Another part of my travel diary is here! My backpacking journey continued from Japan just across the sea to South Korea. South Korea seems to be a country many people skip but that’s a shame! Here’s my South Korea itinerary:

I will start off by saying I decided to take it easy in Korea. By this point of my trip, I was feeling a bit exhausted after all the exploring I did in Vietnam and Japan. When it comes to long-term travelling I think it’s important to take a break every now and then so you don’t burn out by constantly moving from place to place.

I only picked three places to visit in my three weeks in South Korea. I spent most of my time in its two biggest cities Seoul and Busan and one night in a smaller historic city.

BUSAN

I really liked this southern city and ended up staying about ten days. I was lucky to find the best hostel with a great host who told me a lot about Korea and gave me plenty of tips where to go (thanks Jays!). If any of you are heading to Busan soon, you should definitely read my previous post with all the fun things to do in Busan 😉

My activities in Busan included:

• Gamcheon Culture Village: The streets of this colourful place are full of amazing art! Read my article about Gamcheon here.
• Jagalchi Fish Market: The fishing industry is big in Busan and checking out South Korea’s largest fish market is a must. Unless you hate seafood.
• Hiking: One reason I loved Busan were its many hills with picturesque views of the city and its surrounding seas.
• Busan Tower: As you might have noticed, I always chase views! I didn’t want to miss the one from Busan’s central tower.
• Songdo Beach & Gwangalli Beach: Unfortunately, it wasn’t warm enough for proper beach activities (it was April after all) but at least I got to enjoy Busan’s beautiful beaches crowd-free. Songdo beach even has a great skywalk and a coastal walk. (Also a cable car but I found it pointless to just go across the bay.)
• Beomeosa Temple: A nice walk to a Korean temple in the north of the city.

GYEONGJU

From Busan I took a bus to Gyeongju, less than an hour away. Gyeongju is South Korea’s ancient capital and is often called a “museum without walls”. I spent one day here, walking around the city and exploring its historical buildings and sites. The most interesting part were the little hills scattered all around Gyeongju, which were in fact royal tombs.

SEOUL

Another bus across South Korea and I found myself in the capital. I spent nine days in Seoul but I wasn’t nearly as impressed as with Busan. It was actually raining the first few days I was there which was the perfect excuse for spending a whole day in a café and planning my trip to China (you can’t exactly go to China unprepared…). I did quite a lot of writing there, too – thanks Seoul, you made me productive! 😀 Besides working on my blog, my article for Written From was born in Seoul.

But don’t worry, I still had time to explore the city! I went to:

• Gyeongbokgung, Changgyeonggung & Changdeokgung Palace: Seoul has four royal palaces quite close to each other. I made it to three of them and while they were amazing, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell you the difference between them (I mean, they are almost named the same!). I do know, however, that I watched the changing of the guards at Gyeongbokgung.
• Bukchon Hanok Village: A part of Seoul with traditional houses. Beautiful place but I left with mixed feelings after seeing angry signs from local residents who were obviously not thrilled by all the tourists in their neighbourhood (“This isn’t a theme park! Don’t touch our property!”).
• Gangnam & Insadong: Other neighbourhoods in Seoul, the first one made famous by the most annoying song ever made.
• N Seoul Tower: Of course I had to see Seoul from above, too.
• The War Memorial of Korea: Despite not being a huge museum fan, I just couldn’t leave Korea without visiting the Korean War museum. (Which was really well done by the way.)

Unfortunately, I couldn’t visit the DMZ (the demilitarized zone between South and North Korea) because it was closed to tourists the week I was there. The DMZ is something I was REALLY curious about so it seems that I will have to come back to Korea…

My journey continued from South Korea to Hong Kong and mainland China. Subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss all the other exciting countries I’m visiting! (You can find a link to subscribe in my sidebar.)

I hope you are also following my adventures on Instagram! 😉

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