10 Day South Korea Itinerary
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10 Day South Korea Itinerary
We were really pleasantly surprised by South Korea, especially its capital city Seoul! We found the culture really interesting, the landscapes to be beautiful, the food was so delicious and everyone is super friendly! They are, of course, also dressed really well with amazing skin (hello K-beauty). We spent about 10 days there exploring Seoul and Jeju Island and found it to be ample time, although you can always spend longer! If you have more time, you can also visit Busan (with the colourful Gamcheon culture village) and Gyeongyju which are two other popular coastal cities. It’s also possible to plan a North Korea day tour to visit the border line at the DMZ (de-militarised zone).
The currency used is the South Korean Won (KRW) with roughly £1 to ₩1500, the average price of a meal starts at about £6 per person, making it a little pricey at times. We’d say the best time to plan your Korea trip (as with most cities) is in the spring so it’s pleasantly warm but not too hot, although we visited in summer and it was still great! Autumn would also make a good option too, and if you do decide to go in the winter know that the temperatures can get below freezing so be prepared!
Key phrases:
Hello - Yeoboseyo (여보세요)
Goodbye - Annyeong (안녕)
Thank you - Gamsa (감사)
Yes - Ye (예)
No - Ani (아니)
One - Hana (하나)
Two - Du (두)
Please - Budi (부디)
Read on below for our 10 day itinerary so you, too, can have as great a holiday as we did!
Contents in the blog post
seoul travel guide
We absolutely loved this awesome city so much so, it’s currently one of our favourite cities in the whole world! It blew us away with its laid-back coolness, quirky areas, awesome shops and amazing food- quite frankly we didn’t expect to like it so much and weren’t even planning on spending that much time here but luckily a typhoon thwarted our Jeju plans a bit so we, thankfully, stayed here a bit longer than we originally anticipated! If you can, spend at least 5 days here- we think that’s a good amount of time to explore some of the different neighbourhoods on offer and get a good feel for the city, but the longer the better we say!
What to do in Seoul
Like with any city, you’re mainly going to be wandering around checking out all the different areas- and boy does Seoul deliver! Our favourites were where we were staying, Yeonnam, the infamous Gangnam and nearby Seongsu-dong. It’s kind of weird, however, researching what are the best things to do in Seoul online because it’s hard to find another travel blog not talking only about the culture village (Bukchon Hanok), the Palace (Gyeongbokgung), shopping in Myeong-dong and looking at the view from the N Seoul Tower. But we think these are doing a disservice to the real Seoul by not getting stuck in like a local to explore the depths of the incredibly diverse neighbourhoods and saving all that tourist stuff as extras!
So here’s a breakdown of the things we really loved to do in Seoul from our time there, both touristy and non-touristy:
Walk around Hongdae - This is definitely one of the coolest areas in Seoul. It has such a buzzing vibe to it and is FULL of awesome shops, bars, cafes, restaurants etc, especially on all the cute surrounding little roads- our favourite was jewellery street Wausan-ro 27-gil. Hongdae is also great because it’s pedestrian which is always a nice plus when walking around. You could spend hours just wandering here, window-shopping and people-watching. There’s a cool art market, Free Market, held on Saturdays by the square in 19-3 Wausan-ro 21-gil. Where we stayed near Hongdae (Yeonnam) had even more cute cafes and restaurants! Whilst you’re here, don’t forget to visit the famous “cartoon cafe” on 223-14 Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-gu.
Explore Seongsu-dong - This is an awesome urban, industrial area reminiscent of Brooklyn or East London, and similar to East London, it can sometimes feel like there’s nothing much here at times haha but persist and you shall be rewarded! Seongsu-dong is home to some of the coolest conceptual cafes, galleries, shops and restaurants that we’ve been to (particularly Baesan and Daelim Changgo CO:LUMN). You won’t regret spending an afternoon exploring around here.
Visit Gangnam - Ahh the famous Gangnam. This is an uber-cool, slightly more upper-class neighbourhood full of designer shops and awesome concept stores. Our absolute favourite here was the beautiful Tamburins. Again, you can easily spend a great afternoon wandering around here (we did struggle a bit to find food here though)!
Wander around Itaewon - This is a cute, unassuming little neighbourhood full of vintage and antique shops. It’s also got really nice cafes and places to eat. This is a a super small neighbourhood so you can easily fit it in as a pit stop on your way to somewhere else (Seoul’s metro system is great- it’s fast, clean and cheap)!
Visit Bukchon Hanok Village - This is one of the main tourist attractions of Seoul, and with good reason! It’s a super cute, ancient folk village right in the heart of the city centre. You’ll know you’ve arrived at the right place when you step outside the metro stop (Anguk, orange line 3) and people are walking around dressed in traditional Korean costume. The “village” itself is a few streets comprised of the original 600-year-old Joseon Dynasty settlement. It’s really nice to walk around and you get a great view of the city from the top of the hill. You can also take part in traditional various workshops dotted along the way. We recommend getting a map at the tourist office right outside the station so you don’t miss anything/get lost (like we did haha) even though it is really small!
See Gyeongbokgung Palace - The main royal palace of the Joseon Dynasty, built in 1395, this is a really beautiful place to visit. It’s open every day except Tuesday from 9am-6pm and costs about £1.50 to enter.
Try visiting Myeong-dong - This is the famous shopping area, where you’ll also find the pink pool cafe Stylenanda. Honestly, we weren’t too fussed about this street, we would only suggest coming here for Stylenanda, or if you really have to do some commercial shopping- bearing in mind that Seoul is full of awesome shops and you’ll come across many others, often much much better than what you can find here (which is also pretty busy and touristy). A 10 minute walk from this area is Seoullo 7017, also known as the Seoul Skygarden, which is a park built atop a former highway overpass and full of 24,000 plants a long the walkway. If you’re in the area or need to go to Seoul main train station then it’s a nice little 30 minute detour full of greenery.
Best places to eat in Seoul
Known for its coffee culture, Seoul has a wide array of novelty coffee shops, and you could really spend most of your time just going on a hunt of them, check out our guide on The Coolest Cafes In Seoul for more information! The food is also super delicious, although we did struggle a bit in some areas, such as Gangnam. Being that Korean food is largely meat based, it can be a bit difficult at times to find vegan or vegetarian food but definitely not impossible! Here are some of the best places we ate at:
Slow Cali - This is a really cute place that has the BEST poke bowls we’ve ever had! It’s situated on the top floor of the cute streets of Yeonnam, Donggyo-ro 38-gil, 2F. Open daily except Tuesdays from 11:30am-3pm and 5-8:30pm, meals start at about £5.
Grain - Another super cute place, also located in Yeonnam, Donggyo-ro 46-gil, 23, they have a wide range of smaller options to pick from to make up a type of tapas board, and has more of a healthy deli vibe. Open daily except Tuesday from 9am-7pm, starting from £3.
Plant - This is a really cool place in Itaewon that has delicious vegan and vegetarian food! On 117 Bogwang-ro, open daily except Sunday from 11am-10pm. Prices start at £4.
Gwangjang Market - If street food is more your thing, this is the oldest market in the country! Food markets are always a great way to try real local dishes and immerse yourself in the culture too. You can find it on 88 Changgyeonggung-ro, open daily from 9am-5pm.
Gogung (고궁) - This is a 40-year-old establishment in which the staff dress in traditional Hanok costumes in the evening, famous for their bibimbap (which are a must-try dish while in Korea!) this is a great place to experience eating like a local as it’s popular among the older generations. It’s on Myeongdong 8ga-gil and open daily from 11am-9:30pm.
Mingles - This is a fusion Korean Michelin star restaurant that’s rated as one of the top 50 restaurants in the whole of Asia! Of course, with this prestige comes a fairly heft price tag of £60 per person for the lunch menu, but hey if you’re feeling fancy and want to splurge then why not go for the best! On 19 Dosan-daero 67-gil, it’s open daily from 12-2pm and 6-9pm.
Where to stay
As mentioned, we really loved staying in Yeonnam because it’s so cute and close to Hongdae but also quiet. Seoul is so well connected however you can pretty much stay anywhere and still be in easy access of everywhere else! Either way, it’s probably best to stick to somewhere central so you can walk too- The whole of Mapo-gu and Hongdae are great options because they’re full of amenities and also affordable (which won’t be the case as much with Gangnam for example), they’ve also got more going on than Seongsu-dong.
a guide to jeju island
Although we had previously planned to spend longer on this little island so we could get some decent beach and surf time in, Typhoon Lingling had other ideas for us! So we cut our stay down to 5 days, and honestly think this is more than enough. There’s not much to the island other than the beaches. There’s some nice coastal walks you can do as well though. We went to the surf beach in the south of the island which had brown/black volcanic sand and cold, clean water. In the north of the island, the sand is whiter so the water appears bluer. There are several waterfalls dotted around the island you can visit too. Jeju is known as the “love island” because it’s a popular spot amongst honeymooners to travel to and has its very own “love” theme park. That said, it definitely didn’t feel majorly loved-up or coupley so don’t be put off if you’re travelling alone or with friends/family! For scale, Jeju is roughly 3 times the size of Seoul so you’ll have to hire a car or taxi everywhere because the public buses are not incredibly reliable or well-connected.
What to do on Jeju Island
Beaches + surfing - Of course, one of the main reasons you’ll be coming to Jeju is for some beach time! The best beaches for surfing are in the south, specifically Jungman. These are also nice for swimming and sunbathing, with beautiful green, clifftop walks nearby as well. As mentioned, the water in the north is slightly bluer because of the lighter sand, and Hyeopjae beach is the most popular for tourists (although by no means overly busy)! Some also offer scuba diving, snorkelling, jet skis, SUP, kayaking parasailing and kiteboarding activities (mostly along the Hado side).
Visit Loveland - We didn’t personally do this but it’s a very popular attraction! Complete with swan-boat lake ride and 138 installations exploring human sexuality, this park is sure to get a giggle out of you (there are also separate play-zones for minors if you’d like to go as a family and keep it rated PG). Open daily from 9am-6pm, it costs about £10 per person.
Go on hikes + see Jeongbang waterfall - Jeju has some great hiking paths, one of which features Asia’s only waterfall flowing directly into the sea! This is located on the south of the island, starting on from the surf beach. Other walking paths are also in the north of the island. Called the Olle-gil trails, leading through forests and volcanoes, there are 26 of these in total, varying from 1-6 hours completion time (apparently #7 is the most beautiful and takes 5 hours). Other waterfalls include Cheonjeyeon Falls, named “The Pond of God,” which features 3 different waterfalls along an hour-long trail. It costs about £2 for the park entrance fee and is open daily from 8am-6pm.
Go to Jeju city - Honestly, there’s not much to Jeju town but this is one of the best places to get food on the island. You can also find nice restaurants dotted along the coast and near your hotel, but these can often be quite pricey and you don’t have many options. Beware, that many taxis in the south of the island stop running after 10pm.
Climb Hallasan Mountain - A dormant volcano in the National Park almost 2000m above sea level, surrounded by 368 volcano peaks, this features a beautiful crater lake in it that’s the highest mountain in Korea! Starting at the Seongpanak entrance, the 10km hike to the summit should take you about 5 hours in total. Alternatively, you can climb the 182 meter Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak, which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. This hike takes about 25 minutes to climb on a well graded trail and is a popular spot to catch the sunrise. It’s also where you can see the famous diving women of Jeju (haeneyo), known as the mermaids of Korea, who have been traditionally freedive-fishing for hundreds of years, and will offer up their fresh catch for you to taste at the Haeneyo restaurant. As this is a dying tradition, most of these women are over 50, some of them continuing well into their 80s, and can stay underwater for 3 minutes reaching up to 20 meters in depth. Dive shows are also held daily at 1:30pm and 3pm.
Explore Manjang (Manjanggul) Caves - These feature the longest lava tubes on Jeju and the longest in the world! Another UNESCO site, only 1 kilometre of the cave is open for public use and takes about an hour to walk. It’s open from 9am-6pm daily (closed the first Wednesday of the month), and costs about £1.50 each. This is close to Gimnyeong beach so is a good option to do together.
Where to stay on Jeju
Whether you stay in the north or the south of the island will depend on what you’re looking for- south for surf, north for bluer water (and closer access to the airport). It takes about 45 minutes to get from top to bottom by taxi (for about £20). There are public buses but they aren’t very well connected or frequent so we would recommend either getting taxis everywhere or hiring a car directly at the airport (for which you need an international driver’s license). You can also do organised day tours which can pack in multiple sites of interest in one go. Most of the hotels are concentrated in hubs along the north and south coast so you can just take your pick of these!
Where to eat
We struggled to eat on Jeju, we found the places to be far and few between along the coast and couldn’t really find many that were very affordable when we did- we paid almost £50 for basically some chips and chicken nuggets one day! And trust me, this is the last thing that I even wanted to be eating haha. That said, we did have a delicious meal at a nondescript Katsu place in town just off the main square but unfortunately don’t have the name of it, and there’s a really cute cafe at the top of the cliff on Jungman beach called Bada 2822. That’s about it really! If you’re anything like us you’ll probably be eating at any decent restaurant you happen to come across and street food markets (Dongmun is one of the most popular). The dishes consist mainly of seafood and meat so if you’re vegetarian/vegan you may have to prepare your own meals.
So that’s our guide on how to plan your South Korea travel to Seoul and Jeju! We hope it’s been of some use to you, we really loved Korea, in particular Seoul, and are sure you will too! If you have any questions, let us know in the comments section below and we’ll gladly try and help. If you’ve already been before- what else would you add??
Don’t forget to complete your research by checking out our complete guide on all The Coolest Cafes In Seoul!
