elva

My award ticket to Seoul allows to add a domestic flight in Korea for free.

I'm staying in Seoul for a week so for the sidetrip I'd probably fly out in the morning, stay overnight and go back to Seoul late evening next day.

Which place would you recommend going to in such a way? Busan, Jeju or somewhere else? Travel is in June and I like nature as much as cities (as long as they are not rows of bland concrete boxes).

Thanks in advance!

HawaiiO

Prob Jeju if u got a free flight but 1.5 days there is quite short.

U can get to Busan by train from Seoul but Jeju only by plane (ferry takes too long).

SirJman

Flights to anywhere other than CJU or PUS are pretty limited these days. I think you can find quite a bit to do in Jeju if you want to get away from a city. Rent a car so you can see all you can in 2 days.

Kwangju is also worth a visit, but you might find the flight times mean its not worth the time.

Skip Daegu or Daejeon.

elva

Thanks! I'll probably do CJU then.

Aventine

Jeju for sure. Book your accommodation soon as a lot of Chinese and domestic tourists flock to Jeju in June. Absolutely gorgeous scenery.

dorif

Another vote for Jeju! It is a beautiful island. We rented a mini convertible and had a fabulous time touring the island.

mikesaidyes

Jeju is beautiful, BUT if you are alone, it is IMPOSSIBLE without a rental car. You can only rent a car with an international driver's license. You can hire a taxi by the day, but it's 100,000W. We used a Korean website, tbus.co.kr. If you go through an English speaker at the hotel, we were quoted 150,000 per day.

There is a bus system, but it doesn't work AT ALL to see many things in short trips. You'd have to stick to one place, like Seogwipo. Limo bus there from the airport, taxi around the area, then limo bus back to the airport. Jeju City doesn't have much at all. All of the sites are scattered around, mostly, the east and south of the island.

If you need to stay on the peninsula, try Gyeongju. It's 2 hours on KTX from Seoul. It's the old historical capital. Very quiet, but quaint, nestlted in the mountains. You can rent a bike for 10,000W a day.

Busan is also great and only maybe 15 minutes further on KTX. The only "problem" with Busan is that Haeundae/Centum City is around 40 minutes east of Busan Station by subway/bus. The other popular areas, Nampo-dong and Jalgachi, are very close to Busan station, but in the opposite direction (10 minutes tops by bus/subway). You'd have to make a solid plan of attack to see everything. Try Haeundae/Centum City the first full day and with your hotel. Then you can go back into Busan, explore Nampo/Jalgachi in an afternoon, catch the KTX back to Seoul.

I just got back from a similar Busan trip today. We left Seoul at 9:45 AM yesterday (Sat) at 7:30 PM tonight (Sun). There are trains continuously, so leaving earlier isn't a problem.

mikesaidyes

For Gyeongju, you could fly to Busan and take a short KTX ride (20 minutes). Also, in the Busan area are the islands Geoje and Tongyeong, but that's a longer bus ride, maybe 1-2 hours from Busan.

That being said, the Busan airport is very inconveniently located. It's almost better to just pay the 90 USD and book a round trip KTX ticket.

If you have to transfer at ICN to PUS flight, the layover is around two hours. Then the flight is an hour. Then from the airport to Busan Station is around 30-45 minutes (30+ mins more if you want to go to Haeundae by public transit). KTX Direct from Seoul is 2-2.5 hours to Busan Station. Much faster and simpler.

Also, for your ticket, you can only do ICN-PUS as a transit passenger, so you'd have to go right when you land. Otherwise, you MUST do GMP-BUS...not sure what your award ticket will have for the stopover rules, airport changes, etc. on that part (to leave later).

Hope this helps!

mikesaidyes

One more clarification - I went to Jeju in January 2014. EVERYWHERE we checked would only allow you to rent with an international driver's license. It might've been different a year or two ago, but we did not have any luck with a regular license from the UK.

elva

Thank you for all the additional info!

bcx

I have 10 days in Korea in late October-early November, and figure I don't need to spend the entire time in Seoul. From what I can tell, most people spend additional time either in Jeju or Busan. My only other visit to Korea was a few days in Busan and I recall there not being much to do in late fall.

How is Jeju during this time? What would I have to look forward to compared to say, Gyeongju?

mikesaidyes

Gyeongju is a very quaint town, with a downtown area with several tourist sites (parks, a museum). There is a very nice temple and grotto at the top of a mountain, but it's kind of far (30-40 minutes by bus from downtown, but it's an easy bus. Just hop on, hop off.).

Jeju is a beautiful island. Lots of natural beauty there. I recommend taking the ferry over to Udo, renting bikes and exploring for the afternoon. There are many nature tourist sites, as well as a few beachers. By October, it will be too cool to swim.

Gyeongju is definitely navigable by foot/bus/bike rental. Jeju, like I mentioned previously, will require a car or (expensive) taxi rental.

bcx

Thanks for the info.

I'm wondering if it would be better to spend a few days in Seoul first, then go to Jeju for 2-3 days, and then back to Seoul for a few days. That seems like a lot of checking in and out of hotels.

On the other hand, if we were to fly to Jeju at the end of the trip and then go back to Seoul and head straight for ICN to leave, we would have to have to do all of our Seoul shopping early and lug it with us to Jeju.