Seoul
South Korea
Palaces, street food, and relentless energy
Photo by Yohan Cho on Unsplash
Photos by Louie Nicolo Nimor, Mathew Schwartz, Elliot Gouy and Oat Appleseed on Unsplash
Best time to visit all of South Korea
April to June, September to November
Climate month by month
The next sixteen daysOpen-Meteo
Average high and low · °C
Rainfall · mm per month
Best months to visit This month · wettest 395mm in Jul
Where it is
37.57°N, 126.98°E Open in Google Maps
Things to do
A week easily- Watch the guard ceremony at Gyeongbokgung
- Wear a hanbok through Bukchon village
- Eat through Gwangjang Market
- Hike Bukhansan National Park
- Experience a jjimjilbang bathhouse
- See the city at night from N Seoul Tower
Seoul travel tipsthe general rules
Currency budget South Korea
Good valueMyeongdong street exchange booths give better rates than banks or the airport. Korea is heavily cashless — a card and a T-money transit card cover almost everything.
ATMs & cards
Look for ATMs marked "Global" at KB, Shinhan or in convenience stores — ordinary domestic machines often refuse foreign cards. Decline conversion.
Avoid these
- domestic-only machines, which will refuse a foreign card
Use these instead
- ATMs marked "Global" at KB, Shinhan and Woori
- convenience store machines
Look for the word Global on the machine before queueing.
Wherever you are: if the machine offers to charge you in your home currency, decline. That is dynamic currency conversion and the rate is set by the ATM's operator, not your bank.
Safety all of South Korea
Very safeExtremely 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.
Where to walk, and where to pay attention (3 areas)
Our own assessment, not a sourced index.
Entry & visa South Korea visa rules
Travel authorisation requiredup to 90 days10,000 KRW
K-ETA has been waived for many of these nationalities on a rolling basis — check the official link, because the exemption list changes yearly.
Other passports
Visa required in advance
How to get it: Apply at k-eta.go.kr at least 72 hours before departure. Only that domain is official.
Entry rules change often and depend on your passport, not where you live — the official page above is the authority, and the airline checks before you board.
Before you fly: travel authorisation
K-ETARequired
At least 72 hours before departure.
Have these in front of you before you start:
- passport
- a passport photo
- flight number
- the full address of your first night
Waived for a number of nationalities on a list that has changed more than once — the official page is the authority on whether you need it at all.
Use the official link above. Sites that charge a "service fee" to submit one of these for you are not the government, and they want the same passport details the real form does.
Health & emergencies all of South Korea
Excellent and cheapRequired to enter
No vaccinations are required for entry from Europe or North America.
Jabs worth having, and what happens if you need a doctor
Worth having
- Routine vaccinations up to date
- Hepatitis A
Getting treated
Excellent, fast and surprisingly affordable even without insurance — a specialist consultation without cover often costs less than a co-payment elsewhere. Large hospitals have international clinics with English-speaking staff.
Orientation, not medical advice — entry rules change and what you need depends on your own history. Check with a travel clinic four to six weeks before you go.
Food tip
OutstandingKorean barbecue is usually for two or more people minimum. Gwangjang Market is the classic street food stop. Convenience store food in Korea is genuinely good and very cheap.
Nightlife
A city that genuinely does not sleep: bars, then a second round, then a third, then a 24-hour restaurant.
- Hongdae — the student and indie night
- Itaewon — the international crowd
- Gangnam — the expensive clubs
- Euljiro — the retro bar scene, in old print shops
Closing: Many places do not, and the subway stops at midnight — which is what keeps people out until it restarts.
A beer in a bar: 5,000–9,000 KRW
Soju is ordered by the bottle and poured for you by someone else; pouring your own is the small rudeness visitors commit.
Getting around
Easy and cheap- UberWorks here
- Kakao TWorks here
- TADAWorks here
- BoltNot here
- GrabNot here
Kakao T what everybody uses; the app is in English · Uber operating as UT, on Kakao’s fleet
- From the airport
- Incheon to central Seoul ₩60,000–90,000, against ₩4,500 on the AREX
- Against a taxi
- The same metered taxis. Kakao T saves standing in the cold.
A foreign card can be refused by Kakao T. Registering a card in advance, or carrying cash, saves a bad moment.
Time zone and your working day
Asia/Seoul — 13 hours ahead of you
0 hours of overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are — — your time, — theirs.
No overlap with a 09:00–17:00 day where you are. Working from here means one of you keeps odd hours — their day starts at 20:00 on your clock.
office hours both at once night
Their 09:00–17:00 is 20:00–04:00 on yours.
The difference from the UK, Europe, the US and ten more
Worked out against America/New York, which is where this request looks like it came from.
Internet speedall of South Korea
What these numbers mean
Home broadband — Fast. Several people on calls at once, large uploads, 4K. Broadband here runs at 1.8× the global median of 130 Mbps.
Mobile data — Fast. Enough to work from a cafe or a beach on a hotspot all day. Mobile runs at 3× the global median of 109 Mbps.
A median is the middle of every connection tested there, old copper and new fibre together — so in a country part-way through laying fibre it sits well below what a fibre line actually delivers, and a rental on one can run several times this number. Half of the connections are slower; a fibre flat is rarely one of them. It says what a place can do, not what your rental does, so every listing on Holistay carries its own measured speed and the date it was tested.
Getting online: Airalo or Holafly — a data eSIM for South Korea, installed before you fly and working the moment you land.
Source: Ookla Speedtest Global Index · measured June 2026
Must-see
Nearby day trips
Say a few words
Korean
- Hello안녕하세요 — Annyeonghaseyoan-nyong-ha-SE-yo
- Please주세요 — JuseyoJOO-se-yo
- Thank you감사합니다 — Kamsahamnidakam-sa-HAM-ni-da
- Yes / No네 / 아니요 — Ne / Aniyoneh / A-ni-yo
4 more phrases
- Excuse me저기요 — JeogiyoJUH-gi-yo
- How much is it?얼마예요 — Eolmayeyo?ol-ma-YE-yo
- The bill, please계산해 주세요 — Gyesanhae juseyogye-san-HE joo-se-yo
- Cheers!건배 — Geonbae!gon-BE
Religion
No majority faith
Roughly half report no religion; the rest are largely Protestant, Buddhist and Catholic. Buddhist temple stays are open to visitors and are a genuine experience rather than a show.
Do's and don'ts
Do
- Pour drinks for others, never for yourself, and hold the bottle with two hands for elders
- Turn your head away from elders when drinking
- Give and receive with two hands
- Take shoes off entering homes and many traditional restaurants
Don't
- Do not stick chopsticks upright in rice; it echoes ancestral rites
- Do not start eating before the eldest person at the table
- Do not write someone’s name in red ink — it is associated with the dead
- Do not tip; it is not part of the culture and can embarrass
Where to stay in Seoul
No Holistay rentals in Seoul yet — the platform is just opening up. Every listing here will have a video tour and the option to negotiate the nightly price directly with the host.
In the meantime, here is Seoul on the sites that do have the inventory — each search is already filled in:
- Booking.com hotels, guesthouses and apartments — the widest coverage almost everywhere
- Airbnb whole homes and apartments, and the better option for a week or more
How to get there
Fly into Incheon ICN
43 minfrom the airport· 48 km as the crow flies
AREX express to Seoul Station, 43 min.
Also worth pricing: Gimpo GMP — mostly domestic and regional, 30 min by metro.
Google Flights · Rome2Rio for the trains, buses and ferries as well as the flights
