As our final trip before getting married we went to Seoul from May 24th to June 2nd with a 3 day trip to Jeju in between.
Our total cost including flights from Canada, accommodations, Food, etc totalled around $5000 including our 3 days in Jeju.
Seoul was an amazing place and the first time we truly took advantage of the convenience stores in a country.
The biggest struggle we had was navigation. Google Maps only showed us public transport and didn’t show us walking or driving directions. I did some research and found that Google Maps is limited in South Korea for security reasons. We also had Naver Maps downloaded. It worked half decent on our Canadian phones but was difficult with language as we were entering business names in English and only some places would show up while others were in Korean. Naver had much better walking directions.
English was not common at all. We only knew how to say “hello” and “thank you” in Korean so we relied on pointing and translation apps. In comparison, we went to Tokyo last year, English was more commonly understood and spoken.
Pic 1: Starfield Library - Starfield library is a great photo spot, though the books can be checked out, I think 99% of the people there were there for the back drop. There’s also a cute cafe upstairs where you can enjoy the view.
Pic 2: Lotte Aquarium - This was a really cool experience getting to see different types of aquatic wildlife and we also got a chance to feed a turtle and see some sharks (this was an extra charge)
Pic 3: Lego Store - The unique Seoul builds were really unique and some of the best I’ve seen from all the global Lego Stores I’ve been too. 2nd best would have to be Singapores.
Pic 4: Street in Seoul - Seoul has some very photogenic streets. The vibe of the whole city has this aesthetic to it that I really like. This was in an ally by the Dongdaemun Markets.
Pic 5 and 6: Samseong-Dong Shrine - A very nice shrine to stop by and pay respects to. We came across it while walking and walked through.
Pic 7: Buddha Statue in Bong EUN SA - this buddha statue had many smaller statues surrounding it (I’m not sure exactly what they are called) but this area had a nice seating area and felt very peaceful, a nice break from the hustle and bustle and of Seoul’s busy streets.
Pic 8: N Seoul Tower - The Seoul tower was a nice hike to get up too. The view from the observation deck showed the greenery that surrounded it then the view of the city. In my opinion, many of the observation decks start to look the same but I would still recommend it if you have never done one before. The gift shop at the top also had some really nice post cards and a mailbox which made it convenient to mail once we wrote them.
Pic 9: Love Bridge (just outside of N Seoul Tower) - I really loved that I had someone to write on a lock with. I was a bit worried as we didn’t take a lock with us but there was a vending machine that sold multi coloured locks with a pen right by the bridge. It is impossible to find a spot on the bridge to lock your lock directly to it so you need to latch onto a lock that’s already there.
Overall: Seoul was an amazing city. We went to Seoul without much of a plan but had a great time. We had watched some K-Dramas prior to going to Seoul but were not K-pop fans. If you’re someone who wants to explore east Asia but feel that your hobbies may not align with what you think South Korea is, you’ll still find so much to do, eat, and explore.