My husband and I are attending the Rotary International Convention in Seoul from May 29- June 1. We will have the Saturday before and the Thursday-Friday after the convention to explore outside the city. Would love to book one night in the country. Looking for recommendations.

Have you looked at my trip report? You should be able to find some ideas there.

Hi,

My son and daughter in law live in Seoul. Prior to moving to Seoul three years ago my son lived in Gwangju. One of his expat friends bought a country house outside of Gwangju and renovated it. He and his wife rent it out and from what the website shows it would make a great countryside getaway. I am sure there are places closer to Seoul but if you take the highspeed train that will open in March it will take about 90 minutes.

Here is the website: http://www.thedamyanghouse.com/

I will try to remember to ask my son for a recommendation that would be closer to Seoul. You will be there at a nice time of year. If you had more time I would recommend a trip to Jeju Island.

kja has ton's of information in her trip report.

(Thanks, SeeHag)

In addition to places near Seoul, anywhere along the high-speed (KTX) train line would probably suit -- Gwangju, Daejeon, Gongju, Suwan, Busan...
There's a map here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korea_Train_Express

Kja--your trip report is fabulous. I have all the information I need. Thanks so much.

I'm glad you found it helpful -- thanks for letting me know! Care to share what you decided to do?

Hello Hucksmom

I was born and raised in Korea until I moved to U.S some time ago.
I have been trying to go to different cities(?) other than Seoul every time I visit. (every few yrs or so).

Since you have either just one day or two days to spend, it gets a little tricky. If you had like 3-4 days, I would recommend "Je-Ju Island", an island where I feel like is different from any other cities of Korea.

However, since you have ~1-2 day(s), I would definitely recommend "Jeon-Ju" You will enjoy it a lot especially if you guys are foodies like I am. Seriously, they are known as a city with good food. Just walking around eating all day will probably be pretty good.

If you love histories, Kyung-Ju is the place to go. It is city of history. It's the city every high school students will go as school trip to learn about Korea. They are also known for their food. seriously... good food! I rented out a bike and rode around the city for a few hrs and it was one of the best experiences I had in Korea.

Nami Island(in Chun Cheon) is a good choice for a day trip. If I am not mistaken, I think you can take either IT<1hr, but have to walk/cab once arriving at the station) or bus(~1.5hrs from seoul) to get there. Once you are there, you need to get into the island. You can either take a ferry, or you can zip-line to the island (YES, ZIP LINE into the island,, I think it was about a minute or so? LONG WAIT though) It is a very tourist-y area. However, there is a reason why a lot of people go. They have music festivals there from time to time. You can look into that.

As you would probably know, Korea is pretty small. Positive of that is you can get to anywhere you want within a few hrs.

Have fun!