Practical Korea travel tips for foreign visitors — transport, etiquette, money, and getting around.
You’ve been home about a month. The tube is empty. The snack drawer is empty. The little bottle of sesame oil you wrapped in a sock and prayed over at baggage claim is empty. And it turns out the thing you actually miss isn’t the trip — it’s the groceries. So you type Korean products…
It usually happens on the floor of a hotel room, two nights before the flight. You’ve got the suitcase open, and the arithmetic isn’t working. There’s a box of gifts for people at home. There’s the snack haul, which somehow doubled. There’s the skincare, which was supposed to be “a few things.” And there’s the…
You land in Seoul with a list. Someone screenshotted it for you, or you saved it off a video, and the plan is simple: go to Olive Young, buy the things, go home happy. Then you get here and the plan quietly falls apart. There’s an Olive Young on this corner. And that corner. And…
You’re through immigration. You’ve got your bags. You’re standing in a very clean, very large hall, and Seoul is somewhere out there, about an hour away, and there are signs pointing in four different directions. This is the first real decision of the trip, and most people make it while jet-lagged and slightly overwhelmed, which…
You’ve read both versions of this advice, probably in the same forum thread. “Korea is basically cashless. Don’t bother exchanging anything.” “Bring cash. I got stuck at a market with nothing but a card.” Both people are telling the truth. That’s the annoying part. Korea is one of the most card-saturated countries on earth —…
You did everything right. You downloaded the apps everyone recommended before your trip. Kakao T for taxis. Baemin for late-night fried chicken. Naver Pay because “everyone pays by phone in Korea.” Then you open one, and a screen appears: 본인인증 — verify your identity. It wants a Korean phone number. Registered to your name. With…
Picture this. You’re standing on a Seoul street corner, arm out, doing the universal taxi wave. Empty taxis drive right past you. One after another. The little roof light is on, the back seat is clearly empty, and yet nobody stops. By the third or fourth one, it starts to feel personal. Are they refusing…
If you’re coming from the US, tipping is muscle memory. The card screen spins around to face you. There’s a 18% / 20% / 25% row. Someone is standing there. You do quick math under mild pressure, every single time, all day long. So you land in Korea braced for the same thing. You’re already…