Travel: Korea - General

[bear07]

Hi insider,


Thank you very much for the reply. I emailed him and he said he don't do winter trips now

[sachiko]

Hi, my family plans to go Korea in Nov. Can anyone advise if it is easy to travel in Seoul as we r thinking to do F&E instead of package tour? We would love to have some sightseeing plus fun activities ie. LotteWorld for my kids. TIA

[yuanyuan mama]

sachiko:

Hi, my family plans to go Korea in Nov. Can anyone advise if it is easy to travel in Seoul as we r thinking to do F&E instead of package tour? We would love to have some sightseeing plus fun activities ie. LotteWorld for my kids. TIA

Hi Sachiko,

There is a branch office of Korea Tourism Organization in Singapore that you might want to pop in to find out F&E touring in Seoul. Below is their website
http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/OO/OO_EN_13_5.jsp

Korea Tourism Organisation
KNTO 24 Korea Plaza, #01-02 Samsung Hub, 3 Church Street Singapore 049483
Tel: 6533-0441, 0442
Email: kntosp@pacific.net.sg
http://www.visitkorea.org.sg

or Seoul Global Center has great information of places to visit too.
http://global.seoul.go.kr/

It is quite easy to tour in Seoul comparing many years ago as tourists. Most young adults understand basic english and there is a free interpretation service available in most taxis. Subway lines in Seoul looked complicated but it's actually easy access than it looks. Places like Insadong, Royal Palaces (Gyeongbuk Gung), Han River with Ferry ride, National Museum of Korea, Namsan Tower, Yoido Park, 63 Building, Coex Mall Indoor Aquarium are places you don't want to miss if you have school going children with you.

You won't have problem in ordering food as menus in most restaurants in Seoul or food court comes with pictures. You can simply point at the picture when you order. Enjoy your trip.

[MMM]

sachiko:

Hi, my family plans to go Korea in Nov. Can anyone advise if it is easy to travel in Seoul as we r thinking to do F&E instead of package tour? We would love to have some sightseeing plus fun activities ie. LotteWorld for my kids. TIA

My hubby and I did a 1 week F&E in Seoul in June last year. We stayed at Fraser place Seoul service apartment and was happy with it. Got a really good deal. From there we can walk to lotte supermarket (seoul station?), namdaemun and their orchard road equivalent (gosh I can't remember the name now).

We get around using MRT. We visited all the palaces, folk village and dongdaemun based on directions provided in tourist guides. Our only failed attempted was going to the Jewel in the palace filming site. We gave up 1/2 way as lost with the train connection I think we also attempted going to some outlets recommended in the website but it was a disappointment. As we had a week, we covered most of the areas on our own. We didn't cover lotte world but i believe we could with the MRT as we didn't bring the kids and don't think both of us will fancy going there.

Besides, that we could have taken a local tour package to nami island or the borders. It's widely available at the hotel but we didn't do that.

For food wise, for those with pictures, we will point. We recalled going into a small eatery with no picture near fraser place. We got no idea how much it cost but it does look interesting. We just pointed at what the people next table are eating. We also observed that their numbers sounds like cantonese. Eg. we had a hot pot style and they told us the price is \"ban sum\" 13000.

[Happy Mama]

Winter in Korea is exceptionally cold, so please check the temperature before leaving and dress appropriately... If it's too cold, it may not be possible to take the rides at Everland Park, an outdoor amusement park.


Shopping and food is great in Korea... and the people are good looking too, especially the ladies... BUT beware, coz 90% of them have had some sort of plastic surgery done to their face... so not natural beauty! :lol: :lol:

[Lemonlime]

Hi…I can’t seem to find a thread for South Korea Holidays or maybe I have missed it. Anyone here been to Korea in November? Can the kids/teens have beginner skiing lesson during this time of the year? I thought December will be too cold for the adults to really enjoy and roam around and thought November is better. Sending a day or two up the mountains will be enough. Appreciate too if you can share your experience and the agencies you went with…

[Emelyn]

hi,


we went to Korea last yr from 2 to 9 Dec.
Weather was ok. And the wonderful thing was it snowed on our 2nd last day there. Thus, the kids had a wonderful time seeing snowfall and playing with snow ball.

However, even though it didn’t snow when we were skiing, there was man-made snow. And the tour guide gave us a 30mins lesson on skiing and off we go. My kids know how to blade, as such skiing was a piece of cake for them. They really had a wonderful time.

We went with ASA.

Just be prepared for a lot of sales talk by the local Korean tour guide. She built up stories about ginseng since Day 1 so that all of us were very brainwashed by the time we reached the Ginseng Centre…and you could see a lot of our tour-mates piling up the tour bus with ginseng, in many forms. Not forgetting the cosmetic duty free shop. And of course, I over-bought too.

Regards

[kelvinpl80]

Korea is the best place for vacation travel.There are number of places to visit in Korea. This is the perfect place to travel with your family. I am planning to visit next year to Korea. I have heard more about it.

[Lemonlime]

Thanks Emelyn & Kelvin for your response. Reading this thread made me so excited as it sounded like a good place for different experience. It also made me realise that "winter holiday" is costly…what have to buy special shoes, downfeather jacket, thermal, heatpads, eye muffs, special pants…have to add $500 for additional budget per pax! Kind of wasted cos not intending to go anywhere during winter again…I am fearful of the cold…it makes me sick but what to do, my teen dd has been whining for ski experience for years! Anyone knows whether there’s anyone "renting" winter clothes/shoes?


Emelyn…what was the temperature like during the period u went? below 0 or about 10?

[jenlee]

Planning to go Korea in late Nov.

1) Anyone have recommendations on which agency to take package from .
So far seem package via China Eastern is the cheapest as it transit 3hrs via Shanghai n free 3D2N Shanghai return. Anyone tried this package & if it’s worth it esp timing of airline reliable ?


2) Is it advisable to go Seoul only without Jeju
Cheapest is Garuda, same 3hrs transit on both ways via Jakarta.
Most common is Asiana or Korean air.

3) Anyone booked Korea tour with Five Star or CS travel before? Good?

Thanks
Jen