how to spend a week in seoul 🇰🇷 itinerary for first-time visitors

hello my friends welcome back to my channel you asked for and so here it is yet another travel guide for Korea today we're going to be focusing on my ideal itinery for a firsttime visit to Korea let's go I see questions about itineries and like this topic pop up across so many of my videos as well as on different forums that I follow about Korea travel and I feel like it's so hard to really give a recommendation for firsttime visitors because there's a lot to factor in when planning a trip like how long are you staying when are you visiting how do you like to travel what kind of accommodations do you like to stay in what do you like to eat and do etc etc so to make it easier I'm going to share my ity from my first trip to Korea as well as my second trip because the first time that I went to Korea was with a friend and then the second time I went was solo so throughout the video I'll make note of activities and experiences that I find suitable for groups or solo Travelers like please note that I am not an official tour guide of any sort these are all just based off of my own experiences and how I enjoyed these activities and what I would recommend based off of those experiences so like I mentioned earlier the first time that I traveled to Korea I traveled with a friend so as you can see on my itinerary here we had a lot of activities that were centered around her family's activities we actually stayed with her grandma in shinon I really like that area because it was very quiet and there were like neighborhood markets that we could go to however it is a bit far removed from everything that we were doing so going anywhere we had to take the bus in order to even get to the subway station and then from there take metro line to to wherever we wanted to go as a tourist I don't think that is an ideal location for you to stay in as a first-time visitor because half your time is going to be spent on trans ation so if I were to visit for the first time ever as a true tourist I would actually want to stay in the jonal area because it is very very Central and close to everything that I would want to do as we go down our itinerary later on now going to my second trip to Korea when I went solo I did end up doing a lot more experience type activities as well as trying to incorporate tours into my itinerary to kind of fill up the time I did stay at a hostel for this trip and I think that's a great way for solo travelers to budget travel because not only is it well budget friendly it allows you to make connections with other Travelers and a lot of the times the more social hostels will also hold weekly events to bring everyone together and they'll give you a little something to do and give you an opportunity to meet new people as well all right so if we look at my ideal itinery here I think this is a really good amount of time to take for a first trip to soul you can definitely squeeze a lot more in here if you want to like maybe even squeeze it a day or two day trip to kusan or to any other city in Korea when I travel anywhere I like to take my time in getting to know a place because I so enamored with the Korean culture I really want to take my time in like bask in it and immerse myself so taking things a little bit slow lower is kind of how I did approach going to Korea for the first time and how I would also encourage people to experience Korea so day one I would recommend if you plan on doing any sort of hair treatment getting your hair done do that the first day one you're going to be tired from traveling so you really probably won't have as much energy to go around to all these different places so I would recommend taking the first day kind of of chill and just kind of get used to a new environment a new country new language everything I have gotten my hair colored and also permed in Korea the first time I got my hair colored and cut at Sun Shiki what's really really good about these big branches they will most likely have someone who can speak English second time that I got my hair done you can watch through my Vlog here but I actually booked my hair salon appointment through Instagram I went through different styles profiles and to find the style that I liked and reached out to them in very broken Korean but thank goodness for papao it worked out another service that you can use to book any sort of beauty treatments hair treatments is create SHP so make sure to check them out getting your hair done will probably happen in one of two areas which is either in kangam in karugi or in hung I personally like hondai a little bit better because there's more to do around there so I would choose somewhere in hondai area and then afterwards go Cafe hopping just kind of taking a chill wander the streets of hunge go shopping just kind of take in that iconic koreanness and I talked a little bit more about iconic cafes that you really should try to visit when and hung in my Vlog here another area near hung that not a lot of people talk about but is Yong so literally at the Homing station if you go like North that is Yong and there's a ton T of really really cool cafes and restaurants in that area too so if you want to go Cafe hopping that is a very very trendy area to go to now if you're traveling in a group I would definitely recommend Korean Fried Chicken as a must-have meal while in Korea the way that they batter it is just very different from traditional Western Fried Chicken Go with a group or at least with someone else because the portions are really really big this is not necessarily a meal that I would recommend for solo Travelers but one thing that I really like to do when traveling is bookmarking places that I've seen on social media that I want to eat at or to visit and then mapping them out on my like map in this case I would definitely use neighbor maps that way whatever area that I am in during meal time I can just pull up my map and then see where I'm close to and like what kind of restaurants I've bookmarked that I have wanted to try and then in that moment what am I craving what do I feel like eating I can like easily have a selection to choose choose from while in the H day area after dinner you know take some time to still wander the streets because that's when the busking happens people are performing usually from like 6: to 8 or 6:00 to 9: on a weekend and then you'll see people dancing kop you'll see people like singing it's just a really chill Vibe and really cool to see in person but then I would definitely call it a night because I'll probably be tired cuz it's day one and jet lag will be hitting way hard right now because of jet lag I will probably also be waking up really early so there's something to note about Korea and soul in particular but it is very much a nightlife City so not a lot happens in the morning unfortunately before like 10: a.m. the most that you'll see is people going to school and like people going to work there's also the traditional markets which would be a really nice place to go visit in the mornings when you wake up too early from jet lag so day two I because I'm assuming I will wake up early I will go to probably get breakfast or brunch at onion or London Bagel Museum which is all around that jonal area which is perfect because this is the day we're going to go visit the Palaces if you are with someone or if you just want to do it by yourself all the power to you renting a hum book is definitely on my list of things I would want to do not only is it like a really cool experience and also a really good photo op you get free entry to the Palaces as well if you're wearing a hbook the kokong palace is the main Palace to see they have the guard change twice a day 1 at 10 a.m. and one at 2 p.m. they also offer free English tours throughout the day but double check their website just to be sure Not only would it be a really good way to learn about the historical significance of the Palaces but also you might need fellow Travelers there as well and then afterwards you can also wander around Bon hanok Village which is just really pretty traditional Korean houses be mindful though because there are actual people living in those houses so you want to be respectful for the people living there and then I would wander down to inad and maybe get some traditional afternoon tea there's a bunch of tea houses in that area there's also this little Marketplace called samik which houses a ton of workshops and small boutiques for local Artisans I love looking at the stuff there because they're very unique so if you're looking for a cool souvenir that's also somewhere you can go for that and then for dinner I would move on to iondon it's a really viby place they have a ton of restaurants there and places for you to shop not only that they also have a ton of cafes there's this Cafe that I've wanted to go to for the longest time mil toast house and they're known for their Steam bread and then day three we're going to Kong Jang Market I think I would go there if I was in a group or going with someone because then it'll be easier to navigate and to eat especially at a marketplace where you like want to try multiple things they're known for their Bok and then their Kuku as mentioned in the Netflix series only thing to note for Kong market though is it is overpriced because a lot of tourists do go there but I think if I were a firsttime tourist it's still something that I would want to see you know and then afterwards I would go to DDP it is a very cool building if they have an exhibit going on I think that'd be really cool to like look at too after that I would go on to the inso Tower or take the gondola up and then take my time walking down through NS sun park now if I were going solo I would probably skip kjong market for lunch and instead maybe grab like kimbop or something thing from the convenience store and then do insult Tower first and then kind of have a like hike in and then go to DDP because then for dinner I would try to do like a foodie tour I've linked a few in my description box below from get your guide that offer K Market foodie tour foodie tour I did a traditional Market food tour when I was in pan and it was a great experience because I got an IND dep explanation of like why the market is significant and why it's famous as well as like getting to try a bunch of different foods it was a really really fun experience and as a Solo Traveler I think it was much more reasonable in terms of food consumption because if I were to order one whole order by myself I like would be done after one stand you know but if I were traveling with a group and I didn't really want to go through the tours and all of that and just want to travel with my friends with my family then I would recommend doing like a Korean barbecue night because you know iconic and then maybe strolling down along the Chong Chon stream at night because it's a really beautiful site and also just to walk off the meat sweats what and then day four will bring us to Kong Nom and I would recommend going to the coex Starfield library in the morning because then you avoid the people and then probably making my way to kug atong for lunch they do have a lot of trendy like brunch places as well as cafes there's also the sasu headquarters in akong which I have yet to visit but I really really want to go they offer a tour as well as different facial treatments in their Spa doing one of those two I think would be really really fun as a first time visit and also for someone who is interested in skincare and I talk about this place a lot in my videos and my content but I love the go-to mall underneath the so Express Bus Terminal Station and then from there I can walk to the hen river and chill there until the bumpo bridge rainbow fountain show which is so beautiful I could live out you know my K drama dreams of eating convenience store food like Ramen by the hunt River and stuff like that so moving on to day five I think this is where things can get a little bit more flexible depending on what you like to do if you wanted to take those extra days that you have to spend elsewhere this is a perfect time to go down to pan for 2 days we had a few go go go days especially with the palace day and then the Kong Chong Market day you know those were days that you kind of are going a lot of different places so you might want to take some time to relax and just kind of enjoy being in Korea you can go to the soul Forest Park take a stroll if it's during Autumn time that you're visiting it's a great place to go see the fall foliage if you have the time you can also go to The Secret Garden for the Fall Foliage if it's cherry blossom season during Springtime you can go to one of the many many parks available in Soul that have a beautiful viewing of cherry blossoms this is a time where you can just really appreciate soul for what it is another activity that I really enjoyed but I don't know if it's like a necessary thing is hiking the inwang Sun you follow up the soul Fortress wall and then you kind of get a really nice sweeping view of Soul as well as and Soul Tower another popular spot for Cafe hopping is in SSU which is right next to Soul Forest Park my impression of the cafes in sunu are more hip and like trendy they're like industrial buildings remodeled and renovated to be cafes if I were traveling by myself I would indulge in you know a dance class because that's something that I'm interested in the first time that I traveled to Korea solo I took a K-pop dancing class where they like filmed the music video for you and everything through Airbnb experiences the last time that I went to Korea I got to take a 1 million dance class that was like one of my top bucket list items so that was really really cool another thing that you can do during this time when it's a little bit more locks in the schedule is if you're a K-pop fan go to a live broadcast music show this is something that I've always wanted to do but I never really had the right timing for it because when I visited Korea I wasn't really into The Comebacks that was happening at the time so I didn't feel like it was worth the money and also the time for me to do something like this but if you're an avid K-pop fan and you're favorite group just so happens to have a comeback at the time then this is something that I would definitely take advantage of I do think that the fan culture in Korea is a bit different from International fans and the way that the idols interact with the Korean fans as well it's something definitely worth experiencing if you don't want to go to a live broadcast show you can also look up to see if there are any fan events happening or trying to cat a sneak peek of your favorite Idols going to and from the broadcast stations I go a little bit more over how you can live your best Fang girl life in my Vlog here so be sure to check that out if that's something you're into and then if you're traveling with a group this might be a good time to like check out the night life in Hond or e one if that's something that you're interested in just note that they are a little bit age discriminatory so if you are on the older side and by older I mean like above 35 which is not even that old they might not let you in some clubs do discriminate against foreigners so if you present a foreign passport they might not let you in or if you're not interested in the clubing scene I think a really cool way to experience the night life of soul and Korea is going to one of the tents out in the streets there's a ton by the chongo stations and then on my last day here in Korea I would focus on getting all of my things that I need to get basically buying a ton of stuff but if I were by myself I would actually take some time and do a personal color analysis as I showed in my Vlog here it was a wonderful experience I thought it was so educational just really enlightening and so I would encourage everyone who's who is interested in the concept of personal color to try out this experience from there I would go to yongdong I Don't Love Mong as I mentioned before but I do have to say that it is a great place to go shopping especially if you are souvenir shopping or buying for other people and also if you're interested in Korean beauty and Korean skincare that is like the mecca of everything they do have a night market in Yong dong that does offer very different street foods than other places so I do think it's worth checking out however do have to not that the prices here tend to be a little bit more exaggerated than other places would be to end my trip on a relaxing note I would take a trip to the jimjibang which is like the sauna it is just very relaxing they usually have a ton of different Stone rooms that you can go into I'll list some recommendations as well on like popular jingang that are Foreigner friendly as well so there you have it my ideal Six-Day itinerary to Soul Korea as a firsttimer visitor a lot of the stuff I actually haven't done but I think I would do if I were to plan my trip again now a lot of the stuff I have done but maybe across a few trips and I think would make for a very full and well-rounded experience if I were to only be able to take one trip to soul and so I hope you enjoyed this and found it helpful in your carea Tri planning and if you have any suggestions about you know where you think people should go and visit in Korea as a firsttime traveler feel free to leave a comment down below and let our fellow Travelers know because the more the better right so again I hope you have safe and happy travels and I'll see you next time bye if you've watched all the way until now thank you so much for supporting my videos I know that this information is not entirely new but I do hope you enjoyed it nonetheless and if you want more career travel tips and travel guides be sure to check out my playlist down below

Channel: Adventures of Awkward Amy

Views: 9,368

Keywords: how to spend a week in seoul, korea travel guide, seoul korea, korea travel tips, seoul itinerary, seoul korea travel tips, seoul travel guide, seoul travel tips, things to do in korea, things to do in korea seoul, things to do in south korea, things to do in south korea seoul, what to do in seoul, what to do in seoul korea, what to do in south korea, south korea, south korea vlog travel, traveling to korea for the first time, korea travel vlogs, korea travel, seoul travel

Id: RiAGHxeKyWQ

Length: 19min 4sec (1144 seconds)

Published: Fri May 03 2024