South Korea travel tips

Is South Korea safe?

5 guides, each rated 1 to 5 with the reason — and two lists per place, where you are comfortable and where to pay attention. Nowhere is called dangerous; the specific thing is what helps.

5.0 average across 5 guides · Very safe
Seoul, South KoreaBusan, South KoreaJeju, South KoreaGyeongju, South KoreaSeoraksan & Sokcho, South Korea

Seoul Very safe

Extremely safe, including for solo travellers at night. Air quality can be poor in spring due to dust — check the index and consider a mask. Summers are hot and very humid with a monsoon in July.

Comfortable: Seoul

  • Itaewon — and Hongdae on a crowded Saturday, for crush rather than crime
  • Drink spiking in Itaewon, which is rare but reported

Busan Very safe

Extremely safe, including for women travelling alone and at night. The practical cautions are seasonal: typhoons hit this coast between July and September and occasionally close the airport, and the summer humidity is heavy. The beaches have lifeguards in season and swimming outside it is not supervised.

Comfortable: Haeundae · Gwangalli · Seomyeon · Nampo-dong · the metro late at night

  • swimming outside the flagged season — the beaches are patrolled in July and August and not otherwise
  • the drinking streets in Seomyeon in the small hours — loud, not threatening
  • typhoons between July and September — they hit this coast directly and shut the beaches and sometimes the trains

Jeju Very safe

Very safe. Hallasan is a serious walk with fixed turnaround times enforced by rangers, the coastal rocks are slippery and the sea around them has currents, and the island gets typhoons in late summer that close the airport for days.

Comfortable: Jeju City · Seogwipo · the Olle trails · Seongsan · the beaches

  • Hallasan without checking the cut-off times — rangers turn people back and the summit trail closes in bad weather
  • the coastal rocks — volcanic, sharp, and slippery where the sea reaches them
  • typhoons in late summer — they close the airport, which is the busiest route in the world and hard to rebook

Gyeongju Very safe

Very safe and very quiet. Nothing here wants more attention than the traffic on the road out to Bulguksa, which has no pavement in places.

Comfortable: the tomb parks · the old centre · Bulguksa · Bomun lake

  • the road out to Bulguksa — no pavement in places and the buses are frequent
  • the tomb mounds after dark — unlit, and closed in places

Seoraksan & Sokcho Very safe

Very safe. The park is the hazard in the ordinary way: Ulsanbawi is stairs and exposure, the weather turns on the ridge, and rangers close trails in snow and in high fire risk. The autumn weekend crowds are genuinely enormous.

Comfortable: Sokcho · the park entrance · the cable car · Naksansa

  • Ulsanbawi in ice — it is eight hundred steps of exposed metal and stone
  • the autumn weekends — the busiest days in any Korean national park, and the buses queue for hours
  • the ridge weather — it turns fast and the huts book out months ahead

The ratings are this site's own, from the guides' authors and the corrections readers send in; they are not an index. Read the general advice in travel safety tips.

The guides in South Korea

lighted city skyline at nightSeoulSouth KoreaPalaces, street food, and relentless energyHaedong Yonggungsa temple on the rocks above the seaBusanSouth KoreaKorea’s port city: beaches in the middle of it, the largest fish market in the country, and a hillside village painted every coloura view of a city and a body of waterJejuSouth KoreaA volcanic island of black rock and green tea, with women who have dived for shellfish for centuriesa couple of women walking down a street next to a buildingGyeongjuSouth KoreaA thousand years of Silla capital spread through a small city, with royal tombs rising out of the parksRocky mountains under a clear blue skySeoraksan & SokchoSouth KoreaGranite spires and autumn colour two hours from Seoul, with a fishing port and a cable car below them