Guide of South-Korea
General information
This is our guide to South-Korea. Before we went to South Korea, we knew very little about it. We heard a lot about North-Korea, but South-Korea always stayed in our shadows. We always wanted to go to Japan, but because of Covid we gave South-Korea a change.
Safety
South-Korea is very safe. There are cameras on every street and people like to live by the rules. You do have to watch where you walk. Some people are to focused on their phones, that they will bump into you. We think this is because of the feeling of safety they have. Also, you can get snitched out very easily. We do think that this applies to the bigger cities.
Respect
We noticed the people are very distant from each other. That is because of the respect they have for each other’s privacy. It seems, they like to be left alone. You will also find places, like bars or restaurants, that have tables for only one person.
If you give them something (like you are paying in the supermarkter), they will take it with two hands. When entering a shop they will make a quick bow, if you want you can do the same.
They also have respect for the ealderly. It seems like the older you become the more you’ll have to listen to them.
Modern
The streets and buildings are very modern. They have toilets everywhere and there are many places to sit. The buildings they live in are rather small most of the times. You will find buildings places randomly next to each other and all the buildings look different. They all look very charming.
There are many places to eat or to buy your clothes. It seems that the shops rotate a lot. We do not know exactly why, but we think it is because the trends keep changing.
ATM
For a foreigner getting money is often a problem. There are a lot of ATMs, but there are only some that accept credit cards from abroad. You really have to find a global ATM and if you find one, get as much cash as you think you need.
Public Transportation
Metro
Going with metro is very easy. There is a metro system in Seoul and in Busan. Before you go through the gates, you will find a few vending machines. One is for a single ride, one is for buying a T-money card, one that you give back the money for using the card and one is to reload T-money cards.
One way
If you are planning to stay only for a few days in South-Korea, we advise you to get the one-way card. You can buy this card at a vending machine and is only available from place of departure to place of arrival on the day of purchase. After use you can find the machine to deposit you card and have deposit for the use of the card.
T-Money card
A T-money card is a card you can use almost everywhere even for busses. This card is also reloadable. It is very easy to use and after use you can also exchange the card for a deposit. This card is an option when you want to stay in South-Korea for a longer period. If you are outside of the city and you want to reload the card. You can go into a convenience store and reload them with cash.
Tourist cards
The tourist-card is a card for tourist. For this card you have to pay a certain amount and it will be useable for a couple of days. You can choose between two to seven days. The more days you want to use this, the more you will have to pay. We bought these and we noticed that we had to use the metro six times a day to get our money back. After that we used this card as a T-money card and it worked really well. There was only one metro line we had to buy one-way tickets for, where our friends with normal T-money cards could go in.
Train
The trains in South-Korea are very modern. They have a Bullet train and also normal trains. If you want you can buy a Korail Pass. You can find it on the website of KORAIL. You can also easily book a train ticket online via Korail (letskorail.com), 12Go: Book Trains, Buses, Ferries, Transfers & Flights or Book High-Speed Trains Around the World with Rail.Ninja. Korail is the direct way to buy the tickets. If you book your ticket via 12Go it is also possible, but they are a little more expensive. Rail.Ninja is also a good way to book the train, but we found out you can book most of the trains only in the weekend. Off course you can also buy tickets at the station itself, but most of the tickets are already sold out and you will have to wait for the next train.
Bullet Train
The bullet train is called KTX. It is a train that goes more than 300 kilometres per hour and it feels like a normal train. Within 3,5 hours it goes from Seoul to Busan. It is the fastest train in South-Korea. If you want seats on this train, you really have to book in advance. You can also buy them at the station itself, but they probably will be sold out.
Bus
Most of the time we took the bus when we were on Jeju Island. They were just like local busses. We did not have to make a reservation for them and paid with our T-money card.
Car Rental
Car rental is kind of expensive in South-Korea. We chose to go everywhere by train, plain or metro. There are some places we wished we had a car. Like Jeju-island. We think the island is very nice to visit, but if you want to see anything, you definitely need a car. Otherwise, you have to take the bus and that takes a lot of time. Going with the bus from north to south takes at least one hour.
Food
There are a lot of nice foods to eat. Maybe you already have read our blog Korean eating places. But in case you still have to, here is our general information about the dishes in South-Korea.
Korean like to eat food that is sweet and sour. There are a lot of places where you can eat Korean BBQ, pancakes and Japanese food. These are the things you really have to try.
Korean BBQ
Different kinds of meat prepared on a bbq in front of you. Wrap the meat with lettuce, fill with some kimchi.
Fried Chicken
Already known by a lot of people
Noodle soup
Cold or warm, depending on the kind of noodles. Differences in broth, meat and vegetables
Bibimbap
Rice with vegetables in a bowl
Tteokbokki
Compressed rice cakes in a sweet and spice sauce
Dumplings
Dumplings are dough filled with kimchi, fish (shrimp) and pork, which are steamed or fried
Gimbap
Rolls with seaweed filled with rice, vegetables and meat of your choice. Compare to sushi they have more flavour and are bigger.
Egg toast
Toasted bread with eggs, ham, cheese, corn and a lot more. Normally, this is eaten as breakfast or lunch. For the people who expect the food to be savoury, it is the opposite. The food is very sweet. They use corn and sweet sauce.
Kimchi pancakes
It is a pancake filled with Kimchi. These pancakes are not available in a pancake restaurant.
Bulgogi
Rice with beef
Kimchi
Kimchi is usually fermented white cabbage with a blend of chillies and salt but sometimes other vegetables are used. This is mostly served with other dishes.
Pickles
These are pickled vegetables. With every dish we received some side dishes, mostly Kimchi but pickled vegetables were often present as well.
Crab or fish
In Busan we went to a fish market where we ate crab. You can read about it here.
Soba Noodles
These noodles are served cold and have a lot of taste.
Sweet pankakes
Speaks for itself.
There are also a lot of local dishes you can eat. For instance we really liked Dagalbi in Chuncheon.
Food Court
We recommend to find a food court in the neighbourhood where you are in, because they are much cheaper that the normal restaurants. You will find most of the food courts in the shopping mall and they are also very good.
We also have a blog about the food we ait, go to Korean eating places » South-Korea (timellen.net) for more information.
Places to visit
Seoul
Seoul has many places to visit and every neighbourhood has its own individuality. You really must go there and just walk around.
DMZ (Border between North and South-Korea)
The bus trip to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) is really one you must do. This is the border between North and South-Korea. It is rather expensive compare the other things you want to see, but we really loved it and we didn’t get to see the JSA (Joint Security Area). The JSA is the place where the negotiations are hold. The trip took around six hours. We booked it via www.vviptravel.com. You will also get a lot information about the DMZ.
Our experience: The history and nature of South-Korea » South-Korea (timellen.net)
Address: DMZ Haemaru Village – Google Maps
Website: www.vviptravel.com
Grand Palace (Seoul)
The Grand Palace is a place where you really must go. It is really big and it has a lot of history.
Our experience go to First day in South-Korea » South-Korea (timellen.net)
Website: http://cgg.cha.go.kr/
Address: Changgyeonggung Palace – Google Maps
War memorial
The war memorial is free. When we walked through it, we were thinking. Remind me, why is the free again? It is really big and fun to walk through. They have everything.
Our experience: Spots in Seoul » South-Korea (timellen.net)
Website: http://www.warmemo.or.kr/
Address: War Memorial of Korea – Google Maps
National Museum of Korea
The National Museum of Korea is also free. It is smaller than the War Memorial, but still impressive to walk through.
Our experience: Seoul South-Korea » South-Korea (timellen.net)
Address: National Museum of Korea – Google Maps
Website: http://www.museum.go.kr/
Hanok Villages
There are a lot of Hanok Villages in the country, but the one we liked the most is the one in Jeonju. Jeonju is one of the villages where people can dress themselves into former robes and the houses are still lived in.
Our experience: Popular Jeonju » South-Korea (timellen.net)
Address: Jeonju Hanok Village – Google Maps
East-Coast of South-Korea
The east-coast is more expensive, because of the tourism. We haven’t been there, but we heard from the locals it is their vacation destination. The beaches supposed to be very nice.
Seoraksan National Park
We wanted to visit Seoraksan park before we decide to leave South-Korea, but we didn’t have the change anymore. This place seems to be one of the most know and most touristic places in South-Korea.
Our experience: Address: Seoraksan – Google Maps
Busan
Busan is smaller than Seoul. It is easy to get to by train and by flight. The beach is really nice and the city itself is very modern.
Fishermen Market
In Busan there is also a fish market in which you really have to eat. At the first floor you can buy the fish and at the second floor you can eat it. We bought a crab of three kilo and eat it with four people.
Our experience: Trip in Busan » South-Korea Tim and Ellen’s Blog % (timellen.net)
Address: Jagalchimarkt – Google Maps
Website: http://jagalchimarket.bisco.or.kr/
Jeju Island
Jeju Island supposed to be the touristic place where the Korean people go on holiday. It is a little more expensive and we recommend to rent a car, but it is a very nice place for being in nature.
K-pop
K-pop is a big thing in South-Korea. Some of the groups you maybe already heard of like Black Pink and BTS. They supposed to be the most known. K-pop is a music made by the South-Korean to use as a sort of export product.
Anime and video games
If you walk in the mall of maybe on the street, you’ll find a lot of shops with Anime or video games. On the metro you’ll also find a lot of people playing games on their phones.
Our Experience
These are the things that makes South-Korea Unique. On South-Korea Travel Destination » Tim and Ellen’s Blog (timellen.net) you can find our photos and read about our experience.