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 Traveller's Tales: Getting around in South Korea
Know the most popular landmarks in South Korea. You may read about best transportation, recommended travel itinerary, suggested routes and directions. Also, you might want to read our
Jeju city guide,
and Seoul city guide.
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| L Chung |
19 February 2005 |
Stayed at Uljiro Co-Op Residence - Seoul, South Korea.
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I recommend that if you are 4 travellers, it is better to take a cab to some popular destination such as Myuedong, Insadong, Itaewon and others. It cost about 3,000 - 4000 won from co-op Residence hotel. If you take subway the ticket is a minimum of 900 won per person. It is also better to take a white cab because it's cheaper starting from 1,600 won however, you have to well prepared to write the destination in Korean words for the cab driver to read because they only understand Korean language. You can get the assistance from the hotel's staff because they are very helpful.
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| C Lu |
29 January 2005 |
Stayed at Uljiro Co-Op Residence - Seoul, South Korea.
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Subway is the best mode of transportation, beat the crowd and cheap. Silver or white taxis are cheaper than the black taxis however unfortunately you always see the black ones near your hotel, so go down main streets to flag the white cabs. Do get hotel receptions to write down your destination/hotels in Korean as most drivers don't understand English, make sure that they on the meters. Do try out the sweet potato ice cream or sweet potato cakes in cafes. There are lots of nice and cozy boutique cafes in Myeong-dong and a good and nicely furnished Italian restaurant below Dunkin Donuts. Items at Major dept stores in downtown Seoul are much more expensive than stalls in Namdaemun and Dongdaemun, however usually these are cash payments only. Alternatively you can try the carrefour dept store at the Seoul world cup stadium at Line 6 world cup station. Items at incheon are much more expensive so be sure to get them at Seoul. Best gifts to buy Kimchi and wallets
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| L Lim |
16 January 2005 |
Stayed at Uljiro Co-Op Residence - Seoul, South Korea.
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We took subway from Dongdaemun stadium station to most areas like Insadong, Itaewon, Namdaemun, COEX. Very easy. Taxis also readily available outside the hotel. Winter temperatures bitterly cold, do not recommend going unless you enjoy subzero temperatures at the outdoor markets, go in summer it will be more relaxing. We had to scurry indoors and plan excursions because it was just way too cold for comfort. Most people only spoke little english, make sure you have hotel names and destinations written down for taxi driver, ditto on food names or bring a phrasebook otherwise you will not be able to order at restaurants without picture menus. Lonely planet is useful.
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| J Chiu |
30 December 2004 |
Stayed at Uljiro Co-Op Residence - Seoul, South Korea.
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A little side note regarding shopping, shop around if you have the time (and only IF you have the time). Because as a tourist, i got ripped off couple times during my two weeks stay in Seoul. If you speak English they know you have no idea regarding the price range for a particular item. Try to negotiate with them, you might be able to bargain a good price. Well, at least not to be ripped off too much. The Seoul Tour Bus is an excellent way to see many major tourist attractions in a short time. The bus leave at Gwanghwamun (station number 533), the bus stop is just right oustide Donghwa Duty Free which is also close to the Sejong Arts Center. Two bus tours are available--the palace tour and the downtown city tour. The downtown tour leaves the bus station every 30 mins while the palace tour bus leaves every hour. The single ride ticket is 5000 won for adults and 3000 won for children. One day ticket, which I recommended, is 10000 won for adult and 8000 won for children. Go there early, the first bus starts at 9am so that it allows you to stop at many stops to look around and hop back on for the next bus. Also, many palaces close around 5 pm, so the earlier you go the better it is.
One more thing, remember to check out when the palaces are open. Some palaces close on Mondays or Tuesdays. If you are japanese you are at a slight advantage in Korea as to many korean can speak/understand japanese. If you are chinese who speak Mandarin, sometimes you would bump into one or two waitresses in the restaurant who can speak Mandarin to assist you on ordering food. In short, you would have a higher chance to bump into people who can speak Japanese and Chinese more than a person who can speak English.
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| L Chee eng |
28 December 2004 |
Stayed at Fraser Suites Serviced Residences - Seoul, South Korea.
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The area where Fraser Suites is situated is very convenient with restaurants and shops all around the area. You can have western or Korean foods. Everything is within walking distance. The free shuttle bus from apartment to various destination is very convenient, however it should be more frequent.
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| L Leung |
27 December 2004 |
Stayed at Uljiro Co-Op Residence - Seoul, South Korea.
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The downside about our Christmas trip was that it did not snow! We went to Yangi Pine Resort on our 2nd day (underground to Nambu station, then get off at Yongi, jumped into taxi for short ride to Resort) which our daughter (6) found most enjoyable. I did some skiing (man made snow), my daughter did sledging and my husband did snow boarding! On the 3rd day we went to Everland (underground to Gangnam station then change to shuttle bus direct to Everland) for X'mas day. We loved the Christmas show on Christmas night. On 4th day, we did the King Fook Palace (Korean too complicated!) and Insa Dong which I found both easy to get to and traditional. In the evening we visited Lotte World which my daughter loved again. Seoul was a good family holiday overall. You can forget the shopping as this was the first time I came back with almost nothing!
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| S Tan |
09 December 2004 |
Stayed at Lees Seoul, Hotel - Seoul, South Korea.
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To get around Seoul, we took the subway most of the time as it's very convenient and easy to get around with accompanying english instructions/signs (Jongno-5ga is the nearest stop from Lees). Jongno-3ga which is a couple of stops from Jongno-5ga is where you can change to other lines. The airport limousine stops are located near Jongno-3ga (airport-seoul) and Jongno-4ga (seoul-airport) which are probably 5-8min walk from Lees. For authentic Korean foods, pop over to Gwangjiang Market which is just a stone-throw away. There are many street-side stalls along the main street (jongno) selling fresh fruits. Dongdaemun is also within walking distance.
For the night-owls, the 24-hr market/shopping complexes are god-sent! For a quick tour around Seoul, the Seoul city bus (10,000won) is a good option as it brings you to most of the major tourist attractions in the comfort of an air-con bus (with heating during winter) as well as an audio tour in the form of audio player with earpiece (different languages - korean, chinese, english, french) in front of every seat.
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| E Heironimus |
01 December 2004 |
Stayed at Coatel Chereville - Seoul, South Korea.
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The Seoul subway is cheap (900-1000 won = $.90-$1 for many destinations) and easy to navigate--all signs are in English too. Lotte World, just a few stops away from this hotel, was cheap and a good outing for our toddler. It is mostly indoors, which makes it great year-round (we visited in late November).
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| J Ruszkowski |
30 November 2004 |
Stayed at Hamilton Hotel - Seoul, South Korea.
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Had more fun that I expected. My friend and Iwent to Seoul for a wedding and was not sure what to expect. Everyone in Itaewon spoke some english so we were able to communicate fairly well. Cab drivers were nice and the city was quite clean - they were dusting the ceiling in the subway one day! Took cutural tours of Hanock Villiage, palace, seoul tower and enjoyed them. Do not recommend Amethyst Cente r- I thought it was about the mining of stones and showing the process- not! Just a very over priced sales pitch- if you want to buy go haggle in Itaewon.
Fabulous shopping everywhere- just learn pricing before you buy to get the best deals.
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| S Nishiwaki |
28 November 2004 |
Stayed at Busan Tourist Hotel - Busan, South Korea.
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Pusan has some different areas and if you like to discover the real Korean atmonphere and also want reasonable meals, this hotel is in the write location. Close from the metro station and harbour, and there are some shops open long time for tourists who need to shop in the neigborhood, most of the clerks speak good Japanese, so very convenient. The bad thing is we were probably ripped-off at the nearest coffee shop, as they charged 10000 won for the breakfast set.
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