As it happened, we visited the "frenemies" on two consecutive years, since after our stay in Japan , we went to South Korea.
It wasn't a country on my "list" at the base, in any case, not a priority, but wanting a destination that didn't require too much of a day to get a good overview, and by looking at the plane ticket promotions, we came across interesting prices for a Bangkok - Seoul flight.
So I thought, why not? Even though we only had 10 days, we decided on a north-to-south route, from Seoul to Busan . A fairly brief visit, certainly, but one that would give a good overview of what the experience in this country neighboring Japan can be like.
I'm sharing my itinerary, the budget, and giving you a brief summary of this first glimpse of the land of the morning calm.
10 days in South Korea: our itinerary
I'll start with the choice of itinerary. It's worth noting that we spent almost half our trip in Seoul. Partly because there's a lot to see, but also because we didn't want to waste too much time traveling. That said, the country isn't excessively large, and with their express train, getting around is quite fast.
But it still depends on the routes, and on site we wanted to avoid having to rent a car or anything else (mainly for budgetary reasons) so we tried to keep it as "simple" as possible.
Choosing an itinerary isn't always easy because you never know if or when you'll return. Originally, we planned to go to Jeju Island, but that would have required at least two, maybe even three, extra days. It's a good 80 km long and almost deserves a dedicated trip of its own, not to mention the additional expense.
Here is the itinerary taken for this first stay in South Korea:
- Early arrival in Seoul – Cheonggyecheon Greenway – Gyeongbokgung Grand Royal Palace – Myeongdong
- Seoul – Deoksugung Palace – Seoul Tower
- Seoul -> Andong
- Hahoe Village -> Gyeongju
- Gyeongju
- Gyeongju -> Busan
- Busan – Gamcheon Culture Village – Jagalchi Market
- Busan -> Seoul
- Seoul – Changgyeonggung Palace – Bukchon Hanok Village
- Seoul – Jongmyo Shrine – Gangnam – Banpo Hangang Park (then return flight late in the evening)
This itinerary was created using the Trip Planner website.
In short, we focused our itinerary more on art and history than on landscapes. First, the capital, essential as in practically any country, with its royal palaces and neighborhoods of old houses. But also shopping districts like Myeongdong , and the legendary Gangnam district.
Seoul has the advantage of blending the old and the new very well. And speaking of modern, I dream that a project similar to the Cheonggyecheon greenway will come to fruition in Bangkok (there is an attempt with the Chong Nonsi canal, but it is far from being a clean canal…), it is really pleasant and enjoyable to walk along it, to the sound of the clean stream flowing in its middle (even if it was already there before, I say modern, because it is ultimately a reconstruction).
This first part was only a preview since we planned to stop again in Seoul on the way back to complete our visits, as we have to go back there anyway to return to Bangkok.
For the rest of the trip, we mainly visited historically important or ancient sites, such as the village of Hahoe , which we reached from the small town of Andong . The next stop was Gyeongju, the former capital during the Silla Kingdom , which lasted for over 1,000 years. It's a veritable open-air museum that easily requires two or three days to explore.
Finally, we ended our journey in the south, in Busan, which was intended to be the "nature" destination of this trip. Well, "nature"... That's because Busan is on the coast , so there are beaches and a few walks possible along its shoreline. However, it's still a very large city, and our itinerary was essentially centered around cities and urban areas, even though it was still largely surrounded by nature in general, as there are always small mountains on the horizon in Korea; it's very hilly.
We were incredibly lucky; we happened to be there during the sand festival on Haeundae Beach , which had a music theme related to sand sculptures. It's a very popular festival in Korea that attracts huge crowds, so it was very lively with live music, entertainment, and fireworks. Unfortunately for them and for us, the bad weather arrived on our second day there (which was supposed to be the last day of the festival).
Upon returning to Seoul, we finished our sightseeing while revisiting places we had loved the first time. I'm thinking of the Myeongdong district, but also the Cheonggyecheon promenade. We had also decided to try a new neighborhood to stay in, primarily to be closer to the sites we planned to visit on our return to Seoul. This proved to be a wise choice, as it was lively at night and full of charm during the day.
We took the opportunity to do some last-minute souvenir shopping, and Jitima, by sheer luck, found what she needed for her watercolor paintings just as we stumbled upon THE neighborhood clearly dedicated to artists.
Budget for 10 days in South Korea
Let's be honest, South Korea isn't cheap. Prices are similar to Japan and comparable to Europe , though accommodation is generally more affordable.
I already mentioned it in my article on Japan, I want to re-specify it, as the years go by, we are no longer on a correct budget, abandoning a little the "backpack" mode so not too many hostels with shared bathrooms for us in general. This is also why we recently allow ourselves destinations like Japan or Korea (it does not prevent me personally from continuing to travel around Southeast Asia more haphazardly, let's say that each country tends to make us travel differently).
This budget only reflects our way of traveling and should be taken as an indication rather than a model.
On-site budget: 43,132 ฿ (€1,268), or 4,313 ฿ (€127) per day for two people, very similar to the budget for Japan and not at all surprising. However, if you're curious and take a look at the budget for Japan , you'll see a slightly higher figure (43,786 ฿) but a lower amount in euros (€1,152). The reason is that the baht has been appreciating for several months and its value is currently around 34 baht to 1 euro, compared to 38 baht during our stay in Japan last year.
Brought back to the 2018 value, this is equivalent to a budget of €1 on site, and this for 135 days and not 10 as for Japan. In summary, we therefore spent slightly less compared to Japan by around 9%.
Regarding accommodation, we paid 13 ฿ for 752 nights, paid in advance because we had fixed our itinerary, which makes a budget of 9 ฿.
Total Budget: 56 ฿ (884 €) or a little less than 1 € per day per person.
Add to that our plane tickets, which we had a very good price for thanks to Air Asia. For a Bangkok – Incheon, we paid 17 ฿ for 500 (or €2 per person) round trip, which is about 240% cheaper than for Japan.
After these 2 consecutive trips with fairly substantial budgets (especially for us, because we don't have the same salaries proportional to Europe!), I think we should calm down a little next time.
Afterwards it is obvious that we could simply reduce our budget. If we take into account that the souvenir budget is 10 ฿, which is still 324%, it is not as such essential for the trip.
Another notable point is food: at 20,427 ฿, it represents more than a third of the total budget ! It's not that it's excessively expensive, although overall it wasn't particularly cheap either, but we did indulge ourselves. Besides our constant snacking, we're both coffee drinkers—it's our guilty pleasure. To give you an idea of the scale, our caffeine budget was 3,850 ฿, which is still 19% of our "food" budget, which isn't essential either.
Well, in the lot, it does include some cakes and not just drinks, although I can estimate the dessert budget alone at around 3,000 ฿ or about 16%, which makes a coffee/dessert budget of 35% of the total and finally leaves a breakfast (not always included in hotels), lunch and dinner budget of about 60%, the remaining 5% being water, also essential.
As I mentioned earlier, the accommodation budget was reasonable, averaging 1,528 ฿ (€45) per day, even though it was a single room with a private bathroom. Admittedly, the rooms were generally small, but overall they offered good value for money.
Many visits are either free or relatively inexpensive, regardless of your nationality (here there's no need for double pricing like in most Southeast Asian countries, which often charge foreigners 3 or even 10 times more than locals). In Seoul, we got a combined ticket allowing us to visit all 5 royal palaces for only 10,000 won per person , or barely €7.60.
And also knowing that passing by, Jitima wanted to see an exhibition about Van Gogh ( Meet Vincent Van Gogh, which takes place in Seoul and Barcelona) which added 16,000 per person (12 €), making it the most expensive entrance ticket we paid for on this whole trip and representing 36% of the total budget for visits.
Finally, regarding transportation, we only used public transport. Within the city, it was mainly the subway and occasionally buses, using our very convenient T Money prepaid card . For longer journeys, we primarily used the intercity train. This wasn't the most expensive option in Korea, considering that of the total 9,567 ฿ , a good third was for the return train from Busan to Seoul (3,348 ฿, representing 35% of the transportation budget alone!).
Some pointers:
- A 500ml bottle of water costs an average of 800 won (€0,6)
- A meal costs an average of 23 won per person (€000)
- Subway: an average trip costs 1 won (€350)
- Average price for tours: 3 won (€500)
Getting around in Korea
Seoul boasts a well-developed subway network , with 22 lines totaling 330 km, making it easy to get around the city center and surrounding areas. Incheon Airport itself is accessible by both train and subway, given that it's 60 km from the international airport to downtown Seoul. We actually tried both methods. We took the express train there (18,500 won per person), which is direct and takes about 45 minutes, allowing us to get a feel for the city more quickly, while on the return trip, we took the subway.
With all the stops involved, it roughly doubles the travel time (1h30), but the cost is around 4 ￦ (depending on your exact departure station in Seoul). From the start, we had taken a rechargeable T Money card, easy to recharge at the terminals found at all stations. Practical, it avoids looking for change and you can pay for both the subway and the buses, both in Seoul and in Busan.
For intermediate journeys, we mainly took the bus , such as between Andong and Hahoe Village (19 km), Andong to Gyeongju, and then between Gyeongju and Busan. Once in Gyeongju, we took buses on the first day to visit the more distant sites and rented bicycles on the second day.
Busan being a large city, it has a metro with 4 lines covering 116 km. The bus is still a good option if there are no stations near the place of visit (I am thinking in particular of the colorful village of Gamcheon on one side of the city and the Haedong Yonggungsa temple on the other).
To help me get around, I had planned a few applications on my smartphone (on Android, sorry Mac friends), which proved very useful:
- South Korea Map Offline, detailed, with visible bus stops and metro entrances, it helped me a lot, combined with GPS, to get my bearings.
- Seoul Subway Guide and Interactive Map, simple and effective to know which lines to take and the stops for connections, it also indicates the estimated time, distance and fare and all in French.
- Busan Metro Guide and Interactive Map, same as above for Busan city.
They are all accessible offline, because I did not consider it necessary to take a local SIM card. Especially since we also regularly had free Wi-Fi in public areas (metro stations etc.)
Summary of the stay in the land of K-Pop
Korea is quite popular with Thais and people from many Southeast Asian countries, because between the famous boy bands and girl groups, there's plenty to make hearts flutter. Some people travel there just to see them in concert.
South Korea tends to be overshadowed by its neighbor Japan in terms of appeal. The country sounds like a pale Japanese copy, with a culture deemed bland. Let's not lie, there are similarities, but with the mix of Chinese culture, South Korea definitely has its own identity.
As proof, I offer the fact that before 2015, South Korea welcomed more tourists than Japan! Even I was surprised. Both countries then had similar figures, around 13 million visitors.
But lately, Japan has managed to come out on top, tripling the number of tourists since 2013 (more than 30 million visitors last year in Japan), while South Korea is "stagnating", with only 15 million in 2018.
Welcome to South Korea
In terms of the welcome in the country, it is not easy to judge in such a short time with relatively few interactions. What I take away from it is that English is not particularly spoken, except in hotels obviously. Restaurants generally have a menu subtitled in Latin alphabet but if this is not the case, images are generally there to help you choose.
Overall, we feel welcomed, people are quite friendly, more so than I expected. At "worst case", we are just considered as an average person in the end, tourist or not, Korean or not.
I was warned that portrait photography wouldn't be like in Southeast Asia, so I avoided taking any. But I didn't really feel any distrust in this regard either; only once did a lady stop me and ask if I had taken her picture (while I was taking pictures in the street), reassuring her, and it was true, that I hadn't (I was aiming higher, so there was no one in the frame).
On the other hand, they love taking pictures of themselves, already in Thailand it goes there, it's almost a national sport. And forget the Korean who forms a heart with his arms above his head, the new fashion is to do it with the fingers, crossing the thumb and index finger.
If you are curious like me, I will put an article for you to understand the origin, but sorry, I found that in English:
It's still quite lively, we saw some lively neighborhoods in the evening where people drink around a famous Korean BBQ, and others, conducive to relaxing in nice cafes, each with a different look but always making you want to take a breather and stock up on caffeine.
In terms of visits, let's say that there was a redundant side to the temples and many are in fact reconstructions, between the Korean War and the fires of various origins, it suffered quite a bit... And that's precisely what can be felt, the country is still divided, some are still resentful towards their northern neighbor and can't get over the idea of having a part of their communist country. We came across several demonstrations to that effect, it was always a bit weird.
If I have to give a concrete summary, I would say that it remains a pleasant visit and that it is still likely that we will come back to visit this country, if only to visit Jeju Island.
Korean cuisine
I'm not a big fan of Korean food but I still enjoy going there from time to time in Bangkok... The thing is, often foreign cuisine is adapted to local tastes. This means that I was finally discovering what Korean food is really like.
Not eating shellfish or seafood in general, I admit that I was quickly limited in my choice of dishes. I was not particularly impressed and it cannot be said that it is for me a strong point of the country. Afterwards, I want to say that "tastes and colors", eh, don't throw stones at me. I'm not saying that it was bad either, just that well, kimchi here, kimchi there, it lacked variety for my taste.
On the contrary, in her own words, Jitima had a great time, because she and seafood make four! And she loves kimchi too.
South Korea in pictures
Finally, here's a small photo gallery to give you an overview of this trip.
So, does Korea inspire you?
Did you like this article? Share it on Pinterest!
