Korea basics: what to sort before you fly
Most of a Korea trip is easy. A handful of things are not obvious, and two of them will genuinely catch you out on day one — the mapping apps and the entry paperwork. This is the groundwork, separate from any particular city.
- Google Maps cannot give you walking or driving directions in Korea. It is not a bug and a better signal will not fix it — mapping data cannot legally be exported, so the routing engine has nothing to work with. Download Naver Map before you fly.
- The e-Arrival Card is mandatory and has to be submitted online within three days before you land. It is free. K-ETA is a separate thing — and the rule changes on 1 January 2027 (below).
Getting in
| Visa | Citizens of the US, UK, Canada, Australia, the EU and around 110 other countries enter visa-free for up to 90 days as tourists. |
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| K-ETA | Waived through 31 December 2026 for 67 countries including the US, UK, Canada and Australia. From 1 January 2027 it comes back and every visa-free nationality will need approval before boarding. If your trip straddles the new year, check which side of it your departure falls on. |
| e-Arrival Card | Required, free, submitted online within three days before arrival. It replaces the paper card you used to fill in on the plane. |
Maps and getting around
Naver Map is the one to install. It does public transport, walking and driving, in English, and its subway directions include which carriage to board for the fastest transfer. KakaoMap is the main alternative and some people prefer its interface; Kakao T is what you use to call a taxi. Google Maps still works for searching and for saving pins, so it is worth keeping — it just cannot route you.
| Transport card | A T-money card from any convenience store (GS25, CU, 7-Eleven, Emart24) costs about ₩2,500 empty. It works on subways, city buses, airport buses and most taxis, nationwide — your Seoul card works in Busan. Load ₩30,000–40,000 for a few days. Tap off when leaving a bus or you lose the transfer discount. |
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| Between cities | KTX is the fast train — Seoul to Busan in about 2h 20m. Express buses are cheaper and go more places. For a simple return trip a rail pass rarely pays for itself; it needs a multi-city route to make sense. |
| Staying connected | An eSIM bought before you fly is the least hassle if your phone supports one. Otherwise pick up a SIM or a pocket wifi at the airport. Public wifi is genuinely everywhere — cafés, subway stations, buses. |
Paying for things
Korea is close to cashless. Visa and Mastercard work almost everywhere, down to convenience stores and small cafés; American Express is accepted in noticeably fewer places. Carry ₩50,000 or so in cash anyway — traditional market stalls, street food and a few older restaurants are cash-only, and those are exactly the places worth eating at.
There is no tipping. Not in restaurants, not in taxis, not in hotels. Leaving money on the table will more likely cause confusion than pleasure. The one exception is a private guide, where ₩10,000–30,000 a day is a generous gesture and still not expected.
VAT is 10% and already in the price you see. On purchases at participating tax-free shops you can claim it back; for anything under ₩500,000 the shop can usually deduct it at the till, which saves queueing at the airport.
When to go
| Spring · Apr–May | Cherry blossom late March to mid-April, moving south to north. Mild and busy. The blossom window is about a week in any given place and shifts with the weather. |
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| Summer · Jun–Aug | Hot and humid, with the monsoon through late June and July. Beaches and water festivals are at their best; mountain hiking is not. |
| Autumn · Sep–Nov | The best of it. Clear skies, comfortable temperatures, and foliage running from the northern mountains in mid-October down to the south by early November. Also the densest festival season — which is what the calendar is for. |
| Winter · Dec–Feb | Cold and dry, sometimes well below freezing. Fewer crowds, ski resorts, ice fishing festivals, and palaces in the snow. |
Two dates to plan around: Seollal (lunar new year) and Chuseok (harvest festival). Both move each year, both empty the cities as people travel to family, and both shut a lot of small businesses for several days while transport sells out. Palaces and major attractions usually stay open and are sometimes free.
Small things worth knowing
- Shoes come off in homes, guesthouses, temple halls and some traditional restaurants. Wear socks you do not mind being seen in.
- Convenience stores are infrastructure, not a last resort — decent food, seating, ATMs, transport card top-ups, umbrellas.
- Tap water is safe, though most Koreans drink filtered water.
- Emergency numbers: 119 for fire and ambulance, 112 for police. 1330 is the Korea Travel Hotline — free, 24 hours, and staffed in English, Japanese and Chinese. It is the single most useful number to save.
Next
With the groundwork done, the two questions left are where to go and what is on while you are there. The city guides cover routes that already account for closing days, Places is what to see, and the Trip Planner shows the festivals, concerts and exhibitions that fall inside your dates.