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Thursday, 3 September 2015

Korea - 18 days journey

After visiting many cities in Europe, I decided to extend my travelling to another continent and so I picked South Korea for a 3 week solo trip (^o^). A 400 page Lonely Planet Korea guide and free brochure sent from Korea Tourism Organization - KTO and Visit Korea were the start to my planning.




Busan Haeundae beach

It was the end of Summer in 2014 when I landed to Seoul. The jet lag was starting to hit me but I was more exited than tired. I spent one night in Seoul and the next day I flew to Jeju, a UNESCO world heritage island. I spent 5 days in Jeju where I was able to do a East and West coast tour with Yeha tours and I also stayed at the Yeha guest house. The guest house was located in the city center of Jeju and that made it so easy to go out for lunch, dinner, evening drinks and clubbing. They also offer a shuttle service from the air port else you can simply take a taxi from the guest house to the airport as it doesn’t cost that much. So if you want to stay in Jeju and try some group tours I really do recommend Yeha Tours and to stay at Yeha guest house. They also give you free drinks in the evening :D




Jeju view from peak

From Jeju I flew to Busan, where I stayed 6 days with a lovely Korean family, she cooked just wonderful food. I still remember the taste of the Bibimbap she made for breakfast. They even took me for a tour in the night in the city. You can try a Korean home stay as there are many hosts indicated in the KTO website.

From Busan it was the KTX that took me to Seoul, where I stayed for 6 days in Myeongdong area in Seoul Green Residence. This was a really convenient location. A direct bus to the air port was found within 5 minute walking distance from the Residence and near by there were two tourist information centers. The subway was a 10 minute walk trough Myeongdong shopping street and every now and then the girls on the street would call you inside the shops and give you free cosmetic samples.





Seoul rainbow bridge and tower view

Travelling throughout the country was easy, with just one prepaid card, which you can load from convenience stores, you just hope in and hope off from Buses and Subway without having to bother about how much the ticket will cost or waste time at a ticket counter.

As a round up my trip was fantastic, I climbed peak created from volcanic eruption over 100,000 years ago where the wind wanted to put us down, saw fabulous waterfalls, I touched golden and black sand, walked back and forth a 1km Lava cave, spent a day with the world famous teddy bears, visited temples and shrines that were simply breath taking, enjoyed the architecture of the ancient palaces and admired the sky crawlers. I tasted so many different kinds of food, but my favourite was and still is BIBIMBAP.




Seoul Palace




Jeju teddy bear musuem




Jeju Cheonjeyeon waterfall

As a overall budget I spent about 2000 €. This includes below mentioned costs, KTX from Busan to Seoul, local travelling (and I used it alot!), a few attractions (temples, shrines and most museums in Korea are FREE), what I spent for my food and drinks and also some on souvenirs. 
Travelling:
  • From Milan to Seoul (transfer at Paris) via Asiana Airlines, the ticket was 710 €. They severed really great Korean meals, will definitely fly again with them.
  • From Seoul (Gimpo) to Jeju via Jeju air = 36,500 KRW
  • From Jeju to Busan via Jeju air = 38,500 KRW
Sleeping:
  • in Seoul 7 nights = 210 €
  • in Jeju 6 night = 110 €
  • in Busan 5 nights = 150,000 KRW
Extra:

My itinerary:




Jeju shrine

Stay tuned for part 2 of my trip to Korea where I will add the itinerary and some more photos ^_^

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