Having been in Korea for many months, I felt confident enough to do some travelling outside of the Seoul area over the rather long winter break. My adventures have left me with thousands of pictures, many life lessons, several fun stories, and an abundance of new tips to share! As such, I’ve decided to do a series on travel to provide chapters of guidance rather than one giant wellspring of information. Before sharing with you some location recommendations and must-does, let me kick off this series by sharing some basic tips and warnings about travelling around stunning South Korea!
Korea has far more to offer than just Seoul; while the capital city is captivating and full of endless entertainment options, so much history and innovation lies all across the peninsula. Whether you’re a history buff, a pop-culture addict, a tech nerd, or just an avid traveler, Korea has endless spots to explore. My personal goal while travelling was merely to get to know the country better, and I went about accomplishing this goal alone. That being said, please note that I may not be able to provide the most interest-specific advice, and additionally, my advice is coming from the perspective of a solo-female traveler, which may not be applicable to everyone. Furthermore, the travels I will be focusing on in the coming posts were unique, as I had embarked on a several week-long venture, during which I stayed packed lightly and changed hotels/motels often; however, have also often experienced shorter-term styles of travelling more common amongst exchange students, such as weekend trips, so I can speak to both styles comfortably. Regardless, I hope that no matter who you are or where your interests lie, you can find some helpful information in this series of posts. That being said, be aware that I was working with a decently small budget and additionally was unable to rent a car, therefore rendering me fully reliant on public transport, a topic which I will go in-depth into for the next post.
All that being said, let’s start with planning your trip(s), specifically the location and time aspect. Especially if you are planning to visit multiple locations, one right after another versus taking several, separate, shorter-term trips, I would encourage you to not wait until the last minute to make your plans. While the last-minute-method of planning may be perfectly sufficient for a weekend getaway, or may be a tried-and-trusted style for you personally, I would not recommend it for those who are less-seasoned travelers. Especially for a trip including many stops across the peninsula, I would advise you to do more thorough, in-advanced planning. Some important factors to highlight for yourself right off the bat are your own budget, travel priorities (such as bucket list items/activities or types of places you hope to visit), preferred method(s) of transportation, your time frame, and what sort of lodging you prefer/are comfortable with. Perhaps you can tell from my previous post, but I am a big fan of organization, so I would highly recommend creating a planning document to keep track of stops, activities, lodging, confirmation numbers, and so forth. Forewarning: you are likely to find yourself inundated with emails and text messages reminding you of bookings, sharing important check-in information, requesting you to rate a lodging and so forth during this time, so just scrolling through your email or messages for important info may not be the most efficient option.
A wise place to start your planning, especially with a longer-term, multi-city trip, would be to choose the time frame in which you will be travelling. Selecting a start and end date is an important first step, as this will allow you to subsequently determine how many locations you can squeeze in and at what point you will visit them. If you are going on a cross-country trip, I would advise next choosing the direction in which you hope to travel, whether that be clockwise or counterclockwise, or perhaps even in a zigzagging fashion; this too will help to further narrow down the time-frame in which you may be in each location. If you are a lover of the water, you may find a coast-hugging trip quite wonderful, as Korea boasts an impressive number of breathtaking beaches. Those who are partial to the mountains can find such scenery virtually anywhere you go—as Korea is a very mountainous region—but many of the cities further towards the center of the peninsula host especially stunning mountain ranges. Don’t take my word for it, though; I would recommend doing some research about destinations that are ideal for the sort of activities you are interested in. Many websites and blogs offer detailed lists and descriptions of Korea’s best spots for hiking, sightseeing, learning about history, and so forth. Browsing such lists can give you a more concrete idea of where you might like to visit, from general regions to specific sites.
Once you have selected a time frame and done some research, cut down your (possibly) long list of potential spots to visit. To do this, there are several important factors to consider. Firstly, if you are planning on relying on a car for transport, you will have more flexibility on where you visit; if you will be relying on public transport, you will have to look into transportation options. Many of the smaller, more rural cities have very limited public transportation options, meaning that even if you have five different spots of interest in a single city, you may be facing more than two-hour transit times between two points—that is if you can even find public transport between the spots. To determine whether public transportation may pose a challenge in a location, you can attempt to find information online, or can rely on Naver or Kakao Maps to get an idea of what transport situation you may be facing. I will go into this further in my post on transportation, having experienced quite a struggle with public transportation in more remote or less metropolitan areas of Korea (sometimes being forced to rely on expensive taxis), I would advise sticking to larger, less rural areas if you are an unseasoned traveler or are relying solely on public transportation.
Next, in terms of narrowing down your spots-to-visit list, I would recommend prioritizing by locations which hold specific interest to you; some cities may seem pretty based on the internet images that appear when the region is searched, but hold little in the way of things to do for tourists. As such, if you know with certainty that you would like to visit a place for a certain site or activity, such as a market, temple, or a hiking spot, prioritize that. During this stage, please note that some locations that will show up for searches about “best places to visit in Korea” and such, are somewhat season-specific. While they are likely beautiful spots year-round, do not be drawn in by the stunning cherry blossoms surrounding the lakes or the bright, warmly-colored mountains seen in the images if your trip is in winter or an off season. Some locations have little in the way of activities aside from seasonally-present foliage or floral spectaculars (often drawing in tourists simply for these blooms and their corresponding festivals), so be mindful.
Furthermore, it is wise to consider the length of time that may be spent doing each activity you have in mind. For example, if you are staying only one day at a location that has several sites/activities you are interested in, you may want to extend your stay there. Conversely, if you have a spot that has only a few activities that you can squeeze into visiting in a day or two (again, check distance and transportation between areas of interest to determine this), you may want to stay less time there and more time at the aforementioned location. This may sound like common sense, but if you overestimate the time an activity may take (such as a visit to a temple that is much smaller than you anticipate), you may end up with far too much time on your hands in a location lacking things to do. For the smeller-of-roses types, I’d recommend budgeting a decent amount of time per location, especially if you are the sort to take photos of anything and everything; if you take brisk walks through museums and historic sites, know that some locations could take you all of fifteen minutes to get through—so plan accordingly. I personally enjoy taking many photos, but also do not typically linger in one place for very long, so, in hindsight, I often budgeted too much time for activities*. Because of this, I would advise doing some research on the locations you might visit; for example, some temples require long, uphill hikes that make reaching the actual site time-consuming, whereas some are practically accessible from the main road and require very little walking time. As such, budgeting the same amount of time for all temples is not necessarily wise, because in addition to the time taken to reach them, some are far more expansive and interactive than others. In summary, do not just do a quick internet search for “pretty places in Korea,” jot down the first few you see and call it a day. Rather, do your future self a favor and take some time to research locations, past visitors’ reviews and tips, and reflection on which spots your prioritize.
Combining the two sections above, once you have chosen a time frame, an ideal path direction, and some activities you are interested in, now would be a good time to cement the specifics of where you will be travelling. I began with a larger list than I ended with after this process, perhaps 30 options versus the final 20 (which even still got further reduced) and had around 3-5 potential activities assigned for each location. Based on how many activities I had listed in the row of a particular city, I would estimate how many days I might need to accomplish those. For example, if I had listed five activities, I would assign that city 2 days and three nights; if I only had two activities I was interested in, I might assign two nights and one day, or even just one night and one day. Word of warning, though: as I previously mentioned, it is wise to allow yourself flexibility, and also to do some research. I made the mistake several times of assigning a city only one day, erroneously assuming I could conquer two temples and a natural site in the span of a single day. I would then get to locations later than anticipated due to public transportation schedules that were not as conducive to my plans as I had hoped, from train and bus schedules between cities to buses running so infrequently between points of interest that it was virtually impossible to visit more than one of them in a day. Scenarios like this happened fairly often, resulting in me having to give up on reaching several of the locations I had originally hoped to visit. Luckily for me, I had planned fairly nonchalantly and had my heart set of very few of the activities, so I was not distraught over these incidents. However, as such situations are not ideal, and certainly inconvenient, I advise you to learn from my mistakes and do a bit more planning ahead of time. With all of this in mind, you can now decide upon exactly where to go and for how long. If you enjoy a faster pace and constant movement, spending one to two nights per location may be suitable; however, for those who like to feel that they can settle into a place a bit more, three or more nights is advisable. From my own experience, I will say that there were times I longed for the three-night stays just to have a moment to breathe, so to speak. I probably packed too much into one trip, but the opportunity to travel like this doesn’t come every day!
One thing to consider in your planning is the style of trip you are seeking. Do you wish to know a few places more intimately, gaining a deeper understanding of and feel for the city’s individual culture and energy? Or do you prefer getting just a taste of as many places as possible? If the former, I would recommend spending at least three nights per city, beginning with an early arrival to the location (such as leaving the previous city at 7-8am). Even this may come across as too short a time for those who wish to savor each region’s unique culture, but it is a decent start if one wishes to also visit several locations in a short period of time. For the latter style, departing from one city to reach the next at a similar time (7-8am) and spending a majority of the day there then leaving the next morning may be sufficient. I personally hoped to visit as many places as feasible, but had several locations that I wanted longer-term stints at peppered into my itinerary. This style worked well, as the fast-paced nature of the shorter-term stays was countered by several more restful periods where I felt I could relax a bit more (the three-night stays). Of course, everyone has their own unique goals, styles, and paces, so the way I executed my trip may not suit you personally. Regardless, I hope that it can act somewhat as a frame of reference.
With your time frame, path direction, locations, ideal activities and days/nights per site listed, you can now determine transport. As I mentioned earlier, I will be devoting a post to the sometimes convenient, sometimes infuriating world of the Korean public transit system. For now, I will simply discuss more generally this part of the planning process. When outlining your trip, it may be difficult to plan precisely how you will get from each location within a city; you can utilize Naver or Kakao maps to get an idea of what transportation options might be available (or not available), but some locations have limited options with infrequent running times. At times, these lifesaving apps unfortunately do not have all of the information needed to get from point A to B. Rather, some locations have buses with running times only posted at major stops, with little to no information listed on the apps aside from a notice of the bus’s upcoming arrival five minutes prior. Especially in more rural regions, the apps tend to inaccurately place your location or to fail to show any information about the buses in the area. Notice that I mention buses exclusively, as most regions outside of Seoul and its neighboring cities do not have metro systems, with the exception of some larger areas like Daejeon and Busan. As such, you will be dependent upon buses and taxis if you are travelling by public transport. While from home you may be unable to determine exactly how to get between sites, using Kakao or Naver maps, or even Rome2Rio, may give you a decent idea of how long it may take to get between two points; additionally, if you do some basic research on a region and find it to be quite rural, you can fairly safely assume that even if there is some transportation offered between two far-apart locations, it will likely be a nightmare to try to catch the bus and taking a taxi will cost a pretty penny. Speaking of taxis, you can utilize the KakaoTaxi app or the two map apps to determine the estimated cost of a taxi ride between locations; I often did this, but did notice that Naver Maps and KakaoTaxi tended to lowball the resultant fee—not the end of the world, but sometimes frustrating. All of this is perhaps something better to consider before selecting exactly where you wish to go; however, at this point in the process, what you can do with some confidence is determine how to get from city to city.
Something I will go into detail on in my next post, you can opt to book your intercity transit by train ahead of time, or you can choose to buy your bus or train tickets in person at the station of departure. Due to my uncertainty going into the trip (a combination of not knowing how I was planning to get from place to place as well as being unsure of how much my plan would actually go as anticipated), I did not choose to book any of my intercity transit tickets ahead of time. At the beginning of my trip, I would buy my train or bus ticket at the departure station the day I was leaving; this became problematic as oftentimes I missed a train/bus by mere minutes and would subsequently have to wait hours for the next, or would even be informed that there were no direct transport options, leaving me to face a much longer transit time than expected despite having only a single day at a location. Because I struggled to navigate the websites of the various transportation systems (technically, every city has a website for their buses and such), I relied primarily on the departure boards at the stations themselves or on the staff explicitly telling me what departure times were available (note: these conversations happened almost exclusively in Korean, especially in rural locations, so with a less than stellar grasp of the language, it was a struggle, with communication being limited to gesturing, basic sentences, and pointing to locations on my phone). Once I gained confidence and got into a good rhythm, I began researching the best way to get between cities (i.e. is bus or train better—and usually I went for the train option), and would then book the earliest available ticket I was willing to drag myself out of bed for as soon as I arrived to the station I would depart from in a day or so (for example, when I arrived at Gwangju, I went ahead and booked my ticket from there to Jeonju before checking into my hotel). This system worked well, because I would not have to worry about being made to wait for hours until the next train and it allowed me to get an earlier start at each location. I relied more on buses towards the beginning of my trip and ended up favoring trains later on, but did face some difficult transits with several transfers that likely would’ve been simpler trips to execute with a bus ride. Therefore, with only partial confidence, I would encourage you to book your tickets somewhat ahead of time, but not so far ahead of time as before you have even begun your trip.
There is no one singular, right way to plan a trip. Because each traveler has their own goals and priorities, as well as travelling style, it can make the process of planning a truly variant one. However, even if you choose to plan your own trip in a different order or way, I hope that this guide can act as a reminder of things to consider or to perhaps inspire you to think about factors that you otherwise may have missed. I myself had the incredible opportunity to travel for about five weeks, and was able to visit over 15 different cities (plus some additional ones I got a glimpse of during transfers!). Could I have visited more during that period? Yes, absolutely. Would I have changed anything about my trip? No, probably not. As a neophyte traveler, I had little expectation of what I was getting myself into, and had planned fairly loosely as to give myself flexibility and room for changes and hurdles. I also am personally fairly capable of pushing myself consistently without much rest, so jumping from city to city quickly was not too much of a challenge; however, I also do enjoy slower-paced adventures occasionally, so having a blend of both satisfied my desire to see as much of Korea as possible as well as that to get to know the sites I visited fairly thoroughly. If I were to plan another trip similar to the one I took, I would have done more research about the specific locations I visited to ensure that they were reasonably close and reachable with public transportation. I also would have begun booking my transport ahead of time sooner on in my journey, which would have given me more time to explore in some of the cities I visited earlier on. Regardless, I hope planning your own adventure will be exciting rather than stressful, and that you will have a very incredible and rewarding trip across the peninsula!
If you have any specific inquiries about traveling in Korea or would like personalized guidance/recommendations/or tips, please feel free to reach out to me at jangmitravels@gmail.com, and I will response as quickly and thoroughly as possible!
Helpful Hints:
-Establish the time frame during which you will be travelling as soon as possible, as more detailed planning will be dependent upon the start and end points chosen for your trip.
-If you have Korean friends or acquaintances, ask them for recommendations of places to visit! While it is easy to find popular tourist natives may have knowledge of hidden gems that they enjoy for various reasons, be it stunning views, unique activities, or delectable cuisine. They also may give you a better estimate of how long of a stay is needed to get the most out of a location than you could figure out yourself.
-Create a list of cities you are interested in, and bold any cities that are especially prioritized for you (for example, if you have a list of thirty cities, you may have five that you absolutely must visit based on recommendations from friends, research, or other reasons).
-When making a list of potential destinations, it may be helpful to organize the sites by province, and perhaps even further by chronological order (if you plan on travelling counterclockwise, you may list Busan before Ulsan, as Busan lies further southwest than Ulsan making it likely that you would visit the former first). This way, once you have reduced your list to a reasonable amount of locations, you will already have the order in which traveling is most logical established.
-Utilize Kakao or Naver Maps to estimate the travel time between locations/activities to help you further narrow down your itinerary. From there, doing additional research using the internet and perhaps blogs can help you to get a fuller picture of how much time will be required at each location, as well as whether certain activities are even feasible. BE AWARE, however, that these apps often fail to show you true running times of buses and therefore may mislead you slightly. This is one solid reason why I encourage flexibility.
-Consider buying your train/bus tickets ahead of time rather than waiting until the day of departure. If you figure out how to utilize the various transportation websites, you may be able to go about this more simply. However, if you are not tech savvy, like me, using this system is advisable.
-COVID-19 Note: as with many things, the pandemic has affected transportation. While I usually had few problems getting from place to place, I did encounter an incident where direct transport between two cities I was visiting had been restricted to a once daily train which departed at 6am—about three hours before I arrived to the station. Additionally, no intercity buses running between the two cities were active at that time because services of low-demand were reduced or eliminated due to COVID. While I did manage to reach my next destination after a trip to the tourist information center, some light argument amongst the staff, and one of the employees directly leading me to the bus station to ask the employees there how to get to my point B, leading to a combination of bus and train travels, what was a short trip according to Naver map became a long trek. Note that if such changes have been implemented for the pandemic, websites and apps may not reflect this.
(All photos and content on this page are my own work and property. Do not repost or use any content from this blog without permission. Thank you.)
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