Travel Guide
South Korea
From Seoul to Busan: passport control, getting around, hostel prices, all-you-can-eat meat, places to see and practical tips.
Seoul
Busan
Gyeongbokgung PalaceIn short
South Korea rose from poverty 75 years ago to become one of the world’s major economies. GDP per capita is about $35,000; the minimum wage in 2026 is about $7.70 an hour, roughly $1,600 a month. It is one of the most expensive countries we visited: daily spending is roughly double Japan’s.
Seoul is a huge city: wide avenues, streets crowded even at midnight, a Starbucks and a 7-Eleven on every corner, buildings that look like spaceships. Busan shows a different face with its beach, colorful hillside neighborhoods and more relaxed feel.
The stars of the cuisine are kimchi and garlic. Garlic is in every meal; you can smell it even on the subway and the bus. Summer is much hotter and more humid than in Japan.
Route
From Incheon to Seoul, then on to Busan, in order.
Incheon Airport and passport control
The airport is genuinely huge and the passport line looks long, but the queues move fast. At our entry the officer stamped the passport without asking questions; the rumors that “they don’t let Turks into Korea” proved false for us. Turkish citizens can enter visa-free for up to 90 days, but you need a K-ETA (electronic travel authorization) before flying; Türkiye is not on the temporary K-ETA exemption list. Since many people come to work, they can turn back travelers from some countries. Keep your return ticket, hotel booking and enough money ready, and check the current rules at the official source (k-eta.go.kr).
Train and subway, not the bus
The bus from the airport to the city center costs up to about $12.70 (about $7.50–12.70 depending on the line). We bought an airport train ticket from the machine instead (about $3–3.50); we switched to the subway and, after two transfers, came out right next to the hotel. The machines have an English language option.
A dorm bed in Seoul: $11
In a large shared room with 78 beds everyone has their own locker; $11 a night. Shoes come off at the entrance. Prices are fair but cleanliness varies from hostel to hostel: the place where we stayed one night had bed bugs and a foul smell, and we moved the next day. It pays to check reviews before booking.
All-you-can-eat meat, the design plaza, Gangnam
In the evening an all-you-can-eat meat buffet for about $21; by day the giant building in Dongdaemun, a city view from the hilltop walls, the Han River bank and Gangnam. Details below in “Places to see.”
A 4-hour bus, ~$17
We bought a ticket for the 09:30 departure at Seoul’s bus terminal (economy class about $17; more comfortable classes $25–40). The ride takes about 4 hours with a break at a rest area halfway; even the scenery is nice. The KTX high-speed train costs about $45 and takes 2 hours 15 minutes.
Beach, culture villages and cheap hostels
Dorm rooms in Busan are $6–10; on weekends prices double. The second hostel we stayed in had capsule-style beds and a lobby where you could work comfortably. The hotel is 39 minutes away by subway and 1 hour 18 minutes by bus; the bus costs about $1.30 and you can watch the city all along the way.
Transport and accommodation: how much does it cost?
Prices in US dollars ($). Calculated at $1 ≈ ₩1,340 (October 2026).
🚆 Transport
| Subway, single journeyfrom the ticket machine · deposit of about $0.40 is refunded | ~$1.20 |
| Airport trainIncheon → Seoul (all stops) | ~$3–3.50 |
| Airport busIncheon → city center (priciest line) | ~$7.50–12.70 |
| Seoul → Busan busabout 4 hours · economy class | ~$17 |
| Seoul → Busan KTXabout 2 h 15 min | ~$45 |
| Busan city busto the hotel 1 h 18 min | ~$1.30 |
| Busan subwaysame route | 39 min |
🛏️ Accommodation and internet
| Seoul, dorm room78-person room, personal locker | $11 |
| Busan, dorm roomweekdays | $6–10 |
| Busan, dorm roomSaturday–Sunday | double |
| SIM card | ~$15 |
What to eat, and what it costs
Main dishes, in US dollars ($).
🍖 Main dishes
| All-you-can-eat meat buffetbeef, pork, salad, side dishes, cola and water included | ~$21 |
| Kimchi ramen | ~$3.70 |
| Udon / bibim platea restaurant in Busan | ~$4.10 |
Koreans use garlic in almost every dish; you can smell it even on the subway and bus. Try a new dish with a small portion first.
Places to see: Seoul
Main stops in the capital.
Dongdaemun Design Plaza
A giant building that looks like a spaceship. Inside are halls full of mirrors, projection walls and painting studios. Next to it stand the remains of the 16th-century barracks of the soldiers who guarded the king; old and new history side by side.
Walls and the hill
Right in the middle of the city there is a hill ringed by walls. Climbing up at sunset to look over the city is lovely. Korea is mostly under a hazy sky, so the horizon may not look very clear.
Hangang Park
A wide green space on the riverbank; ideal for a walk and the view in the cool of the evening.
Gangnam
The width of the roads and how stylishly people dress stand out immediately. There is a store where Samsung and Starbucks share the space; you can try the foldable phones. With more than 2,100 branches in Korea, Starbucks is on almost every corner.
The giant library
Inside the shopping complex in Gangnam there is a library big enough to be worth seeing.
Yongsan electronics market
Korea’s biggest tech shopping district, but prices are higher than expected: during our trip an iPhone 15 Pro Max was about $1,400, and an action camera cost more than in Türkiye. The shops work like a market, not like official branches.
Nightlife
Even at midnight the streets are full; it is as if the buildings had emptied and the whole city had come down. Young people stay out until late at night.
Second-hand market
Near the hotel is a broad second-hand market selling everything from cameras and lenses to drills and pots.
Places to see: Busan
Beach, hillside neighborhoods and walking routes.
Ivy-covered houses
On the steep streets climbing the hill there are colorful, cute houses swallowed by ivy. A few side streets are enough to look down over the city.
Culture village
A colorful neighborhood by the sea; too crowded for photos. There are wood-carving and painting studios. Don’t go with huge expectations — the sea views and the streets are the real draw.
40 Steps Culture Street
Paintings and writing drawn on the pavements, statues along the way. A short street; peaceful to walk.
Yeongdo Bridge
You can walk across it; the view is nice and on sunny days the wind keeps you cool.
Corridors above the subway
Above some lines there are shaded walking corridors that run across the whole city. In the summer heat you can cover a good distance without stepping into the sun.
Haeundae
Busan’s most loved district. There are thousands of people on the beach but almost no one in the sea. Even looking from afar with binoculars, this stands out.
Photos
Good to know
Practical notes.
Don’t forget the K-ETA
Turkish citizens enter visa-free for up to 90 days, but a K-ETA (electronic travel authorization) application is required before flying. Apply only through the official k-eta.go.kr site and check the current rules before you go.
Don’t take the bus from the airport
The bus to the center costs up to ~$12.70. The train and subway are both much cheaper (~$3–3.50) and fast; you can even make two transfers on a single card.
Don’t throw away the subway ticket
The ticket machine can be switched to English. A single-journey ticket carries a deposit of about $0.40; keep the ticket and get it back from the machines at the stations.
Don’t sit in the priority seats
On the subway the seats reserved for the disabled and pregnant stay empty even in a crowd; no one says “I’ll sit first and get up when someone comes.”
Hostels cost double on weekends
Dorm prices in Busan of $6–10 double from Saturday to Sunday. Stay on weekdays if you can.
Free water machines
At machines in shopping centers you can get hot and cold water in a paper cup. You don’t have to buy bottled water.
Shoes come off at the entrance
Hostels and hotels ask you to take your shoes off at the entrance. In hostels, men’s and women’s rooms can be separate, and bringing a guest from another room can cause problems.
Summer is hot and humid
You sweat as soon as you step outside; hotter even than Japan. Dress lightly, carry water, and make use of the shaded corridors above the subway.
Don’t buy tech here
There is a belief that “tech is cheap in Korea,” but the prices in Yongsan were a disappointment for us; some products were more expensive even than in Türkiye.
Budget warning: the pricey end of Asia
South Korea is one of the most expensive of the Asian countries we visited. To keep daily spending down, dorm rooms, the subway and buffet-style food are a must.
Even so, Seoul’s nights and Busan’s beach and colorful streets make South Korea worth the trip.
Videos
5 videos from the South Korea journey. Click a card and the video opens right here.
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