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Contact UsArrive at the Incheon Airport and check into your hotel. Have dinner and see a show at Korea House or dinner with a view at Top Cloud restaurant. If you get a chance, soak in a sauna or bath at your hotel or at one of Seoul’s many bathhouses.
Tour Changdeokgung Palace — guided tours in English are held Tuesday to Sunday at 11:30am, 1:30pm, and 3:30pm. Then take a walk around the city’s cultural street, Insadong, where you may want to stop for a cup of Korean tea or lunch of traditional temple cuisine (always vegetarian, often bland, and usually made with local ingredients) at Sanchon.
Then, squeeze your way between crowded stalls at Namdaemun Market. Enjoy a quiet dinner or, if you want a livelier night out, take a dinner cruise on the Han River. If you can’t sleep, head for late-night (or early-morning) shopping action at Dongdaemun Market.
Allow a whole day to take an organized tour to Panmunjom, also known as the Demilitarized Zone.
If you’re not too exhausted upon your return, head to the top of Namsan and the N Seoul Tower to admire the view of the city lights.
Take a subway to Suwon and get a ticket to the Korean Folk Village at the tourist information booth. Free shuttles run every hour on the half-hour. Explore the village and linger over a lunch of traditional food like janchi guksu (“party” noodles, a simple somen noodle soup with broth and a bit of seasoning), nokdu buchimgae (flat cakes made from ground mung beans), naengmyeon (buckwheat noodles in a chilled beef broth), and makgeolli (a milky, unrefined, traditional rice wine), served as you sit at outdoor tables.
Take a free shuttle back and catch a bus to Suwon Hwaseong. Stretch your legs and work off lunch with a nice walk around the fortress. Enjoy dinner of the famous Suwon galbi (marinated short ribs) and then head back to Seoul for a good night’s rest.
Allow half a day to travel to Gyeongju (going by either train or bus takes 4 1/2 hr.). Explore some of downtown’s historic sites, such as Tumuli Park, where the Shilla kings are buried, and Cheomseongdae Observatory. If you get a chance, try one of Gyeongju’s sweet bread snacks such as hwangnambbang (bread filled with a sweet red-bean filling).
If you’ve explored the downtown area the previous evening, pick up something for lunch and take the Gyeongju City Tour Bus to explore points farther out (which are difficult to see individually), including Seokguram Grotto and Bulguksa Temple. Take an evening train or bus to Busan.
Finish your whirlwind trip with a morning walk on one of Busan’s sandy beaches and an exploration of Jagalchi Market and a lunch of hwae (raw fish). Catch a high-speed KTX train back to Seoul for your flight back home.
Francoise is the president and founder of Celestial Voyagers. She graduated with a tourism degree at Nice University in France and has worked as a tour director and operations manager in France, Australia and Mexico. Settling in New York City, she founded Celestial Voyagers with the aim of creating uniquely curated group travel for adults and Academia.