Originally Posted by
joykid
Hi Mike and shinjukuflyer,
I will go to Korea for first time on April 6 to 14, will arrive around 9 pm at night. My hotel is in Jongno 5 ga station. Do you know how to get there from ICN airport and how much is the fee? Is it best by train or bus?
I'm not sure about exact route, maybe mikesaidyes can help. What I will suggest is it depends on how much luggage you have. If you have heavy bags, you probably want to take the bus and not have to worry about transferring on trains. And for the way back to the airport I would definitely take the bus. In my case even though we only had carry-ons, on the way back we had to stand in a crowded train for a good 30 minutes, which wasn't fun. Bus costs more but I would gladly pay a bit more for the convenience of an assigned seat.
I also plan to buy T-money pass at Incheon airport, according from what I read, Mike said that the initial purchase could be made by credit card. What does the initial purchase mean in this case? So let's say the fee for the card is $5 and then I want to load $20 on the card, then can I pay $25 by american credit card when I bought it first time from the shop in Incheon airport?
The card itself costs 3,000 KRW, which is nonrefundable, and doesn't count towards any fare. This purchase can be made with a credit card. Any amount you load on it is cash only.
I'm interested to join the JSA tour, which one did you book it from, care to share the website of the tour company that you book it from? really appreciate it! And is it worth it to add DMZ tour on top of JSA tour, or JSA tour itself is enough? can we take pictures of the JSA during the tour?
I booked through Panmunjom Travel Center
http://www.panmunjomtour.com/en/prog..._url=program_1
You can check others for comparison here if you scroll to the bottom:
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_4_1.jsp
I personally feel just the JSA tour is enough. DMZ + JSA with the tour agency I picked would've meant doing the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel and Dora Observatory in addition to the JSA tour. Didn't seem worth it. And yeah you can take photos inside the JSA but only when told it is okay, you can't take them freely.