How we spent two weeks in South Korea

South Korea has been high on our list of places to visit for a while now. And luckily for us, 2024 is Visit Korea year which means residents of certain countries don’t need a visa or ETA to enter (from 1 April 2023 to 31 December 2024). 

There’s so much to see in South Korea, you’d need months to visit all the sights. But here’s what we managed to fit into a two week South Korea itinerary. 

Days 1-3: Gyeongju

After landing in Incheon and catching the airport railway, we took the KTX straight from Seoul to Gyeongju, which takes about 2 hours. 

The main sights of Gyeongju are historical, with many dating back to the 5th and 6th centuries. Gyeongju used to be the capital of Korea and the royal families of its ancient dynasties lived and are buried here. There are so many things you could see and do but these were our favourites. 

• Daereungwon Tomb Complex

• Donggung Palace & Wolji Pond

• Woljeonggyo Bridge

• Bulguksa Temple

• Seokguram Grotto

Find out more about how we spent two days in Gyeongju here. 

Day 4-6 (and 13-15): Seoul

We split our time here into two parts as we needed to come back to fly out of South Korea anyway. As one of the world’s largest metropolises, Seoul is near impossible to explore in its entirety. Especially on one holiday. But our favourite things we did were: 

• Mount Namsan

• Seoullo 7017

• DMZ Tour

• Ihwa Mural Village

• Gyeongbokgung Palace

• Bukchon Hanok Village

• Starfield Library

• Itaewon

• Euljiro Nogari Alley

• Gwangjang Market

• Dongdaemun Design Plaza 

• Cheonggyecheon stream

• Myeongdong

Find out more about how we spent a week in Seoul here. 

Days 7-9: Jeju Island

We had read that three days is a good amount of time to spend in Jeju Island but actually, I wish we had longer. Two of our days were technically half days due to flights, and being with a group of friends meant it was slower to organise and get out to activities. So we didn’t fit in as much as I’d have liked. But our highlights were: 

• Mount Hallasan

• Yongmeori Coast

• Hyeopjae Beach

• Arte Museum

• Jusangjeolri-dae

Find out more about how we spent three days in Jeju Island here. 

Days 10-12: Busan

• Haeundae Beach

• Haeundae Traditional Market

• Dongbaekseom

• Blueline Park and Sky Capsule

• Songjeong beach 

• Songdo Yonggung Suspension Bridge and Amnam Park

• Gamcheon Culture Village

Find out more about how we spent two days in Busan here. 

Days 13-15: Back to Seoul

Because we had to fly in and out of Seoul, we split our time in the city into two sections. We got the KTX bullet train back from Busan, which cost about £35 each and took around 2-2.5 hours. 

Going back to Seoul at the end of our trip meant we could go and do anything we had missed in our first few days, and revisit anything we had particularly enjoyed. It also meant travelling to the airport for an early morning flight was less painful and when we left the first time, it was nice to know we were coming back. Find out more about our week in Seoul here. 

Vegetarian food in South Korea

South Korea is famous for its delicious cuisine. But if you’ve got used to ordering it in western countries, it’s easy to think that you’ll be able to find vegetarian and vegan food in real Korean restaurants. A lot of the time, this isn’t the case. From meat broths to slices of spam in sushi and even chicken fat in a tofu and rice inari, I was constantly finding that foods I expected to be ‘safe’ actually contained hidden meat. 

You do have to just relax at some point – maybe the kimchi has fish sauce, maybe it doesn’t. The thing about the language barrier is that it can be difficult to find out. If you’re buying packaged foods, always check with Google Translate – I learned this quickly by assuming a kimchi onigiri would be meat free and then find out the hard way that it contained… some kind of mince! 

But don’t let this put you off visiting South Korea as a vegetarian or vegan. I was able to find veggie food in these restaurants and with a little research you’d be able to find many more. If you’re a group entirely made up of veggies, you’ll also be able to eat at some of the vegan restaurants in Seoul. But with a group of 7 it was hard to convince the meat-eaters to do that every day. 

Gyeongju

• Go Do Re 

• Daehwa Mandu

• Beomgul Izakaya

• Vege Bakery

Seoul

• Beben (Hongdae)

• Artmonster (Hongdae)

• Chosun Buttumak (Hongdae)

• Hahoe Village (Hongdae)

• Hong Kochi (Hongdae)

• Plant Cafe (Yeonnam)

• Italian Brewery (이태리양조장 연남점) (Yeonnam)

• Small Happiness (Jongno-gu)

• Samcheongdong Korean Pancakes (Jongno-gu)

• Gwangjang Market (Jongno-gu)

• Ssada (Myeongdong)

Busan

• 25cm (Haeundae)

• Goga 고기우동 (Songjeong)

It’s also worth noting that if you don’t mind eating western food while visiting South Korea, there are plenty of brunch, burger, and Italian restaurants around – especially in Seoul. For me, that wasn’t really the point of visiting a country that’s so different culturally from my own. But there were a few times where I caved and just had a pizza or a sandwich for ease. There’s also lots of sushi, gimbap, and onigiri available in convenience stores like 7-Eleven which I relied on a lot for snacks or lunch on the go. 

Ready for a holiday in South Korea? Here’s what you should know before you travel.