11 Things You Can Only Do In The Winter in Korea
There are a lot of lists of things to do in the winter in Korea that are just the same lists as normal things to do in Korea but they have pictures of Korea with snow. This list is NOT that. This list is an actual list of things to do in the winter in Korea that you CANNOT do the rest of the year, in any other season of the year.
There are a lot of things to do in the winter in Korea. From indoors fun if your prone to chills, to ski slopes, and ice skating and even strawberry picking! When it’s cold in Korea, find something to warm you up!
Get ready for fun this winter in Korea:
(This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.)
Winter In Korea Quick Guide
The Weather
Korea’s winter brings frigid temperatures, offering a stunning yet challenging experience. December starts with temperatures from -7ยฐC to 3ยฐC (19ยฐF to 37ยฐF), painting snowy landscapes outside Seoul. January hits harder, ranging from -10ยฐC to 1ยฐC (14ยฐF to 34ยฐF), blanketing the country in snow. February, while a bit milder at -8ยฐC to 3ยฐC (18ยฐF to 37ยฐF), retains the serene winter charm.
Despite the cold, enjoy the picturesque scenery and perhaps even some winter sports.
What To Pack
Winter in Korea demands serious preparation due to the intense cold. Layered clothing is a mustโthick sweaters, long padding coats, and boots are essential, while hot packs add extra warmth.
For your packing list, prioritize long padding coats, long johns or Uniqlo Heattech is my go to, sweaters, and jeans with Heattech underneath. Don’t forget the thick socks, scarves, hats, and gloves to keep the chill at bay. Be ready to bundle up to withstand the Siberian winds!
Things To Do In The Winter In Korea
Yes, you can see the palaces covered in snow and you can walk down the alleys of Bukchon Hanok Village with snow on the ground. This list is not all of the things you can do all-year-round, but it’s a list of things that you actually can ONLY do in the winter in Korea. Let’s get into it.
Take a duck sled ride
If you’ve been on Instagram over the past couple of winters in Korea, you’ve probably noticed the wintery ducks all over the place. It started as just duck claws that scoop up snow and form little snow ducks and now there are duck sleds for people to take rides across the ice. Take your own ducky ride this winter in Korea!
You can join a tour to Sanjung Lake for the duck sled experience with Klook or with kkday.
Go polar bear swimming
There’s a pretty strict swimming season in Korea and if you’re caught swimming outside of the specified swimming season in the summer, you can have locals and police yelling after you. But, in the winter, there is one pretty major swimming event that is allowed. Join the Busan Polar Bear Swimming Festival (๋ถ๊ทน๊ณฐ์์๋ํ) and swim into the cold waters with 5,000 other icy cold ocean water lovers.
- Address: 47 Dalmaji-gil 62beon-gil, Haeundae-gu, Busan (๋ถ์ฐ์ ํด์ด๋๊ตฌ 62๋ฒ๊ธธ ๋ฌ๋ง์ง๊ธธ 47)
- Registration period: November 8 – 24, 2023
- Festival: December 15 – 16, 2023
- Haeundae Polar Bear Festival Website
Visit an amusement park
If you havenโt been to Lotte World or Everland yet, this might be just the right time to head to one of these amusement parks in order to experience some great Christmas Festival madness. Okay, this is the only one on the list that you can technically do all-year-round. BUT, if you’re trying to celebrate the holidays, the amusement parks make for one of the best way to get the decor, the carols, and more.
Also, if it’s a bit too cold, Lotte World is half indoors and half outdoors so you can bounce in and out to warm up as needed.
- Lotte World (๋กฏ๋ฐ์๋): Lotte World has everything from lights to a Santa Claus Parade. There are beautiful displays and this indoor/outdoor amusement park is the most popular place in Seoul for some fun.
- Address: 240 Olympic-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul (์์ธ ์กํ๊ตฌ ์ฌ๋ฆผํฝ๋ก 240)
- Get discounted tickets: Donโt buy tickets at the door if you can help it! You will absolutely get better deals online. Get the Lotte World 1 day Pass on Klook.
- Everland (์๋ฒ๋๋): Just south of Seoul, Everland is one of the biggest theme parks in Korea. There are five zones with roller coasters and more to enjoy. They guarantee an amazing Christmas display, complete with fireworks and lights.
- Address: 199 Everland-ro, Pogok-eub, Cheoin-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do (๊ฒฝ๊ธฐ ์ฉ์ธ์ ์ฒ์ธ๊ตฌ ํฌ๊ณก์ ์๋ฒ๋๋๋ก 199)
- Get discounted tickets: Get your tickets online with Klook to take advantage of the online discount.
Go skiing or snowboarding
There are numerous ski resorts in close proximity to Seoul and almost all of them offer shuttle services to get back and forth easily during the winter season. Koreans love to enjoy all that the mountains have to offer and skiing and snowboarding or sledding is definitely something that is widely done in Korea. You should enjoy it too! Don’t miss out on these great ski resorts in Gangwon-do and Gyeonggi-do this winter.
If you’ve never gone skiing before or maybe you didn’t pack the gear, fear not! There are some awesome tour companies that plan all inclusive trips to the nearby mountain ranges.
Here are the ski resorts in Korea to know about and how to get to them:
Bears Town Ski Resort (๋ฒ ์ด์คํ์ด๋ฆฌ์กฐํธ ์คํค์ฅ)
Bears Town has eleven slopes and eight cable lifts and is the closest to Seoul. This resort is perfect for the beginning to intermediate skier/snowboarder or the snow bunnies among us. This is a great spot to go for a day trip at the beginning of the season to get your ski or board legs under you.
- Where To Stay Nearby: Bears Town
- Opening Hours: 9:00am ~ 5:00pm & 6:30pm ~ 4:00am
- Tours: Book a daytrip from Seoul to Bears Town on kkday.
- Address: 27 Geumgang-ro 2536beon-gil, Naechon-myeon, Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do (๊ฒฝ๊ธฐ๋ ํฌ์ฒ์ ๋ด์ด๋ฉด ๊ธ๊ฐ๋ก2536๋ฒ๊ธธ 27 (๋ด์ด๋ฉด))
Jisan Forest Ski Resort (์ง์ฐ ํฌ๋ ์คํธ ๋ฆฌ์กฐํธ ์คํค์ฅ)
Situated just 40 minutes from Seoul (if youโre around the Gangnam area), this resort makes for an easy daytrip from the city to hit the powder. There are five lifts and eight runs in this small ski area. This resort is great for the beginner or the skier or boarder looking to get an easy day at the beginning of the season. While the slopes are pretty easy and straight forward, the park does also feature a terrain park.
- Where To Stay Nearby: Hotel Bene on Booking.com or on Agoda.com
- Opening Hours: 7:00am ~ 2:00am
- Tour: Book a daytrip package with Klook which includes transportation/gear. There are also numerous ski packages for daytrips and even night skiing on kkday.
- Address: 267 Jisan-ro, Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do (๊ฒฝ๊ธฐ๋ ์ด์ฒ์ ๋ง์ฅ๋ฉด ์ง์ฐ๋ก 267 (๋ง์ฅ๋ฉด))
Elysian Gangchon Ski Resort (์๋ฆฌ์์ ๊ฐ์ด ์คํค์ฅ)
Set in the mountains near Chuncheon, the Elysian Gangchon Ski Resort is just an hour outside of Seoul and is even accessible via the Seoul subway system so it could easily be considered more of a near Seoul resort. The park has ten slopes and six lifts. This resort is conveniently located for an easy daytrip outside of Seoul spent in the powder and since itโs in Chuncheon there are plenty of other things to do too like visiting Nami Island, famous for being in the TV drama Winter Sonata.
- Where To Stay Nearby: Elysian Gangchon Resort on Booking.com or on Agoda.com
- Opening Hours: 9:00am ~ 5:30pm & 7:00pm ~ 3:00am
- Tour: Book a daytrip package with Klook which includes transportation/gear/apparel + lift ticket. There are also great option for skiing daytrips on kkday.
- Address: 688 Bukhangangbyeon-gil, Namsan-myeon, Chuncheon-si, Gangwon-do (๊ฐ์๋ ์ถ์ฒ์ ๋จ์ฐ๋ฉด ๋ถํ๊ฐ๋ณ๊ธธ 688 (๋จ์ฐ๋ฉด))
Daemyung Resort Vivaldi Park (๋น๋ฐ๋ ํํฌ ์คํค์๋)
Officially named Daemyung Resort Vivaldi Park, this resort of generally referred to simply as Vivaldi Park and is one of the most popular ski resorts in Korea. The park features twelve slopes and ten lifts including Asiaโs first 8-seater express chairlift and 8-seater gondola. Stay in a ski in ski out condo on the slopes and youโll love the trip out to these gorgeous mountains in Gangwon-do.
- Where To Stay Nearby: Vivaldi Park โ The Park Hotel on Booking.com or Sono Felice Vivaldi Park on Agoda.com
- Opening Hours: 8:30am ~ 5:00pm & 6:30pm ~ 5:00am
- Tours: Book a weekend package with Klook which includes transportation/gear/apparel/lift ticket + accommodation. You can also find great daytrips and weekend trips to Vivaldi Park on kkday.
- Address: 262 Hanchigol-gil, Seo-myeon, Hongcheon-gun, Gangwon-do (๊ฐ์๋ ํ์ฒ๊ตฐ ์๋ฉด ํ์น๊ณจ๊ธธ 262 (์๋ฉด))
Oak Valley (์คํฌ๋ฐธ๋ฆฌ ์คํค์ฅ)
Oak Valley is a small resort area with three chairlifts. The area is great for families and has a great runs for learning to ski or board.
- Where To Stay Nearby: Hansol Oak Valley Resort
- Opening Hours: 8:30am ~ 5:00pm & 6:30pm ~ 4:00am
- Tour: Book a daytrip package with Klook which includes transportation/gear/apparel + lift ticket. You can also find ski packages for Oak Valley on kkday.
- Address: 58 Oak Valley 2-gil, Jijeong-myeon, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do (๊ฐ์๋ ์์ฃผ์ ์ง์ ๋ฉด ์คํฌ๋ฐธ๋ฆฌ2๊ธธ 58 (์ง์ ๋ฉด))
Alpensia (์ํ์์๋ฆฌ์กฐํธ ์คํค์ฅ)
Alpensia is a resort that offers something for everyone all throughout the year. The ski resort has six slopes and they are perfect for everyone from the beginner to the advanced skier.
- Where To Stay Nearby: Intercontinental Alpensia Pyeongchang Resort on Booking.comor on Agoda.com
- Opening Hours: 8:30am ~ 12:30pm, 12:30pm ~ 4:30pm & 6:30 ~ 10:30pm
- Tour: Book a 2D1N Package with Klook which includes transportation/gear/apparel + lift ticket. Or, book a daytrip to Alpensia on kkday.
- Address: 325 Solbong-ro, Daegwallyeong-myeon, Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do (๊ฐ์๋ ํ์ฐฝ๊ตฐ ๋๊ด๋ น๋ฉด ์๋ด๋ก 325 (๋๊ด๋ น๋ฉด))
High1 Resort (ํ์ด์ ๋ฆฌ์กฐํธ)
The High1 Resort, named so as to reflect the concept of being โfirst and foremostโ, has eighteen slopes across three mountain peaks. Itโs not the easiest resort to access but that means the people that do get there are avid skiers and boarders. That shouldnโt dissuade beginners though as this resort has a 4.2 kilometer long beginning slope and itโs family friendly.
- Where To Stay Nearby: High1 Castle Resort
- Opening Hours: 8:30am ~ 4:00pm & 6:00pm ~ 10:00pm
- Tour: Book a 1N2D or 2N3D ski package on kkday.
- Address: 424 High1-gil, Jeongseon-gun, Gangwon-do (๊ฐ์๋ ์ ์ ๊ตฐ ๊ณ ํ์ ํ์ด์๊ธธ 424 (๊ณ ํ์))
Yongpyong Ski Resort (์ฉํ๋ฆฌ์กฐํธ ์คํค์ฅ)
Yongpyong is known as the Alps of Korea and is the largest ski resort in Korea but the best thing about it is that it gets the HIGHEST amount of snowfall each year. Ski and boarding loving Koreans flock to these slopes at the center of the Baekdudaegan Mountain Range every year and there are very good reasons as to why. The slopes here average 250 centimeters of snowfall per year!
- Where To Stay Nearby: Yongpyong Resort on Booking.comor on Agoda.com
- Opening Hours: 8:30am ~ 4:30pm & 6:30pm ~ 12:30am
- Tour: Book a 2D1N Package with Klook which includes transportation/gear/apparel + lift ticket. Or book a 4D3N Ski Adventure on kkday.
- Address: 715 Olympic-ro, Daegwanryeong-myeon, Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do (๊ฐ์๋ ํ์ฐฝ๊ตฐ ๋๊ด๋ น๋ฉด ์ฌ๋ฆผํฝ๋ก 715 (๋๊ด๋ น๋ฉด))
Pheonix Pyeongchang Ski Resort (ํ๋์ค ํ์ฐฝ)
Phoenix is often reputed for having some of the most high-quality snow around and was the location for the free style ski and snowboarding competition during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics. The resort offers nine lifts and ten runs to visitors as well as a terrain park and halfpipe.
- Where To Stay Nearby: Pheonix Pyeongchang Ski Resort on Booking.com or on Agoda.com
- Opening Hours: 8:30am ~ 4:30pm & 6:30pm ~ 4:00am
- Tour: Book a 3D2N trip with Klook.
- Address: 174 Taegi-ro, Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do (๊ฐ์๋ ํ์ฐฝ๊ตฐ ๋ดํ๋ฉด ํ๊ธฐ๋ก 174)
Go ice skating
While there are ice skating rinks that are open year round in Seoul, come winter some special rinks are put together for those in the outdoor skating spirit. One of the most popular rinks is downtown in front of Seoul City Hall. But, if you want to get out a bit, you can also find manmade ice rinks on rice paddy fields, too. Just search “์ผ์์ฐ๋งค์ฅ” on Naver and you can find them all over the place.
Ice skating rinks to find in Seoul include:
- Lotte World Ice Skating Rink
- Mokdong Ice Skating Rink
- Grand Hyatt Ice Skating Rink
- Yeouido Hangang Park Ice Skating Rink
Attend a sunrise festival
To celebrate the New Year in Korea is traditionally a little different. While we’re out there kissing at midnight and celebrating 12:00am, Koreans traditionally welcome January 1st with the first sunrise. Across the country there are numerous locations that a sunrise festival takes place to ring in the new year on January first. If youโre looking for something less late into the night and more early morning, this is where you should head.
Sunrise Festivals in Korea: Homigot Sunrise Festival, Samcheok Sunrise Festival, thereโs also an Ulsan Ganjeolgot Sunrise Festival, a Yeosu Hyangiram Sunrise Festival, a Seongsan Sunrise Festival, a Maryangpo Sunset & Sunrise Festival and a Gyeongpo Sunrise Festival.
- Enjoy the New Year’s countdown in Seoul and then head out to the Jeongdongjin Beach Sunrise Festival or the Pohang Homigot Sunrise Festival. Let the bus driver take you so you can sleep on the way. Book on Klook
Find the twinkling holiday lights
There are some gorgeous places to see twinkling lights and the great thing about the spots in Korea is that they put them up before Christmas and don’t take them down until about the end of February generally. No need to rush to see them around Christmas, you can see them anytime throughout the winter. Here is a list of places to see holiday lights in Seoul and a couple places you should definitely travel to see if you have the time.
- Garden of the Morning Calm (์์นจ๊ณ ๊ต์๋ชฉ๊ถ ์ค์๋ณ๋น์ ์์ ) puts on a fantastic light show. Visit to see the park transformed into a light-filled garden. Itโs a great way to celebrate the holidays in Korea. The lighting festival usually takes place from December to March so plenty of time to enjoy the beautiful array.
- Address: 432 Sumogwon-ro, Sang-myeon, Gapyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do (๊ฒฝ๊ธฐ๋ ๊ฐํ๊ตฐ ์๋ฉด ์จ์ค๊ถ๋ก 432)
- Join A Tour:
- Did you know strawberries are a winter fruit in Korea? This is a great tour on Klook that includes strawberry picking and jam making as well as a trip to Garden of the Morning Calm.
- Another great option if you want to celebrate winter a bit more. Klook has a winter tour that visits the Cheongyang Ice Fountain Festival or Eobi Ice Valley as well as the Garden of the Morning Calm Lighting Festival.
- Boseong Tea Plantation Lighting Festival (๋ณด์ฑ์ฐจ๋ฐญ ๋น์ถ์ ) is another gorgeous place to visit in the winter. The green tea bushes are still green and when they have light cover of snow, it’s gorgeous and then add lights and it’s a very special experience.
- Address: 763-65 Nokcha-ro, Boseong-eup, Boseong-gun, Jeollanam-do (์ ๋ผ๋จ๋ ๋ณด์ฑ๊ตฐ ๋ณด์ฑ์ ๋ น์ฐจ๋ก 763-65)
- Haeundae Light Festival (ํด์ด๋๋น์ถ์ ) is another great lighting festival that takes place in Busan. Check out the lights that decorate Haeundae Market and Hot Spring Road. There’s also a carolling competition, Santa Clauses galore, and a Wishing Tree Festival at the same time.
Visit an ice fishing festival
My very first winter in Korea, I headed east to an ice fishing festival and despite the cold, man oh man was it fun. There are a few ice fishing festivals in Korea to choose from.
Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival (์ผ์๋๋ผ ํ์ฒ ์ฐ์ฒ์ด์ถ์ )
This mountain trout festival takes place in the first place in Korea that freezes over every winter. Of course ice fishing, ice sledding and sliding and catching fish with bare hands in a pool of frigid water is on the agenda for anyone attending this event. Take that fish and grill it up on nearby grills in tents and enjoy your catch.
- Address: 137 Sancheoneo-gil, Hwacheon-eup, Hwacheon-gun, Gangwon-do (๊ฐ์ ํ์ฒ๊ตฐ ํ์ฒ์ ์ฐ์ฒ์ด๊ธธ 137)
- Join a Tour: Head out to the Hwacheon Trout Festival with Klook or with kkday for easy access to all of the fun.
Pyeongchang Trout Festival (ํ์ฐฝ์ก์ด์ถ์ )
Head to a fish festival where you can dive into some freezing cold water and catch fish with your bare hands. Okay, you donโt really dive, but you can get into a large pool of cold water and try to catch those fish before your fingers become too numb. If thatโs not appealing, I donโt know what is!
- Address: 1289-80 Hajinbu-ri, Jinbu-myeon, Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do (๊ฐ์ ํ์ฐฝ๊ตฐ ์ง๋ถ๋ฉด ํ์ง๋ถ๋ฆฌ 1289-80)
- Join a Tour: Head out to the Pyeonchang Trout Festival with Klook or with kkday to make it an easy adventure.
Inje Ice Fishing Festival (์ธ์ ๋น์ด์ถ์ )
After Hwacheon, the second ice fishing festival I attended was in Inje. Find a hole, catch some bingeo and eat it up. The great thing about the fish festivals is that after getting cold on the ice, you can find some warm tents to eat in.
- Address: 555-2 Beon-ji, Bupyeong-ri, Inje-gun, Gangwon-do (๊ฐ์๋ ์ธ์ ๊ตฐ ๋ถํ๋ฆฌ 555-2๋ฒ์ง
Have fun at a snow festival
Taebaeksan Mountain Snow Festival (ํ๋ฐฑ์ฐ ๋์ถ์ ) means โgreat white mountainโ and for good reason, itโs famous for the heavy snowfall that it gets every year. Attendees can get an eyeful of ice sculptures and other winter-themed artwork as well as take a ride through a snow tunnel, get a dog sled ride, sled, make a snowman and more.
Eat gwamegi
This isn’t one you’ll find on a lot of lists, but it should be because gwamegi is a Korean delicacy that can only be eaten in the winter in Korea. Gwamegi (๊ณผ๋ฉ๊ธฐ), or Pacific herring, is a fishy Korean treat that is something that I always look forward to when the temperatures get cool. If youโre in the right Korean village from mid-November to February, youโll be able to see rows and rows of drying racks with Pacific saury or Pacific herring.
Pick strawberries
While I grew up picking strawberries in the spring, in Korea, strawberry picking is a fun winter activity. Not only is it delicious, but it’s also very warm inside of those strawberry greenhouses so it’s a great cozy afternoon activity.
Join a tour for strawberries and fun:
- Winter Strawberry Picking & Nami Island Day Tour: Book with Klook or with kkday.
- Cheongyang Ice Fountain Festival & Strawberry Picking Tour: Book with kkday.
Did you like this post? Pin It!
42 Comments
Lester Lim
hi there, i be going to busan on february 2017, may i know is there any snow fall during that time? or need to go to mountain to see the snow? Any suggestion regards to the attraction & etc. Your help is much appreaciated.
Hallie
There should be snow in February but since Busan is on the coast, it might be a little hit or miss if it sticks. The mountains would be more likely to have substantial snow to see.
Gerald
Hi, planning to visit Seoul between Christmas stay till after new year. My wife have never seen snow and snow fall….is there any nice small town that would surely have snow besides going to ski resort? If ski resort, which one would you recommend?
Alpha
Hello Hallie,
I just booked a flight to Seoul this coming December 12,2016 and will be staying for 7 days. It will be my first time in Korea and I have apprehensions regarding communication. Will it be easy for me to ask around when I only speak english?
Alpha
Hallie
It depends where you want to go. The big tourist spots, you’ll have no problem. The traditional markets and so on though might be a bit more difficult. You can just use a bunch of hand motions and smiles though and maybe a “hello” and “thank you” in Korean and people will try to help. ^^
andra
Hi Hallie, I’m visiting Seoul this January.
I want to try hiking but since it’s my first time doing it in winter, can you recommend me some place that the trail is not too tough, the best time to hike and what to wear?
Thank you so much!
Hallie
The trails along the Seoul Fortress Wall and Namhansanseong Fortress Wall are great as their are always cleared of debris and snow and you can’t get lost since you just follow the wall. I would recommend this if you’re not sure of the trails here. In January, there may or may not be snow. This winter has been unseasonably dry so there’s been little snow and rain. That may change though. Just wear hiking gear that is warm and hiking shoes to be sure you can maneuver on any paths that are icy or gravel. I would recommend getting up early and getting out to hike so that you will be in by mid afternoon so that you’re not accidentally out when it becomes dark. Hope you have fun!
andy
Hi Hallie, will there be any sales during Dec21-37 in Seoul? Thanks.
Hallie
What kind of sales are you looking for? There are almost always sales in Myeongdong and Hongdae if you want to go shopping.
maria
HI there! vising Seoul in January 6-8. Can you help us to arrange our stay? we love to discover old & new Seoul & korean drama tour packages.
Hallie
Hi Maria, I would suggest that you look for hotels/ guest houses in the Jongno area. You’d be near old Seoul, but right downtown so you’d also be near new Seoul too.
Florina
Hi.. Me and my friends will be visiting Seoul and Busan by January 2016.. May I know there is any activities will be going on.. Our date of travel between 10-16 January 2016. Thank u
emmaysf
Hello ^^ I will be visiting Seoul in 1 – 14 January 2016 and I am currently searching guesthouse and what kind other activities can I do ^^ can you give me recommendation and suggestion?
Hallie
There are some fun ice fishing festivals, snow festivals and other winter things to do. If you check out http://www.visitkorea.or.kr they have an events section that might be able to help you. Some of them would mean a day trip out of Seoul, but they’d be worth it. Often there are buses that leave from downtown in the morning and return in the evening to these festivals too to help tourists.
Steven
Hi Hallie,
i’m planning to go to korea on 17-26 January 2016.
do you know what i can during that time?
what other city is great beside seoul to travel?
Hallie
A lot of people like to travel down to Busan. But there are also places to go skiing not far from the city if you want to do that too. There are also some great winter festivals you can enjoy during that time.
Deezed
Hi Hallie, I am planning to go to Seoul on 25 dec – 5 Jan with my family..there’ll be 5 adults and 2 babies….. can u suggest the best accomodation to stay? Also, how is the rental of accomodation be during winter as I know using heater can be expensive during this time. i’ve look at AirBNB website for apartments… but very unsure which area best to stay… my preference would be entire apartment for the whole duration..
Hallie
I’m not sure about exact accommodations. Since I live here, I’ve always stayed in my home. I can say for areas: Bukchon/Anguk area is know for traditional Korean homes to stay in and provide lots of cultural and historical things in the area, Myeongdong is downtown and great for shopping, Hongdae is great for nightlife, art and life music. I hope that helps.
alaatika
Hi Hallie,
Im a muslim lady from Malaysia and excited to visit Seoul in this December ’15.
Can you pls help to suggest me the suitable accomodation for a muslim like me?
Anyway, my trip will be 3 days 2 night. Maybe you can advise me attract place to go during these 3 days?
Hallie
Hi Alaatika, maybe you can email me what you’re looking for and what sort of accommodation you’re interested in and I can send you some more information. [email protected]
erni
Hi Alaatika,
my friend and i also planning to go on december 2015, which is on 04 dec – 12 dec..
are you same date with me?
Geo
Thanks. Thats gimpo airport? How about a specific airline?will it be worth it to fly there in the morning and fly back to seoul in the evening?
Hallie
If you’re going to rent a car on Jeju, then a one day trip might be worth it but if you are depending on public transport there, it’d be almost impossible.
Geo
Hi hallie, any suggestion/information you might give. How about transportation from seoul to busan? Will it be by plane? Is there a cheap flight/airline?
Hallie
There’s a train from Seoul to Busan that costs around $60. A flight is pretty similar in cost and saves time but the airport in Busan isn’t actually in Busan so you end up losing time getting from there to the center of the city. All in all the best option for you is probably a KTX train. The train station is central in both cities. The trip by train is about 3 hours.
Geo
Thanks Hallie, im just trying to help friend. Their flight to Busan was cancelled by the airline company so she’s trying to set up a new set of itinerart for their vacation.
Geo
Oh thats great! Whatvwe’re planning is to visit seoul for only 4days. Is it possible to visit jeju island as well even if we only have 4days stay in korea? And what is the best option to go to jeju from seoul?
Hallie
If you’re only here for four days, you should definitely fly there. You can get fairly cheap flights from Gimpo Airport to the island.
Geo
Another thing, i read a couple of blogs about visiting korea in winter. They said that you will not enjoy it because you cant go outside because of the cold temperature. Is it true? Or is it still possible to go to some tourist destinations in and out of seoul city?
Hallie
You can go outside. Some people don’t maybe because they don’t like the cold, but it’s not impossible to walk around. Just wear warm clothes and coats and long underwear and you’ll be fine.
Geo
Alright. Thank you so so much! its too early so i’ll contact you again Hallie. Thank so very much!
Hallie
No problem Geo. ^^
Geo
Alright. Thank you so so much! We’ll still give it a go. Are you in Korea? I’ll contact you again for more info about travelling in seoul. Is that ok?
Hallie
Yes, I’ve been living in Seoul for the past eight years. You can contact me. I also do tours. ^^
Check out: http://www.thesoulofseoultours.com
Geo
And thats in the mountains? How far is seoul city from thwe airport? How about seoul to hwaseong fortress? And seoul to everland?
by the way are you a korean Citizen?
Hallie
It depends on the weather. Last year there was quite a bit of snow on the ground on the city streets. This year not so much yet. I can’t say for sure about next year. Incheon airport is about 45 minutes outside of Seoul. Hwaseong and Everland are 2-3 hours away. No, I’m not a citizen. ^^
Geo
Thanks. How about now? Is there a snow in Seoul? We are planning to visit Korea next year around 2nd or 3rd of week of January and we want to experince winter/snow. Is that possible? And by the way, how far is the mountains from Seoul if just in case we are going there to experience real snow.
Hallie
There isnt any snow on the ground in the city now but there have been some flurries off and on the past month. Usually more snow comes in January and February. Last yesr i had some friends visit and we got quite a bit of snow in the city while they were here. There are mountains within the city limits. It depends what you want to do on the mountains though. The skiing resorts are outaide of the city. The mountains in the city are mostly for hiking. I would recommend hiking along the fortress walls. Not so difficult and beatiful in the snow.
Geo
Alright. Thanks for that. I thought there will be snow in the while city during winter (Dec-Feb).
We are now planning to book a flight for January2016. Main reason is we want to see/experience a snow. Do you think wjatever happens we will still get the chance to experience snow next next? Either in the city or in the mountains? This is a very big help for us in planning if we will still book to seoul or not. Thanks in advance. ๐
Hallie
You’ll definitely be able to see snow here in January.
Geo
Hi. I just want to ask if there’s snow in Korea starting December? Or is it just the month where its starting to snow? How about January?
Hallie
Yes, theres usually snow in Korea by December, but not everywhere. For example, here is snow at the ski resorts and on the mountains but not in Seoul right now. It does not usually snow that heavily in Seoul.