Worth it for 1-2 day stopover in Seoul?
 

Hi everyone!

I am attempting to book some award travel (SkyTeam) that will take me from SAN to SGN. I will be traveling with my wife and two children (ages 2 and 5). I see that on award travel we are allowed one stopover. This might be good for the kids as it would break up the flights.

Is it worthwhile to do a 1-2 day stopover in Seoul?

Things I need to consider are:
-Are things relatively more expensive or less compared to the US?
-Are there kid-friendly and inexpensive activities we could do during that time?
-How far from the airport would I need to go? Is it easy to get around?

We would only have 1-2 days. We don't need to do anything that is huge. We like low stress and relaxing things, but likewise I don't want hole up in a hotel room for a day or more when I could be already at our final destination in Vietnam. It really comes down to the kids- it needs to be fun and exciting for them so they don't drive us crazy, yet we don't want to wear them (or ourselves) out too much.

I appreciate any advice you can send my way.

Seoul is a fantastic destination, great city for a tourist. Prices are not super-cheap like Vietnam but comparable to US, maybe somewhat cheaper. While kid friendly, it is a big bustling vibrant city, so I suppose analogy is taking kids to Manhattan. You can google the activities and distances, airport is 30 miles from town. As for inexpensive activities, there is tons of public art which is all free, just walking around Gangnam for example is an adventure :)

#six, thank you so much for the comments. It is certainly encouraging. I am down for anything (nothing could be as bad as some of the stinkholes I went to as I collected these 300,000 miles), but my wife, while an occasional traveler, is not nearly as adventurous, outgoing, or trusting as I am (she likes the beaten path, just so long as it isn't to a music). We've done Manhattan, in the winter no less pushing around an 18-month old baby (and we are from San Diego...). It was a blast. So this will be too (hopefully not humid, though).

As for costs, we just want to avoid something similar to our honeymoon, where, on an AAward ticket to Greece, we had a stopover at LHR, and it was a bit miserable. It wasn't the weather so much as it was the cost of everything. Two recent college grads with a year of work under their belt who just blew all their cash on the "party" (read: reception), you could imagine we weren't too excited when we discovered the breakfast at our hotel was 30 Euro each (++). At her request, I ended up huffing it more than 2 miles before I found something other than a liquor store with Doritos. Naturally, it was McDOnalds, and, shoot, it was still 6 Euro for a damn Big Mac. $10!!!! Lunch that day in the city was not better. Our favorite part was probably just taking the tube itself.

Wonderful - I think I will add that to my itinerary.

For what i's worth, I could also stopover in Tokyo (which I believe is pricey), Shanghai (I've had my fill recently), Guangzhou (anything to do there), or Taipei. I welcome any comments on those cities as well.

Have a nice weekend!!!

This thread is being moved to the Asia forum at the request of uclalum.

Prospero
Senior Moderator

Try a walk along Cheonggyecheon creek (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheonggyecheon)

Or hiking along the old fortress trail in the mountains (http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/...sp?cid=1060925)

Or just have some good Korean BBQ

One of the major tourist attractions is a historic palace that has period-costumed soldiers who do a changing of the guard ceremony. This would be fun for your family.

Tokyo is not as expensive as you might think, especially with the yen stronger now. But it does cost a bit to get from Narita into the city and can take a long time, over an hour.
http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/nex/tickets.html

If you stayed in a ryokan for 2 nights you could spend around $100 for the whole room and experience traditional Japanese life.
http://japaneseguesthouses.com/db/tokyo/

I too will be doing a 2-3 night stopover in Seoul next year on the way home from an award ticket vacation on Borneo. We will fly Asiana through ICN and get a stopover also. I have never been to Seoul but have been to Tokyo. If I had not been to either place I would choose Tokyo.

Thanks for the advice. The way the award tickets worked out, I booked through TPE with no stopover. If something else becomes available I will look at it, but I need three tickets at Delta's "low-level" which is nearly impossible. I should be happy I got what I did.

Also, thinking about it, any stopover will be a push. The kids' adjustment is a big unknown, as is weather (in late October Seoul could be chilly). I'd hate to waste two-days of a vacay lounging around the hotel while they adjust. We have a house rented in Vietnam for a month, so I think we are best to just head straight there. (fam is with me for two week, then I work for two weeks.... can you please a furnished house is less than $500/month?!?)

I will request moderator to close the thread
.

www.japan-guide.com/e/e2027.html If you scroll down to where it says "By Keisei Limited Express," and then to "By Tokyo Shuttle bus/By Heiwa Kotsu bus," getting into the usual tourist areas of Tokyo can be as inexpensive as ¥900 one-way (per person).

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JDiver
senior moderator