FAQ: Cost of vacations in Korea

Ok so I have been getting this question A LOT and I am sure everyone who's been living in Korea and has friends who are looking into visiting here has been getting the same question. But how do you answer that? Ask them back "How much would it cost for 2 weeks in your country/city?" and see how they reply. ㅋㅋㅋ I mean after all it's a hard question, isn't it? Because you can't be precise and you cannot possibly know everyone's budget or even take the time to calculate.

So I will just mention some basic stuff based on my experience and I will try not only to compare it with my country, Greece, but with other countries I've visited in the past or know a little something about..

I will not talk about air tickets cost obviously. If you want to travel cheap, you gotta search for it constantly with all available airlines.

Now, first of all, transportation. Korea's official tourism site has done an excellent job gathering transportation information in one single page.

Let's take a look at the Seoul and Busan prices breakdown:

For more information on other cities' subway system and how to obtain and reload a transportation card, please visit this link: https://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/TRP/TP_ENG_6.jsp

Now off to the buses! Here you can find a very detailed explanation on the buses. Depending on the bus type the fares start from around 950 won (yellow and green buses) up to 2500 won (red buses).  The prices on the photo seem to be a bit outdated.

If you want to do sightseeing on the cheap side, then you'd better opt for one of those discounted tours cards such as Seoul City Pass.

Now to hotels..If you don't mind sharing a dorm with other people, you can find places to stay starting from around 10-15 euro (or dollars) per person, per night. If you don't like sharing, then you should expect prices starting from about 30-40 euro (or dollars) per person, per night.

Your best friends for hunting down cheap accommodation are obviously Agoda, Booking.com , airbnb, Trivago or even Google. If you look for cheap hotels by using google, you can also check hotels on Google's map and get info on the hotels.

Now are you into all that KPOP jazz? Mini album or single album prices usually start from 10.000-12.000 won and the cheapest shops can be found in Myeongdong. For full length albums the prices usually start from 18.000 won and more. DVDs are kind of on the expensive side with most prices starting at 39.000 won or so. You can get photocards, posters, calendars and more but the prices vary per artist and per shop. Usually they start from 5.000-7.000 won. Bracelets and pins are cheaper and start at 2.000 won usually.

Concert tickets obviously depend on the artist and the place it's taking part. You can find festivals starting from 35.000 won but most KPOP concerts cost between 99.000-110.000 won. Sometimes the Korean government gives to foreigners free tickets to kpop festivals. So you should keep an eye out when you are planning your trip.

Last but not least, the food!! I suppose since you are coming for vacations you won't need to do grocery shopping and cook (unless you booked an apartment with kitchen~). You can find a lot of cheap food with prices starting from 1.500 won.

Usually places that sell kimbap are the cheapest ones to eat with prices starting from 1.500 won to 10.000 won. Then there are also the stall vendors that sell fried delicacies and spicy rice cakes in the streets. Another cheap option is going to a market and eat. Most markets are included in the Seoul City tour bus route.

If you want to try barbecue then usually the prices start from 5.000 won for 100gr of meat. So you should expect about 10.000 won per person (depending on how much you eat).

Can't live without coffee? Expect to pay something between 3.000 to 6.000 for a cup of coffee. It depends on the coffee shop and the coffee you like obviously. Most Koreans drink Americano, which if you ask me it's like extremely watered filtered French coffee, therefore the taste is not so great to me.. I like my coffee strong and sweet. If you want to try the Korean chains, then Ediya is the cheapest one and its quality is really good.

If you have questions about anything else, please leave a comment here and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible^^

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