In case you missed it, I have been writing day-by-day accounts of my holiday in South Korea. This is a ‘round up’ of my observations, and my best places to go.
Of course, this is all my personal opinion.
We might not have the same tastes.
Places to Visit#
We hopped around three locations in South Korea. My first tip is that you should do this too.
There is a lot to do in each place, but it was great to see a mix of everything Korea had to offer.
I’m going to keep my review of each place to one ‘best thing to do’ and one ‘best place to eat’. If you want more places, then you should dip into the full blogs.
Seoul#
There was a lot to do in Seoul, but more than everything else there was a lot of places to go shopping.
- Best thing to do - Tour the DMZ
- Best place to eat - The stalls at Myeongdong Market
- Honourable mention - Visiting the Palace in Hanbok
Busan#
Busan was a lovely city by the sea, with gorgeous beaches, and lots of things to see nearby.
- Best thing to do - Haeundae Blueline Park
- Best place to eat - Standard Bread
- Honourable mention - Evening Drone Show
Jeju Island#
Jeju Island was a perfect place to slow the holiday down, allowing us to relax among waterfalls and forests.
- Best thing to do - The lights on Saeseom Island
- Best place to eat - Olle Market
- Honourable mention - Osulloc Tea Museum
Travel Tips#
Here is a summary of my observations during the trip.
Almost everyone spoke English#
Travelling around Korea, almost everyone we bumped into spoke fluent English.
There were only one or two taxi drivers who didn’t, but we could communicate using Google Translate on our phones.
You probably don’t need a Korean phone number#
I think we could have got by and used the concierge in our hotels the two times we needed to book taxis.
Otherwise, it was not really needed.
Next time I would save myself the trouble of picking up a SIM at the airport, and just get an eSIM from someone like Airalo.
If you really want one, just get one for the group.
Mosquitoes are everywhere#
Mosquito bites are common, bring protection!
If it wasn’t for the constant zapping sound of the electric zapper in our room, or the bites my friends got, I would say this was overblown. But given the number of bites my friends received, I would say, bring protection!
You will need a T-Money Card#
The Seoul subway doesn’t take any form of payment except a T-Money card (a special contactless card). There are machines before the barriers at every subway station where you can buy a new card, or top-up your existing card.
The South Korean Government has pricing information on their website, and ₩20,000 lasted us a week.
Google Maps is useless#
Google Maps doesn’t work, you need to use Naver Maps.
Google Maps only works for public transport, but it is still not that good and has poor coverage. Naver Maps has walking directions, the interior of stations, and better public transport routing (e.g. the fastest vs. the easiest routes).
There is a long story behind why Google Maps doesn’t work; here is a good article on why.
Tipping isn’t a thing in most places#
At no point on the holiday were we asked for a tip. No card terminal prompts, or coercive optional percentages added to bills.
However, we were informed that if the waiter cuts and cooks your meat for you at a Korean BBQ, then it is customary to tip 10%.
Prepare to carry your rubbish#
Busy tourist locations rarely have rubbish bins.
In many of the places we went to, there were no public rubbish bins for you to throw your food waste away in. We found out that this is because Koreans want to encourage you to not walk and eat.
Buy your food, eat it, and then hand the rubbish back to the seller. They are always happy to take it back.
Uber works fine#
We had been told that K-Ride was the taxi app for visitors. However, we pretty much exclusively used Uber. It was fast, cheap, and was available everywhere we went; Seoul, Busan, and Jeju island.
Electronic ordering tablets are common#
In many of the restaurants we went to, electronic terminals were common. These allowed you to select your language and order without having to be embarrassed by how little Korean you speak. These were more frequently found in places where you ordered individual dishes, not if you were ordering Korean BBQ for the table.
Public toilets are everywhere#
And I mean everywhere. Subway stations, markets, beaches, mountains, waterfalls. You name it, there is one or more toilets there.
All the ones we went in to were free, clean, and fully stocked. You never need to worry about being caught short.
Bonus: Apple AirPods Live Translation sucks#
I was very excited when Apple announced that the AirPods Pro 3 (which I have a pair of) could do live translation of Korean.
Unfortunately I never managed to get it to work, always being told that I needed to be “closer to the speaker”.
