Seoul, the vibrant capital of South Korea, is a dynamic blend of ancient traditions and cutting-edge modernity. We’re Wendy and Laurence, we had the pleasure of visiting this beautiful city recently and are excited to share the following 11 travel tips for Seoul that helped us save money, time and see everything on our wish list!
Why 11 travel tips for Seoul? Well, 10 just wasn’t enough!
From centuries-old palaces and bustling street markets to futuristic skyscrapers and high-tech subways, the city offers a unique experience for every traveler. Whether you’re visiting for the food, the culture, or the shopping, navigating Seoul can be overwhelming without some guidance.
So! Whether you’re a first-time visitor or returning for another adventure, we hope our insights will ensure a smooth and unforgettable journey in one of Asia’s most exciting cities.
Of course there’s a video!
We discovered these 11 travel tips during our three-day visit to Seoul, South Korea. There are many reasons why it was the trip of a lifetime, not least of which was Wendy being born in Seoul! Adopted at 14 months, her new family took her to the United States to live the American dream in Arizona and California. Needless to say, there was some emotion in this visit.
You can hear more about this and actually see all our tips in action over the three days spent in Seoul in the video below!
Taking this article well beyond the 11 travel tips for Seoul, we feature maps in the above video and give exact locations of must-see sights using good old-fashioned grid coordinates, or the easy-to-use smartphone app ‘What 3 Words‘.
Travel Tip #1 Positioning Flights
While this can be used as a general travel tip, the advantages of using a positioning flight for a destination as distant as South Korea are overwhelming.
A positioning flight is a flight booked to a different airport, often one where you can find cheaper or more convenient flights to the final destination. In our case, Los Angeles International Airport, (LAX) has a wide choice of flights to South Korea and Japan, all at a range of prices. This gives more opportunity to save money, or as we did, book an upgraded ticket!
Better yet, if you use points and miles to book the positioning flight and hotel, it’s a vacation before the actual vacation! Along with saving money, travelers can maximize points and air miles by finding better award availabilities.
Travel Tip #2 Airport Limousine Bus
The Airport Limousine Bus from Incheon International Airport is one of the easiest and most comfortable ways of getting to destinations in and around Seoul.
While not as comfortable as some other options at the airport, these ‘standard’ buses tend to cost less and are fairly frequent. They also make more stops along the way to Seoul, perfect if you’re not necessarily heading for a well-known hotel.
Passengers have multiple locations to purchase tickets for the bus. Bus ticket stands are located inside the first floor of the Arrivals terminal next to Gates 4 and 9. Additionally, there are stands outside of the terminal along the curb at Gates 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13, and 9C.
When the bus arrives, check the number on the side of the bus against your ticket to make sure it is the correct one. When boarding, the bus driver will get off the bus, take your ticket, and help load your luggage in the compartments at the bottom of the bus. Stops are announced in both English and Korean, so just listen for your stop!
Travel Tip #3 Travel Cards
Public transportation in Seoul is absolutely incredible. With a little planning, travelers can take public transportation to within blocks of any destination or attraction. Subway and buses are both used with a prepaid travel card, and while there are a few to choose from, the easiest the Tmoney card.
Tmoney cards can be bought from convenience stores for a small fee for the card itself and whatever amount you want to prepay. Not only can the card be used on any public transportation, convenience stores also accept them as a form of payment. Best of all, the TMoney card is easy to use, just a quick tap and go form of payment.
Don’t worry about adding too much money, when travelers are ready to leave Seoul, the Tmoney card can be ‘cashed-out’ with the balance on the card refunded in full. Because this is the country of K-Pop and colorful cartoons, there are a range of cute cards available, with some including stickers to make the travel card even more unique!
Travel Tip #4 Use What 3 Words to find places and people
The Smartphone app describes itself as ‘the simplest way to talk about location’ making it perfect for travel adventures to not only find places but also travel buddies when everyone eventually gets separated.
The app basically takes map grid coordinates down to the most user-friendly form. What 3 Words have divided the world into 3-meter squares, giving each square a unique combination of three words. It’s the easiest way to find and share exact locations.
It saved time and certainly some tempers when we were separated in Gyeongbokgung Palace, using both a dropped pin and text with the ‘three words’ to find each other. In fact, it was so amazing to use, everywhere we visited in the above video includes the What 3 Words location for you to use on your visit!
Travel Tip #5 The Gyeongbokgung Palace Hokey Pokey
The Changing of the Royal Guard ceremony at Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, South Korea, is a reenactment of the Joseon Dynasty’s royal guard ceremony and its spectacular!
Although it takes place outside the ticketed area of the Palace, the front gate allows visitors to stamp their entrance ticket on the way out to watch the ceremony. Taking place twice daily at 10:00 and 14:00 (except Tuesdays) at Gwanghwamun Gate (the main entrance), it lasts about 20 minutes.
Once done watching performers in traditional military costumes recreate the 15th-century ceremony, the stamped ticket allows free re-entry to Gyeongbokgung Palace!
Travel Tip #6 Find Free Tickets for N Seoul Tower
The N Seoul Tower, also referred to as the Namsan Tower, is a communication and observation tower located on the summit of Namsan. Standing at 774 ft (236 meters) it’s a popular place to enjoy a 360-degree view of the surrounding area. Downtown Seoul, the numerous parks, and hiking trails all roll out beneath travelers from this incredible observation tower.
Many parts of the tower are free, but there is a charge of 26,000 WON (or $17 USD) to visit the observation deck. Travelers will be glad to know there are several ways to avoid this fee. From tickets and travel cards that bundle the admission into a tourist package of Seoul’s famous attractions, to booking a very fancy lunch or dinner at the tower itself, there’s several ways to enjoy the observation deck for free.
As seen in the above video, we enjoyed some amazing Korean cuisine at Hancook Restaurant and found out later, if we had booked ahead of time admission would’ve been included. A sign at another nice restaurant in the tower, N-Grill appeared to offer the same perk!
Travel Tip #7 Google Maps To Save Your Feet and Sanity
Around the world, Google maps is part of daily life for personal errands and work. We discovered it works just as well on travel adventures!
Google Maps seems to automatically translate the local language to that of the user, making it easy to use for finding locations and calculating different routes. Whether traveling by bus, subway, train, or taxi, Google Maps gives time and cost estimates, including any additional walking included in the proposed trip.
If the route includes multiple stops, the app will track the route’s progress in real time. Google Maps even does a great job walking users through changing lines when taking buses and trains.
Seoul has incredible cell service, even in the deepest subway stations, rarely losing the real-time connectivity. The app also notifies users of the pick-up location when using taxi or Uber-type services. Unlike the United States, drivers will only pick up passengers in designated spots, such as in front of a hotel.
Travel Tip #8 Temples Rarely Charge Admission
With 60-80% of the population either following the Buddhist or Shinto religions (sometimes both), there are a lot of Temple in South Korea. Fortunately for travelers, both religions honor their faith when it comes to admission fees, rarely charging when entering the many stunning temples. Instead, signs and unmanned booths usually indicate a suggested donation as travelers enter.
Not only does this practice make exploring Seoul an affordable option, but it can be a bit of a shock when a temple does charge to enter the grounds.
For the more generous travelers, larger temples have several ways to give further within the temple grounds through hanging a prayer or paying respect through the banging of a drum.
Travel Tip #9 Download an Entire Language in Google Translate
Google Translate has certainly changed international travel. Not only can users type phrases, allow a smartphone to ‘hear’ a foreign language, but even take pictures of signs and text for an immediate translation.
However, in the past travelers would worry about the program consuming valuable data on expensive plans. With smartphone memory increasing and advances in Google Translate itself, travelers now have the option to download an entire language while on hotel Wifi and use the app with or without cellphone service.
Here’s how to do it! Before you download languages, connect to Wi-Fi.
- Open the Translate app Translate app.
- On either side of the screen, tap the language at the top.
- Next to the language you want to download, tap Download . If it’s not there, the language can’t be downloaded.
- If asked to download the language file, tap Download.
Now, your saved languages show up as ‘Downloaded’ the Translate app!
Travel Tip #10 Filming inside Temples
The question of whether travelers can take photographs or video inside temples leads to confusing answers. Depending on who is asked and what is read, you can do either as long as no flashes are used, but not if there are certain statues, and it could be fine if worshippers aren’t disturbed.
Add to this, many of the more popular temples have large signs prohibiting photography of any sort.
From our experience, it was considered disrespectful to look into a temple and take either pictures or video if a ceremony was taking place. This same grace should be given to worshippers praying or enjoying the ceremony outside the temple as well.
However, we were allowed to take both photographs and video from a distance while standing away from those attending services at the temple.
Other advice found online notes permission can be given by the temple’s abbots, religious chiefs, or management council, but this should be sought beforehand. It’s very unlikely this permission will extend to include any type of ceremony or service.
Travel Tip #11 Group Food Tours are Fun!
A food tour in Seoul is the perfect way to explore the city’s vibrant culinary scene, from sizzling street food stalls to hidden traditional restaurants. Whether you’re indulging in spicy tteokbokki at Gwangjang Market, savoring crispy Korean fried chicken in a lively pub, or enjoying authentic barbecue in a bustling alley, Seoul offers an unforgettable gastronomic adventure.
While we booked the tour for a knowledgeable local to act as our culinary guide, we also enjoyed a mix of history, and culture as side dishes to the bold flavors, one delicious bite at a time!
As interesting as the tour itself was meeting the other travelers booked on our tour. From young couples taking their first international trip, to someone sneaking away from a long week of work in Seoul, there were as many interesting stories as there were dishes.
Add to all this, the chance to jump lines for a world-famous desert (in Seoul at least) to being feed dumplings from the kitchen of a Netflix food star, a group food tour is worth every WON spent on it!
More Tips?
Some would consider a restaurant recommendation a travel tip, but we’ll consider those just another part of the video capturing our incredible three days in Seoul.
Thank you for joining us for our 11 travel tips for Seoul, and feel free to explore other parts of our travel blog for other international travel tips.
