neverenoughtime

This is our first trip to Korea although we have traveled to Asia before. We will be using public transportation throughout our trip. I'd like some feedback on my tentative itinerary please.
Day 1-arrive Seoul
Day 2- Seoul
Day 3-DMZ daytrip
Day4-Seoul
Day5- daytrip to Suwon
Day6-Seoul
Day 7-day trip to Jeonju
Day 8-Seoul
Day 9-travel to Daegu
Day 10-Daegu
Day 11-Yangdon folk village then travel to Andong
Day12-Hahoe folk village then travel to Busan
Day 13- Buson
DAy14-travel to Seoul
Day 15 Seoul
Day16-home
I feel this may be a bit ambitious and have too many short stays. Any advice? Thanks in advance for your help.
Day 11-travel to Gyeongju

kja

In general, your plan sounds good to me. You might consider just a few tweaks:

• I wasn't overly impressed with Daegu. It's traditional medicine market has generally been moved into plastic packaging, so if your goal is to see one, you might want to visit the Dongdaemun Yangnueong market in Seoul instead.
• Busan is much more interesting that I expected; you might want another day or even two there.
• Depending on your interests, you might want a bit more time in Gyeongju.

If you haven't already seen it, you might find some useful information in my trip report:
4 wonderful solo weeks in South Korea

South Korea can be fascinating -- enjoy!

crellston

We had a similar amount of time in South Korea and covered far fewer destinations - Seoul, DMZ, Gyeongju and Busan. Details on our blog @ https://accidentalnomads.com/category/asia/south-korea/

I think we possibly travelled too slowly and could have added another destination. We used public transport exclusively and found it pretty straightforward, efficient and relatively inexpensive (although the Seoul Subway took a little getting used to!)

I agree with kja that Busan warrants more time than you have allocated. When we were there the weather was awful so we didn’t get to do as much as we would have liked.

As it is, I think you could streamline you itinerary somewhat just by limiting yourself to one visit to Seoul rather than both the beginning and end of your trip. We got the train from Busan all the way back to the airport. I recall it taking 3-4 hours.

thursdaysd

I would drop both Daegu and Jeonju and substitute Gyeongju, which was probably my favorite place in South Korea. Not sure that you need to see two folk villages.

For why start here, links at the top of the page: https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...g-to-gyeongju/

kja

In general, I agree -- but there are some differences between the two that might be worth considering. it really depends on what you want to see and experience! You might want to look at posts # 96 and # 164 of my TR.

neverenoughtime

Thanks to you all for the input. I decided to increase our time in Gyeongju to 3 nights and delete Daegu. Is it worth going to Andong or should I skip it and just add another day in Busan?

kja

I think skipping Daegu makes sense. Whether you'll want 3 nights in Gyeongu or whether 2 nights will be enough depends on what you want to do while there.

I'm not sure I can add to what I said in my trip report -- and I sent you to some very specific posts discussing Andong. I think you need to think about what you want to see and experience. For my preferences, having more time in Busan would have made more sense than making time for Andong; YMMV.

LAX_Esq

Look into Jeju Island. It's really pretty there and different from what you'll see in "mainland" Korea -- which is probably good for variety's sake. Very cheap/easy flights.

HelenaJ

If you do go to Andong, there's a mountain called Naeyeonsan a bit north of Pohang that has a hiking trail with twelve waterfalls. Juwangsan national park looks really cool too.

My family really enjoyed Yeosu: (I hope I did that right!)

shelemm

Going to Busan for one night is pointless. Busan is great, but it will be a waste of time for you. Same thing for a day trip to Jeonju. Suwon is day-trip material.