13-day Jeju-Gyeongju-Seoul

hi, we enjoy self-drive holidays and am planning one from Dec9-21. have put tog this itin based on forum posts, blogs %26amp; korea tourism sites. still, not sure if it%26#39;s ok. appreciate any advice/comment.

Day 1: arrive in INC, transfer to Gimpo for flight to Jeju

Day 2-3: Jeju

Day 4: Fly fr Jeju to Busan. Drive to Gyeongju

Day 5: Gyeongju

Day 6: Drive fr Gyeongju to Seoul

Day 7: Drive fr Seoul to Mt Seorak (and back??)

Day 8: Return to Seoul from Mt Seorak

Day 9-10: Ski near Seoul

Day 11-12: Seoul city

Day 13: dep INC

would prefer to make Seoul the last stop without doubling back. thot of going from gyeongju to andong to Mt Seorak then to Seoul - too ambitious?

is any of the above driving route mountainous?

read that a bus from busan to gyeongju would take about 70min but found conflicting info from other sources. similarly for the other destinations. if anyone knows of a reliable site where i can check driving distances, would appreciate it. thanks!

13-day Jeju-Gyeongju-Seoul

Wow, it;s very jam packed schedule, but if you want to see as many places as possible, who I am to argue? Question? Are you fluent in Korean? Many highways signs are in English but they aren%26#39;t big as Korean signs... Plus if you are away from highways, I am not sure I saw many English signs, hope you have good GPS in your car.

On Day 6, why not go directly to Mt Seorak from Gyeongju? Both Sokcho and Gyeongju are in eastern part of Korea, so you can probably drive up east coast.

Day 9-10: Why not choose ski resort (I think YongPyong is between these two places?) Mt Seorak and Seoul city so you don%26#39;t have to go through Seoul thereby saving a day.

My general advice is hit as many places you can before going into Seoul, so you won%26#39;t get caught in Seoul%26#39;s notorious traffic jam.

Here is transportation info between Busan and Gyeongju, you can go here to search bus information

Make sure to choose ';Busan'; as origin and on destination choose ';Gyeongsangbuk-do';and ';Gyeongju-si';

鈥isitkorea.or.kr/enu/TR/TR_EN_5_1_3_1_1.jsp

13-day Jeju-Gyeongju-Seoul

I just got back from Korea and had went to a few of the places on your itinerary. The drive from Busan to Gyeongju is about a hour (with minimal traffic) and is an easy drive. I would recommend driving directly to Mt Seorak from Gyeongju and avoid Seoul all together as it%26#39;s out of the way. The drive from Gyeongju to Mt Seorak is long and on local roads only. It took us about 6 hours to do that drive along the coast (no big highway on that side of the country). The roads around Mt Seorak are very mountainous.

I would not recommend driving from Mt. Seorak to Seoul and back in one day (if that%26#39;s even possible!). Our drive from Seoul to Mt Seorak on a Saturday took about 4-5 hours. I would avoid driving into Seoul on a Sunday as the traffic is horrible (almost 7 hours from Mt Seorak to Seoul on a Sunday afternoon).

Hope this helps!

Heather

thanks Blee/Heather! most helpful information. will amend as recommended.

Heather, saw another post of yours recommending hotel at Mt Seorak. if you don%26#39;t mind sharing, where did you stay at busan, gyeongju, etc. and would you recommend them? have you a trip report that I can browse?

thanks again. this is a little more stressful than other self-drive trips. driving routes %26amp; info not as easily available plus we don%26#39;t speak the language but am determined to give this a go. will file a report if this trip does materialise.

We stayed in Busan at the Nongshim Hotel, near all the hot springs/spas. It%26#39;s not downtown but is only a few blocks from the subway. I would recommend this hotel, it was clean and the service was good. In Gyeongju we stayed at a condo in the Bomun Lake area, I believe it was at the Daemyeong Resort. I have a brochure that lists the hotels in the Bomun Lake area and the website they list is www.ktd.co.kr. The area around the lake has a lot of nice hotels.

Near Mt, Seorak we stayed at the Kensignton Hotel, right outside the park enterance. This place was nice and has a good breakfast buffet.

Heather, thanks again for sharing that information. makes planning a whole lot easier :)