Romantic Korea: 10 slow days for two
The mistake couples make in Korea is treating it as a city break with a temple attached. Built properly it is the opposite: a country of quiet courtyards, hot spring towns, coastal roads and a volcanic island, with a capital that happens to be one of the best places in Asia to eat late.
- Duration
- 10 days
- Pace
- Slow
- Hotel changes
- 3
- Best months
- Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct, Nov
- From
- $3,900 per person
Ten days, three hotel changes, no train leg over two and a half hours and nothing at all scheduled before nine in the morning. The rooms are chosen to be the point rather than the place you sleep, and there are two full days with nothing in them.
Who it suits: couples, honeymooners and anyone travelling for two rather than for a checklist.
Day by day
Day 1: Arrive Seoul. Private transfer to a hanok suite in Bukchon, a restored courtyard house with heated floors and a private bath. Nothing scheduled. Dinner booked five minutes away.
Day 2: Seoul, slowly. A late start, then Changdeokgung palace and its rear garden on a timed morning ticket, which is the quietest of the great Seoul sights. Afternoon in Seochon’s tea houses and small galleries. Evening at a wine bar in Euljiro or a counter in Ikseon-dong that we book.
Day 3: Seoul, free day. Unscheduled. Our suggestions include a private tea ceremony in Insadong, the Leeum museum, the Seoul Forest and the Seongsu bakeries, or a couples’ room at a spa. Optional evening walk on the Naksan fortress wall at dusk, which is where Seoul looks best and costs nothing.
Day 4: Seoul to Gyeongju. Mid-morning KTX, about two hours, then a transfer to a hanok stay among the burial mounds. Afternoon walking or cycling in the old town, and the Wolji pond lit after dark.
Day 5: Gyeongju. A half day with a guide at Bulguksa and the Seokguram grotto, early, before the coaches. Afternoon free, and dinner at a hanjeongsik house, the multi-course Korean table, which is one of the two or three best meals in this itinerary.
Day 6: Gyeongju to Busan. An hour south by train or road. A sea-view room on Haeundae or above Gwangalli. Afternoon on the coastal path at Dongbaek, and the evening on the beach where the whole city eats outdoors.
Day 7: Busan to Jeju. A short flight after a slow morning. Private car to the south coast at Seogwipo. Afternoon at the Jusangjeolli cliffs and the waterfalls, and a quiet dinner of island black pork.
Day 8: Jeju, the east. Seongsan Ilchulbong at first light if you want it, or not at all if you do not. The Manjanggul lava tube, the camellia gardens, and an easy stretch of coastal olle path in the afternoon. Haenyeo diving women work this coast and our partner arranges a visit to a haenyeo kitchen for lunch.
Day 9: Jeju, free day. Nothing scheduled. A beach on the west coast, a hot spring, the Bijarim forest, or a day that does not leave the property.
Day 10: Departure. Transfer to Jeju airport and fly to Seoul or Busan for the onward flight.
What is included
A hanok suite in Seoul, a hanok stay in Gyeongju, a sea-view room in Busan and a boutique property with a private terrace or pool on Jeju, all with breakfast. KTX with reserved seats, the Busan to Jeju flight, private transfers throughout, a car and driver on Jeju, two half days of licensed English-speaking guiding, the palace timed tickets, three dinner reservations at places that take them, a day-by-day document with everything written in Hangul as well as English, and a WhatsApp group with your consultant and our Seoul partner.
What we would change, and when
- Travelling in July or August? Jeju is at its most crowded and Seoul is hot and wet. If your dates are fixed we would move the island to the front of the trip and swap two Seoul days for a hot spring town in Gangwon.
- Want more of the island? Take a day from Seoul and give it to Jeju. This is the change we make most often on this route.
- Want a night on the water? Add Tongyeong or Namhae on the southern coast between Busan and Jeju, one night, ferries and seafood.
- Prefer the countryside to the coast? Replace Busan with two nights in Andong and a Confucian academy stay.
A note on hanok stays, because expectations matter. A restored courtyard house is beautiful, quiet and cold-in-winter, and the good ones are very small: five or six rooms, thin walls, and sometimes a floor mattress rather than a bed. We book only the ones with proper beds and private bathrooms, and we will tell you which nights are the atmospheric ones and which are the comfortable ones.
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