South Korea is a fast-developing country, quickly becoming well-known for their pop culture and entertainment thanks to the rise of the Hallyu Wave (Korean Wave). As a trending travel destination, it’s without a doubt on the bucket list of many, here are some tips and tricks we wish we’d known before we landed.

General Tips

As the importance of hygiene becomes increasingly recognised, we highly recommend carrying 3 items to keep in your best health: tissues, wet wipes, and hand sanitiser. Though hand sanitiser is likely prevalent in many stores since the rise of a certain global pandemic, it’s still good to have in a situation which might require it. No one wants to get sick on a holiday.

Language

The language spoke in South Korea is Korean, though it’s possible to get by without speaking it. Many places, especially in bigger cities such as Seoul and Busan often have Romanised Korean or English translations. Many large tourist attractions often have English brochures or information, and restaurants popular with tourists often have menus in other languages such as English, Chinese, and Japanese.

Korean also employs many loan-words, which may help with communication. Words such as bus, taxi, and hamburger are generally the same (버스, 택시, 햄버거), though we still recommend speaking slowly, clearly, and simply, learn a little bit of Korean, and never assume that a local can speak English.

Korean is also heavily influenced by a couple of Chinese dialects, and that results in similarities between their languages, and 2 counting systems. Here is a link to a website which can break down the differences between these counting systems, which is helpful when it comes to payments. Besides numbers, we also recommend learning basic phrases.

Currency

The currency used in South Korea is the Korean Won (₩). US$1 is equivalent to around KR₩1,200. South Korea is still largely a cash-based system despite being known for being high-tech, and this is especially the case for small restaurants, street food stands, and traditional markets. Large eateries and shops may accept major credit cards, but it’s always good to have cash on hand for smaller, daily purchases.

Korean Won notes come in denominations by the thousand of 1, 5, 10, and 50. Korean coins are available in 1, 5, 10, 50, 100, and 500. ₩1 coins are very uncommon, and are often only given as change by major supermarkets such as Lotte Mart, though in most other places including convenience stores and clothing stores, the total payment will be rounded to the nearest ₩10.

₩50,000 notes are common everywhere, and are accepted by even street food vendors. However, we advise paying with exact change for buses, as the drivers don’t have the luxury of time to calculate change and likely won’t accept notes bigger than ₩5,000.

T-money transport cards can also store credit which can be used at a huge number of stores, including convenience stores. This can make payments quick, contactless, and very easy.

Money can be exchanged at exchange centres and banks. You will have to go through more procedures at a bank, but the process is generally very fast and easy, even with little English.

SIM Cards

In order from the most commonly-used, the top telecommunication companies in South Korea are KT, SKTelecom, and LG U+. The networks are incredibly fast and reliable, so any of these are fine, especially for short-term visitors. South Korea also offers a pocket Wi-Fi service, which allows visitors to rent small, pocket-sized machines which allow a certain number of devices connect to Wi-Fi within a certain range. The plans for pocket Wi-Fi vary greatly, and some companies may require booking before arrival so that a price can be estimated. We never used this service, but it is very popular amongst tourists in Korea.

We purchased a time-limited SIM Card that covered calls and data. Prices vary depending on the plan and the length of time, but we found that the rates of these cards were similar between different companies, so we don’t believe it’s something to worry too much about. It’s recommended to purchase a SIM Card in the airport, where many of the staff at the desks can speak multiple languages to assist with tourists.

Weather

Korea really has only 2 seasons – hot and cold, with sudden changes in temperature as the season transitions. Those looking to come during these intermediate periods are recommended to pack in preparation for fluctuating temperatures. There is also a rainy season during May and July, where the rain can come suddenly and heavily.

Transport

As a general rule of thumb, Google Maps is not as reliable in South Korea as it is in most other developed countries, as information is limited due to the country’s strict military rules. While Google Maps can still provide reliable bus and train schedules and routes, it may not be very detailed and cannot give information on specific roads for walking or driving.

Korea instead has a separate system called Naver Maps, which is available in English. Naver Maps is much more informative for walking and driving, and the app can be downloaded for free.

Transport Cards

There are 2 main transport cards in Korea: T-money and Cashbee. The first can be used at a selection of convenience stores as a stored-value card as well, whereas the latter is purely a transport card limited to public transport use in Seoul. These cards cost ₩2,500 to purchase, and credit must be added before your first ride. With each use of the card, rides on public transport is discounted, so it can be a way to save money and time if you’re moving through the city often.

These cards can be purchased and loaded at convenience stores. They can also be loaded at train station machines. There are also a variety of time-limited tourist travel cards which offer discounts on major tourist attractions, though these will require personal research as to whether it’s worth using for your travel plans. Examples include the Discover Seoul Pass and the Metripolitan Mpass. For flexibility, we purchased a local T-money transport card as it doesn’t expire, which means it can be reused if we plan to return.

Subways

Subways are the main mode of transport. You can find train lines in major cities such as Seoul, Busan, Daegu, and Incheon. The trains are well-developed, efficient, and reliable, and the frequency for popular lines only tends to be 2-5 minutes. All signage is colour-coded, and information is available in both Korean and English, so it is a simple, cheap, fast, and reliable way to get around.

Keep in mind that the last subway runs at midnight! If you’re planning to take advantage of the Korean nightlife it’s good to plan around this. The frequency of trains may also drop to once every 30-60 minutes as it becomes later at night.

Buses

The bus is popular amongst locals. They are easy to use as long as you know which bus to take and where to disembark. The Naver Maps bus route feature lists every stop along a route so it is easy to keep track. The bus number, as well as the names of popular stops, are often printed on the side of the bus for clarity.

Buses often also display the names of upcoming stops in Korean and English on an overhead electric board above the driver’s seat, so it is clear for riders. Buses will accept cash for single-ride use, but as we mentioned it is best to pay in exact change, as even ₩10,000 can be too large to give change for.

Taxis

Taxis are still used in Korea frequently, especially after midnight when no more trains are running. Rideshare apps such as Uber is still not common. Taxi fares are very reasonable, with a base price of only around ₩2,000 (US$1.70), but we still advise to remain vigilant to avoid being cheated – ask for an approximate fare for your destination, and make sure the meter is running, starting at 0. Don’t accept a ride if you feel uncomfortable with the driver.

You can pay using a T-money card as long as you have sufficient credit on it.

Inter-City Transport

There are 3 main modes of transport travelling between cities. Trains are one of the most common modes as it is fast and easy to use. The biggest shortcoming for using trains is that it only stops at designated cities, though this is often not a problem as the major, most-visited cities are accessible by train. It is by far the easiest to use as train stations and trains in general are more accommodating to non-Korean speakers.

Alternatively, there are buses which have many more destinations, including smaller cities. It is typically slower than taking a train, and as some cities may have more than one bus terminal it may also require more planning. It’s usually cheaper than taking a train, though in some cases not by more than a couple of thousand won.

The last choice is to take a flight. It is the fastest and most direct, but also the most expensive. As one must arrive some time ahead of their flight, the total time of travel may be similar to taking a train, especially as South Korea is a small country. It is, however, usually the preferred method for reaching the popular destination of Jeju Island.

We found that we were not able to use T-money or (non-Korean) credit cards to pay for bus tickets, so we recommend carrying enough cash to cover these fees. This may be an isolated incident, though we can’t say for sure. You can buy tickets online or at the terminal, and Naver Maps will have all the resources to check prices, times, and seat availability in advance.

It is uncommon to need to reserve in advance as we found that there were plenty of seats for the times we wanted on the day of purchase, though travellers should take into consideration that tickets may be in greater demand on weekends and definitely if there are public holidays (Christmas, Buddha’s Birthday, Lunar New Year, Chuseok Korean Thanksgiving, etc.). Make sure to check in advance if your travel period coincides with a public holiday.

Food

Despite South Korea’s small size, there are incredibly different variations in food and specialities, depending on the region and even in each city. Of course, we recommend taking a look at our previous posts for a glance into the cuisines and styles of the cities we visited – Incheon, Seoul, Jeonju, Daegu, and Busan – as each are colourful, unique, and of course incredibly delicious.

MatJib 맛집 – The Famous Restaurants

Matjib (맛집), literally translating to “flavour house”, is a common word in Korean food culture, which refers to a restaurant which has been distinguished for various reasons. It is typically a trusted eatery, as labelled by food and travel shows or other influencers rather than a claim by the restaurant. Though matjib are held in higher regard compared to ordinary restaurants, it is also met with harsher critique as patrons expect greater results.

The origin to matjib is vague, and may refer to places which have been brought to public attention through celebrity visits rather than for exemplary food. As such, it’s difficult to determine whether the title indicates superior food, so the matter is open to interpretation.

Searching for Good Food

As is common with our travel style, we search for good food in each country slightly differently. In Korea, we used a combination of Google Maps by zooming in to the areas where we would be staying or passing through and identifying eateries with high Google ratings. Korea’s search engine Naver is also a good tool, though is available only in Korean.

As is common in Asia, many restaurants specialise in one dish, which is often featured in their name, especially if it is a regional dish. If you’re looking to try a speciality dish, it is surprisingly simple to search the dish into the Google Maps search bar (in English or in Korean), and find information such as locations, ratings, and opening times of restaurants very easily.

Spicy Food

Korea is known for its bright red dishes and spicy food, but did you know that you can ask for many of their dishes without spice? For dishes such as soups in stone bowls, ingredients are added to the stone bowl to order, so you can ask for the ingredient (often the red pepper powder or paste) to be separated or left out. This may be less applicable to dishes whose seasonings are spicy already, such as dakgalbi, but it is worth asking if you can’t take heat. We liked asking for soups and stews with the red pepper separated – it’s an interesting way of tasting the soup on its own, though of course it’s delicious when spicy, too.

Restaurants

It should be noted that restaurants’ opening hours may not be as accurate on Google as it is on Naver, as Korea favours their search engine. The information on Naver, however, is usually in Korean. For example, Google may not indicate “rest periods” where restaurants close for a couple of hours between lunch and dinner services, but this may be less of a concern if your meal times are flexible.

One common concern for visitors in Korea is that some restaurants may turn you down if you are dining solo. One quick way of ascertaining whether a restaurant might do this is to identify whether tables have a barbecue or heating element at the table – this indicates that the food is to be shared, and portions may only come in 2+ person sizes as it may not be profitable to produce single portions. There are plenty of restaurants where this isn’t a concern, such as those cooking soups and stews, noodles, and snack bars. Convenience stores and traditional markets are also great ways to eat quick meals.

At many sit-down restaurants, cutlery is usually already at the table in a box or in a drawer on the side of the table. Condiments and tissues may also be at the table already too.

Placing an order is often done by waving down the waitstaff, or by completing a card available at the table. The food will then be served and payment taken afterwards. Oftentimes, there is a button located on or at the side of a table to call a waitstaff. Some cafes may be similar in fashion to fast food restaurants, where orders and payments are made at the counter and a diner will pick up their food and take back to their own tables themselves.

Side dishes are often served free alongside meals, which can include an array of kimchi and pickles, salads, fresh lettuce, raw garlic and peppers, peanuts, candied potatoes, pancakes, and even meat or fish. It is often the case that a side dish can be refilled, though you are usually expected to order one dish per diner for this to be acceptable. It is also perfectly fine to decline food, which a restaurant will appreciate to minimise food waste.

Food Streets / Food Alleys

We’ve described this a couple of times before but a fascinating phenomenon that occurs in South Korea is when a restaurant with a unique dish becomes so popular that neighbouring restaurants begin to produce copies of the dish, both to accommodate to the influx of visiting diners and probably to mooch off the success of the original. This results in a street or even an entire small neighbourhood where all the restaurants specialise in one dish, which often becomes recognised as a local speciality.

Thanks to the competitive nature of these food streets, it’s common for the prices to be consistent between restaurants, though some places may offer extra options to lure in more customers. Each restaurant will have its own recipe, though we can’t comment on how big the difference will be between restaurants. Examples of our visits to food streets are the SinDangDong ddeokbokki in Seoul, grilled makchang intestines in Daegu, and jjim galbi braised beef short ribs in Busan. There are countless others throughout the country, and they are good indications of dishes to try in that city.

Daily Things to Know

Public Bathrooms

One thing to keep in mind is that toilet paper must not be flushed. This is strange to many visitors, but paper is generally discarded into the bins provided at the toilet rather than in the toilet. There are often signs in various languages on the back of the toilet doors reminding you of this, and it’s likely due to the lower water pressure of the plumbing system being unable to handle toilet paper. There have been many cases of clogged toilets after people have ignored this rule, so make sure to follow this or you may face some dirty consequences.

Convenience Stores and Supermarkets

The most common chains of convenience stores are 7-11, CU, GS25, and eMart24. These are everywhere, even in smaller cities, and prices between them are generally the same. Each chain will have their own brand and often offer limited edition or seasonal releases, so you can find some unique products depending on which and when you visit.

The biggest supermarket chains are Homeplus, Lotte Mart, and eMart. These are also relatively common, with one in most neighbourhoods we visited. These are excellent places to visit to buy food souvenirs in bulk, and they also offer a big range of hot, cooked foods that are ready to eat.

Shopping for Clothes

Fashion is a huge part of Korean pop culture. There are many distinct shopping districts throughout the country, usually near University areas where the young people like to keep up with the trends. They’re often focused on clothes aimed at young adults, with one-size-fits-all garments, though fashionably oversized tops means that it’s not too difficult finding clothes for different body types.

These clothes tend to be cheap fast fashion, and can range between ₩10,000-50,000 for a typical, top, bottom, or outerwear. They are also heavily influenced by seasons and trends, so it’s common to find similar fare between shops.

For branded clothes, there are plenty of chain stores concentrated in malls. When visiting these shops, it’s a good idea to bring a reusable shopping bag, as some places now charge for one-use bags. Examples of such stores are cosmetics stores such as Etude House and Nature Republic.

Souvenirs

While there is not really one definitive souvenir that can encapsulate South Korea, there’s something for everyone to enjoy whether it’s traditional or modern. Some good souvenirs include skin care products and other cosmetics, of which Korea is known for its affordable and quality products; unique snacks, even from supermarkets and convenience stores; typical trinkets such as postcards and keychains; traditional goods such as Korean-designed fans or kitchenware; and the good-old pop culture merchandise, including K-pop albums, photo cards, posters, and other memorabilia.

If you’re familiar with Korean food trends, you’ll know that a hot souvenir to take back is flavoured almonds. Tom’s Farm almonds released almonds with a sugar coating flavoured with honey butter that Chinese tourists could not get enough of, and that quickly became a great souvenir for many tourists to take home thanks to its portability and general deliciousness. Since its boom back in around 2016, Tom’s Farm has released a host of other flavours including wasabi, cookies and cream, red bean, tiramisu, and caramel pretzel. Knock-offs are often cheaper but in many cases equally tasty, but these are available in supermarkets and souvenir stores.

Another interesting souvenir to consider is socks. There are shops all over the country dedicated to selling just socks, and the designs on these vary from simple white ankle socks to having the faces and names of your favourite K-pop idol in 8-bit form. These can be as cheap as ₩1,000, and while they’re not the most durable things in the world they can survive a good number of washes. There’s really a design for everyone – that is, provided that you find a size that fits.

Things to Know by City

There are always little bits of info that isn’t always relevant in every city, so we’ll cover the places that we’ve been to.

Incheon

Incheon is a port town about an hour train ride west of Seoul. This is where the largest airport in South Korea is located, so many will pass through this little city on the way to Seoul without even realising. This quiet, artsy city is heavily influenced by the huge number of Chinese immigrants and foreign traders, so there is an incredible mix of both Eastern and Western architecture that gives the city European vibes and an overt Chinatown a couple of minutes’ walk away.

Incheon is also the birthplace of Korean-style jjajangmyeon, which has influenced Chinese-Korean food that has become staple dishes throughout the country. If you’re a fan of Chinese-Korean food and have a day to spare, we highly recommend a wander around the Chinatown of Korea and a visit to the Jjajangmyeon Museum. You can find more information on how you can do this on our post of our day in Incheon.

Seoul

Seoul is the capital of South Korea, and the most visited. It’s a huge, bustling city that feels surprisingly local and lowrise thanks to pockets of nature and history such as castles, traditional markets, and parks. We recommend also visiting some of these spots, such as Han River, which is a popular date spot for bike riding and hanging out, or even ordering some food for picnicking.

Famous shopping districts in Seoul are MyeongDong, HongDae, the underground of GoSok Bus Terminal (Seoul Express Bus Terminal), and Ehwa University area. MyeongDong is a bit more commercialised with a huge number of chain fashion and cosmetic stores, whereas the others are more lowkey with the independent fashion stores as described before.

Jeonju

Jeonju is a landlocked city known for its rich history. Its most popular tourist attraction is the hanok village which provides history, culture, and cuisine. We also recommend the Hanji Paper Museum which is free, interactive, informative, and English-friendly, with some excellent traditional Korean paper souvenirs that are practical, meaningful, stunning, and very affordable.

Jeonju does not have a local train line, so modes of transport within the city is typically by bus, on foot, or by taxi. Jeonju is also known as the food capital of Korea, recognised as a UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy. Many local tourists visit just to eat, so there are many specialities for a foody traveller to enjoy.

Daegu

Daegu is a city which has a local train line for easy transport. A T-money card can be used, but these will need to be loaded at convenience stores as the machines at the train station can only load the local Daegu transport card.

Daegu is also located in the valley of some gorgeous mountains. There are plenty of walking trails and some of the mountains have cable cars, which makes them excellent places to visit on a half-day or day trip. Daegu is also famous for fabrics and textiles, especially silk, which can be found in SeoMun Traditional Market.

Busan

Busan is a large port town with a rich history and food scene because of its role in the Korean War. There are many museums and historical exhibitions scattered throughout the city, so if you’re a history buff Busan will have a lot of places to visit.

Shopping districts are also abundant in Busan, with famous markets being Jagalchi Fish Market, Nampo Shopping Street, and Nampo Underground Shopping Centre. SeoMyeon Underground Shopping Centre near the SeoMyeon Train Station also provides a similar shopping experience.

Busan also offers a ₩5,000 day pass which allows for unlimited train rides for the day of purchase. These can be purchased at the ticket machines in Busan’s train stations. If you’re looking to take more than 4 train rides in one day, the pass will quickly pay for itself.

Jeju Island

Jeju-Do or Jeju Island is an island off the south coast of South Korea. Since Chinese nationals don’t require passports to travel to Jeju, it is a popular destination for Chinese tourists to visit. Because of this, you may find that the locals speak some basic Mandarin.

Jeju is famous for its seafood, hallabong tangerines, and nature spots such as mountains and waterfalls.