2018 Olympics travel planning
 

With just over a year to go, is anyone planning on traveling to the 2018 Olympics in South Korea?

CoSport (the official ticket provider for the US and many other countries) has opened their ticket lottery which will be open until the 25th. However, there's no pricing which obviously makes planning very difficult.

Another frustration is the lack of information on transportation and accommodation. Honestly, there's just not a lot of information out there in English at this point. The only Western chain hotels in the area are IHG, but it looks like those are being used for the IOC and officials.

The best hotel option at this point looks to be Seoul, but that will get old fast. CoSport will have hotel options, but based on the past, the prices will be exorbitant.

Please post if you're making plans and have found more information than I have.

The closest city is Gangneung, but at this point I think it's still too early to book. There aren't many major hotel chains or anything there, so I am sure they are still preparing the infrastructure and systems for the influx. The website in both Korean and English for the Olympics is, for the first time in Korea, EXACTLY the same!

Expect major corruption and practicality issues. The Olympics are not there for visitors but giant pork barrel projects for local companies. Hopefully, some fun can still be had.

I personally would book accommodation in greater Seoul and use the HSR connections to the Olympic sites daily, provided they will ever be finished.

Would after the Olympics in 2018 be a good time to visit South Korea? Say in the fall, September or October? Would a lot of infrastructure upgrades already be done? I know not to visit a country right before they host Olympics.

bump, following and bookmarked.

The hosting locations of olympics can be rather busy shortly after the end of the main events as Paralympics are usually scheduled to take place. IIRC that it was rather busy in London in September, as they made quite a few public events to promote the Paralympics.

That said, you should be fine in September or October. South Koreas hosts the 2018 Winter Olympics, by April everything will be over again.

The infrastructure of Seoul obviously is not an issue. Seoul will continue to function as normal. Where they are hosting the Olympics is an area with a lot of ski resorts, so you would only go there to ski anyway. It's not exactly a normal, common destination for Koreans or tourists.

Update: I got confirmed for plenty of tickets (which would make the trip worthwhile), but with no good information on hotels out there, I just don't think I can take them. Unfortunately, I have to decide what I want to buy before close of business tomorrow.

Staying in Seoul seems to be impractical - commuting would take up 3-4 hours a day.

A note on the Olympic logo that will be used:
The logo is made up of the first consonants of each syllable of the word “PyeongChang” as it is written in the Korean script, Hangul.

Chinese New Year?
 

Hopping on this thread, with a query.......
The Olympic Games are taking place at the same time as the Chinese New Year? I know, I know, its Korea, but many mainland Chinese travel then?

Chinese New Year is technically Lunar New Year (obviously, Korea is not China) in Korea. Korean New Year is Friday Thurs 2/15, Fri 16th and then weekend off as well.

Koreans will actually be going to home towns then, so roads will be clogged for sure. Trains will also be hard to get for those days as well. Like they require special reservation system online or waiting in huge lines in person.

As far as Chinese tourism, right now it is down because of China's retaliation for THAAD. Presumably, with the new President saying no to America, this might change and numbers go back up.

I wouldn't worry to much about actual Chinese visitors taking up space, but instead the Koreans making it difficult to get around by bus/train.

Thanks a lot..Bookmarking this thread.

Has anyone had success booking lodging in Alpensia or Gangnueng for 2018? Any suggestions on non-obvious sites to check?

The KTX now operates to Pyeongchang so from Seoul it should only really be an hour. They were counting on this, and I think that's the expectation.

The new high-speed train line will be serviced by ten trains (each train having 15 carriages).


http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bbwfP-eZ1p...ain-744196.jpg


A map of the train line, as well as updated information on accommodations, is included in this webpage:

http://webzine.koreaconvention.org/p...s/?ckattempt=3