We are an older couple > 60, have traveled a lot in our lives business and private and are also well known in Asia. The consideration was to put the trip together ourselves, as we are always used to doing, but that requires a lot of preparation and we did not have that time. We had our trip to South Korea put together in a short time by Untamed Travelling. We chose a customized trip because it allowed us to travel efficiently in the 2.5 weeks we had set aside for it. South Korea has a few "must sees," of course; we have the impression that we have actually seen most of them.
What we found fascinating was the huge contrast between modern cities and the old historic cities/remains. South Korea has a beautiful nature, there are some beautiful national parks to visit and in particular on Jeju Island you can take beautiful walks. Hanging out with a private guide also allowed us to gain a better understanding of the nature of the people, the development of the country, the challenges it faces, etc. through our conversations. What surprised us is that "western tourism" has yet to take off. Many do not speak English, but with translation programs we got by just fine.
Tips for your organization:
- Hotels: we found minimal (except Jeju Island). Beds were often poor. For people in their twenties and thirties, this is fine, but people our age tend to choose more comfort I think. The area of the Ibis ambassador hotel in Seoul where our hotel was located was a bit shabby (though safe).
- guides were fine, spoke excellent English, the guide in Gyeongju was even outstanding!
- cab transportation was fine, only drivers were often not well informed about the fact that during the transportation from A to B we would also be sightseeing, we often had to correct that ourselves by showing them our program
- Transportation by train and domestic flight were excellent!
- We did not find Sokho interesting as a place because the beach is little and we would still visit Busan (larger coastal town). Therefore, I would remove that place from the roundtrip. We did eat delicious sea crab.
- Busan was definitely worth it for 2 days. Here we visited the largest shopping mall in the world and discovered a wonderful museum of modern art.
- Jeju Island was wonderful to end the trip with. Nice hotel with pool to recover from all the impressions. We also hiked a beautiful trail.
- Seoul on the return trip, here we were able to stay an extra night because our flight was delayed 24 hrs. We then explored the Gangnam district; it was very nice to have seen modern Seoul as well.
We had a nice but intense vacation. In other words, the pace was good! For us, this was fine. Travelers considering going to South Korea I would recommend combining it with Japan because the two countries are closely intertwined.
I would like to thank Michel for the organization.
Regards,
Robina and André
