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South Korea: DIY Travel or Travel W/ Tour Guide?

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  1. #1

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    South Korea: DIY Travel or Travel W/ Tour Guide?

    South Korea is rich in culture. What's your thoughts on doing DIY trip or should you travel with a local tour guide?


  2. #2

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    What a bizarre question. i think the people who want a guide know they like guides. The rest of us prefer to do our own thing. It's got nothing to do with South Korea and everything to do with whether people like guided holidays or not! I would suggest the majority of Westerners HATE the idea of a guide...... but I could be wrong.

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  3. #3

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    Outside of Seoul not sure how many English guided tours you would find.

    Trains will take you all over the country and are easy to use, off the beaten path you'll struggle a bit but that's half the fun and people are usually very helpful even if their English is nonexistent.

    Airbnb has "experiences" which are small guided tours, never tried them but you could look into it.

    Right now isn't the best time to go though unless you like winter sports or staying indoors.

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  4. #4

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    Been to Korea three times - last time was last month. Each time we stayed in Seoul, did a day trip or two out of town with a local tour company, otherwise organised everything myself. Worked well...

    Apart from the food poisoning, but we won't talk about that.

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  5. #5

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    look at kkday, lots of local things to choose and do without the hassle of finding things to arrange.

    https://www.kkday.com/en/city/seoul

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  6. #6

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    If you need to ask such a question then it is best that you get a guided tour.


  7. #7

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    A number of years ago, the wife and I travelled around a bit and one of our stops was the South Korean (UNESCO site) island of Jeju. We arrived at the airport, rented a car, and drove to our Airbnb.
    Everything was easy enough, and the host family was friendly and helpful and spoke good English, as many folks there do. There will be some language barriers in more ‘rural’ areas and markets, but that’s to be expected. The only difficulty we had was the time or 2 when I had to park the car! Never having been on the mainland, I can’t really say what the experience would be like in a major metropolis as Seoul or Busan. I really suppose that’s entirely up to your needs and and expectations from a visit, your travel style and your budget too of course. I’d say that if you’re into the history and culture of Korea in general, a bit of careful online searching could probably give you some good places to start. There was a website dedicated to this sort of thing years ago, but the name escapes me at the moment. Good luck!

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  8. #8

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    We have travelling in South Korea numerous times. Our strategy has always been Lonely Planet, the internet and a translation app. If you plan to drive around, hiring a car is not that hard but I would recommend you install the local map app - Naver or Kakao Map - much better than Google maps for Korea. CityMapper is great for public transport in Seoul.

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  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by HK_Katherine:
    If you plan to drive around, hiring a car is is exactly the same as any airport in a developed country
    Corrected it for you

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by East_coast:
    Corrected it for you
    It's not. The language issue always complicates things in Korea. (I've hired several cars in Korea).

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