Hi - hoping or Korean locals, or expats living and who know Korea inside out.

I loathe large, crowded, polluted cities. The worst I ever experienced was Taipai, but even Bangkok, unless you are right on the river, is pretty unbearable for me. Even a place like Barcelona, unless you're on the beach, is, for me, just a mess of noise and crowds and traffic.

I assume Seoul is about the same?

In order to spend a couple of months traveling around and getting to know Korea, we'd need a home base. Since, again, assuming Seoul would be torture, are there any suggestions for a mid-size city, maybe with a great lake or river or by the sea - and hopefully with an expat community and good restaurants, that we could find a two month apartment rental to use a base to tour the country?

Any help greatly appreciated

Cheers