry:	baegopa (배고파)
Bathroom:	Hwajangsil (화장실)

Table of Contents:

Female friendly?: Each persons experience is going to be different. However for myself, I felt entirely safe walking alone at night from the PC bang or cycling down the street at 2 am. In fact one time I was on a bus heading to a completely different city, and this man seated next to me was quite drunk and making a bit of a scene. The ahjumma (older lady) intervened and had me come sit next to her for our entire bus journey.

Fun story: Within my first hour of traveling to South Korea, I was lost, typical. I had taken the plane to Busan and boarded what I thought was the train to my stop, and somehow ended right back up at the airport. I must have looked like a fish out of water, because an ahjussi (older Korean man) came over to me and peeked at my printed out maps (yes printed out maps) and then a younger Korean dude came over as well. I was quickly ushered off the train by the two gentlemen and swiped into the correct train. The older man departed, and the younger dude explained he was heading in the same direction, towards what I now know as Haundae beach (the green line).

I obviously don’t suggest following strangers, however this was a big act of trust on my part, and an even bigger act of kindness on theirs, because they could have went on with their day and I could have stayed lost.

Destinations I’ve been:

I recommend staying as long as you can in any place you choose, to get the full experience.

Busan: The city by the sea. Busan is dubbed the ‘perfect’ city (by me), it’s surrounded by mountains and beaches with a city in the middle. You have a little bit of everything here. The folks speak a different dialect, and I found most Busanites super friendly. The two main beaches are; Haeundae and Gwangalli. Fun opinion: You either are a Haeundae person or a Gwangalli person, but you aren’t both. My favorite not so secret (as of lately) is Dadaepo Beach. Busan is so special, that I came to Busan for 3 weeks for the Christmas holiday and stayed for 6 months.

Fun fact did you know Christmas is something of a couple oriented holiday in South Korea

Author vent* I wish Dadaepo Beach remained a “secret”. Years after my first time visiting, I found way more tall buildings there than before!!

Chungju: The apple tree town! This pretty little town sits an hour outside of Seoul and is known for its apple production! However it’s more than just apples, Chungju is great for cycling and hiking—great for getting away from it all. There’s also a big water hole that’s super chill during the summer months. The two downtown areas (the old and new) give a cozy party vibe with friendly expats and Koreans. If you are looking for a relaxed place, this is it.

Daegu: This city is an unexpected delight. Daegu is home to beautiful mountains and great cycle trails that take you through various parts of the city Not sure if this still exists, but the subway stations let you rent out free bicycles for the day. The downtown area has some awesome nightlife happening, surrounded by shops that stay open late. So if you realized you wore the wrong outfit out or spilled something on your shirt, just head into one of the many shops to try on something new, no need to go all the way home. Convenient. If it’s one thing Korea is known for is its convenience.

Seoul: Chances are if you are in Korea, you definitely stopped in Seoul. The capital is usually a first timer stomping grounds and for good reason. You have the DMZ tours nearby, where you can get almost up close and personal with North Korea. There’s an abundance of nightlife happening out in Gangnam, Hongdae, Itaewon, etc. The shopping is great and just like any big city, there is variety! Most of my time spent in Seoul was either partying in the foreign district of Itaewon or hanging with the cool kids in Hongdae.

Destinations definitely worth checking out:

Getting around South Korea?:

Train travel. For all you train lovers, the best way to get around South Korea is by train! From the high speed trains to the slow trains, its the best way to see the country. You can jump from city to city by train, and enjoy the views of the countryside on the slow trains.

I am going to leave this link right here for you: https://www.koreatrains.com/

My Budget:

For South Korea, I was a slow traveler. I showed up for what I thought was going to be 3 weeks, and ended up staying nearly a year. My journey started at Lzone language cafe, and from there did a homestay, as well as just finally get a roommate. I would not be financially able to tell you my budget, but can give you a breakdown of some of my costs.

What I did	How much I spent
Drinking	Soju costs less than water?
Going out to eat (outside of Seoul)	5,000 won – 30,000 won max
nightlife	10,000-30,000 won max.
Hotels	40,000-80,000 won
Jjimjilbangs (korean spas)	7,000-20,000 won

Drinking in South Korea is relatively cheap. In fact that same Soju bottle you are drinking in your home country, is probably 5 dollars less in Korea. While heading out make sure to grab some condition, its a hangover drink, at your local convivence store. This actually works a little to well.

Going out to eat and depending on what you are eating can vary. I’ve had some great Busan Dwaeji-gukbap soup for 5,000 won max and all you can eat Korean BBQ for 20,000 won.

Nightlife price is subjective, because popular foreigner bars like Thursday Party are free and I found club prices not to be higher than 20,000 won (if that). It all depends where you go.

Hotels here are actually quite affordable and even the so called love motels can get pretty nice as a solo traveler.

Jjimjilbangs AKA Korean spas AKA my favorite thing to do, is quite affordable. You can soak up and enjoy a princess spa day for way half the cost than what you may pay in the western world and its twice as good. I enjoy a good Korean scrub, drinking some rice punch, and eating a ton of roasted eggs.

Basic Korean terms:

Random Korean words/phrases	Meaning
저기요  jeo-gi-yo	Excuse me
이름이 뭐예요? ireum-e- mwoyeyo	What’s your name?
보고 싶어 bogo sipeo	I miss you
사랑해요 saranghaeyo	I love you
아니요 aniyo	No
네 Ne	Yes

Once you have a little idea of understanding the Alphabet, its easy to understand the menus even when written in Korean. Scroll down for a mini chart on the Korean Alphabet. I promise you, it’s not as hard as it looks.

Hangul, the Korean Alphabet:

So Hangul can be learned in as little as 30 minutes or up to 3 days. As the story goes, it was created back in the Joseon Dynasty by the great King Sejong who believed everyone should be able to read. Before that Korea was using Hanja (Chinese characters) and we know how difficult Chinese characters are.

check out this website for more and audio pronunciations: https://en.amazingtalker.com/blog/en/korean/54836/

Foods to try that aren’t Korean BBQ and Bibimbap:

What to do besides shop your heart away and overstuff yourself with food?

Well South Korea has some amazing hiking and cycling trails. In fact everywhere you go, you will definitely find a store that sells some hiking clothes. 70% of the countries land is covered in mountains, it’s quite beautiful.

Also if you are a cyclist like me, you are going to fan girl of the cycle paths that cross through South Korea. You could cycle from Incheon down to Busan on dedicated cycle paths and back country roads… which means barely any cars!!

Check out www.koreabybike.com for more info.

Wrapping it up:

South Korea has become a worldwide phenomenon with its multi billion dollar entertainment industry taking over. Even the beauty market has crossed several seas to make a name for itself at your Sephora’s and other big beauty stores.

This is big news for a country who has faced a lot of hardship and adversity, through colonization of the Japanese as well as separation of the North and South—history wasn’t to long ago.

You could say that South Korea is a persevering society that has come a long way in a short amount of time, even surviving the IMF crisis of 1997. In fact South Korea is one of the Four Asian Tigers, along with Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong. The Four Asian Tigers are economies who achieved rapid economic growth in lightening speed.

There has been influx of foreigners over the past years as South Korea has become the “It Girl” in Asia. And with this, the residents of South Korea are still trying to catch up to the changes taking place. By that I mean South Korea does not yet have an anti-discrimination law, so it is possible to see signs that say, “no foreigners allowed.” Don’t let that discourage you, for the majority of places open to foreigners far outweigh the places you aren’t allowed in yet (I think? I hope..).

Human review:

So it’s clear I love South Korea, I’ve lived there twice and have just enjoyed myself all around. The majority of Koreans I meet tend to be quite beautiful and warmhearted folks. As with any country, you are bound to find some discrimination, but the good in South Korea outweighs any bad.

I’ve met some really great people in my time there.

If you like this travel blog, feel free to buy me a coffee 🙂 https://www.buymeacoffee.com/travelsofme

Other pages on South Korea:

Back in March 2021, I conducted an interview on South Korea and Xenophobia:

https://www.travelsofthepeople.com/does-south-korea-have-a-problem-with-xenophobia/

*Cover Photo by Cait Ellis on Unsplash

*food photos taken from awesome wikipedia, because I cant take food photos to save my life 🙂