Did your South Korea plans get cancelled in 2020? Looking forward to visiting the Land of Morning Calm in 2021 or beyond once restrictions are lifted?
Here are 7 tips for Travelling to South Korea in 2021 you should consider when planning your next South Korea adventure.
1. Bring comfortable shoes
I can’t stress how important it is to bring a pair of comfortable walking shoes. While public transportation can get you to a lot of places, you will end up walking a lot in Korea. If you want to avoid getting foot blisters that hamper your trip, pack a pair of sneakers. Mountain hiking is a popular activity for natives and foreigners, so you might also want to pack a pair of hiking boots as well.
2. Avoid visiting South Korea in the summer
If you live in a humid, hot environment, you’re probably laughing at me right now. I don’t know what it is about Korea, but the summer heat can be oppressive.
It’s not surprising to see locals carrying umbrellas on sunny days. On some days, being out for more than 15 minutes can give people heatstroke. During one of my visits to Seoul, as soon as I stepped out of the shade, my shirt became completely soaked. If you do plan on visiting during the summer, I’d recommend heading to one of the beaches.
I can’t stress how important it is to bring a pair of comfortable walking shoes. While public transportation can get you to a lot of places, you will end up walking a lot in Korea. If you want to avoid getting foot blisters that hamper your trip, pack a pair of sneakers. Mountain hiking is a popular activity for natives and foreigners, so you might also want to pack a pair of hiking boots as well.
3. Grab a transit card before leaving the airport
The two main ones I can think of are T-Money and Cashbee. They’re essentially the same thing and can be used interchangeably. Once loaded with credit, you can use them on buses, subways, and some trains.
Some of the taxis in Seoul also accept T-money cards, so it’s a versatile transit card to have. Depending on availability, the cards will have different characters on them, including BTS and other K-pop groups.
You can recharge the card at many convenience stores such as CU and GS 25. You can also recharge the card at most subway stations as well. I recommend putting 10,000 won (about $10) at a time. 1,250 won is the typical fare for a subway or bus ride, and the T-money card gets you a ~10% discount. If you need to transfer, you can usually do so for free or cheap (~400 won or less typically) within 30 minutes.
Did you know? You can also use the T-Money card as payment at some places such as the Seoul palaces, some convenience stores, Lotte World and others.
4. Install these apps to get around South Korea
Google Maps is your enemy when it comes to travelling around South Korea. It’ll sort of work in Seoul, but if you want up-to-date information on Seoul and the rest of Korea, download either KakaoMaps or NAVER Map. In the major metro areas, both apps will
Each of them has its own quirks so it will mostly come to personal preference. If you were only going to install one, I would recommend KakaoMaps because of its connectivity to other apps such as KakaoTalk and KakaoTaxi. Links to Android and iOS apps are below:
KakaoMaps Android KakaoMaps iOS NAVER Map AndroidNAVER Map iOS
5. Check out discounts from tour companies
Even if you want to explore without a tour company, you can often find popular attractions at a discount. You can get discounts on popular places such as the COEX Aquarium, Everland, Namsan Tower, and other places. Some of the savings will be anywhere from 25 to 50% off of what you would pay at the place.
One of my favorite places to get these tickets is from Trazy (not an affiliate link and this post is not sponsored or endorsed by Trazy).
There are some tours on there as well, and you can often find discounted tours that are cheaper than if you go on your own. It’s also an opportunity to meet new people, and at least with my experience, it’s been mostly stress-free.
6. Get out of Seoul
Even if it’s your first time in South Korea, I recommend spending at least some of your trip outside of Seoul. Getting around Korea is fairly easy even if you don’t have a car. In fact, I’ve spent my first two years in Korea without owning or renting a vehicle. Between the trains and intercity buses, you can get to almost anywhere in Korea.
But how hard is it to communicate with locals outside of Seoul? I don’t speak enough Korean. What if I get lost? I’d recommend at least being able to read Hangul before coming to Korea and knowing some basic phrases.
For the most part, people in Korea are really friendly and will go out of their way to help you out. Some restaurants will have English menus, and most have pictures of different foods.
Outside of Seoul, there are several cities with foreign student populations and many areas have adapted to help accommodate the universities. One of my favorite places to visit outside of Seoul is Jeonju. It has a wide range of food options to choose from and is
South Korea Travels 