FIRST VISIT TO SOUTH KOREA: AN AWESOME 5 DAYS

Are you planning to visit South Korea for the first time but do not know where to start, what places to see or what things to do?

My first visit to South Korea was with my high school friend, Jaclyn. Here’s our awesome 5-day itinerary. I hope you will find it useful for your first visit to South Korea.

South Korea Travel Buddy Corner

To put a face on the name I’m constantly mentioning in this blog, this is Jaclyn.

Jaclyn is one of my closest friends from high school. On this trip, we met up at Incheon International Airport. She was coming in from Japan and I was flying in from Perth. This was her first visit to South Korea, too.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using one of the links below, I may receive compensation at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products and services I use and trust. Read the Disclaimer for more information.

South Korea Day 1:
Myeongdong + N Seoul Tower

Hello, South Korea!

I had a 13.5-hour flight from Perth to Seoul via Singapore while Jaclyn only did a 2-hour direct flight from Japan. She arrived at Incheon International Airport at 4:00 am and I arrived at 7:30 am.

The first thing we did was collect our 24hr Discover Seoul Pass at Incheon International Airport East since that was where we were arriving and it’s the only pickup point that is open 24 hours.

Read more about Discover Seoul Pass here.
👍 To get a discount on your Discover Seoul Pass, you can purchase the pass here.

We loaded up our passes with money at the nearby GS25 convenience store because we will also be using it as T-money for public transportation fares.

After, we went to the terminal to catch the subway to Seoul station. Be aware of the weird barrier on the platform. One side is for local stops and the other is for limited stops. We did not know about this so we had a few trips going up the lift and down the escalator thinking we were on the wrong side.

Finally, we were on the train to Seoul station. From Seoul, we did a transfer to Line 5 for Myeongdong.

Myeongdong

We decided to stay at Myeongdong because it was close to everything — food, shops, landmarks, train stations, you name it! It was easily accessible, too.

We stayed at Namsan Gil House, which was just about an 8-minute walk from Myeongdong station. Check-in was at 2:00 pm so we left our luggage there and headed out to eat lunch.

👉 Book your Seoul accommodation here

We went to 3 restaurants before we finally had our lunch.

The first place we found refused to serve us. We were refused service because none of the servers knows how to speak English. Although young students were willing to help us, the lead server decided it was too hard for them to serve us with the language barrier.

The second restaurant we wanted to eat at was still closed. The third one, well, the lady practically forced us to eat there. The third time’s a charm, I guess.

We ordered Buckwheat Cold Noodles, Seafood Pancake and Fried Rice. Jaclyn ate all of the side dishes because it was too spicy for me to handle.

After lunch, we wanted to go to Gyeongbokgung Palace but we needed a little shut-eye. At 2:00 pm, we headed back to our guesthouse and checked in. We set our alarm to 4:00 pm but we woke up at 7:00 pm. Oops! We quickly freshened up and headed out.

N Seoul Tower

Since the Namsan Cable Car was just about a minute walk from where we were staying, we decided to go see the N Seoul Tower.

The pathway to the entrance of the cable car had white and blue fairy lights, simple but looking very pretty.

I was looking forward to seeing the city view from the cable car but it was full and we ended up being in the middle. Just enough space to breathe!

We arrived at N Seoul Tower and the first thing I noticed was the love locks. There were tons of them, tons and tons. Did I say tons?

After a quick stroll outside, we decided to go in as it was freezing. We used our Discover Seoul Pass to enter the observatory and our 24-hour countdown now begins!

At the observatory, we saw Seoul’s city lights.

After a few good snaps of Seoul and its surrounding areas, we had dinner at Hosigi Chicken, which was located on the 4th floor of Seoul Tower Plaza.

I ordered the Boneless Chicken set, Original and Soy Sauce (because I can’t spicy). Jaclyn ordered the Spicy Chicken. After dinner, we headed back to the cable car. Despite the long line, they only let a handful of people inside the cable car which was convenient as we got a good look of Seoul from up there.

South Korea Day 2:
Digital Media City + Hongdae + Downtown Seoul

MBC World

After having breakfast at the guesthouse and just 12 more hours until our Discovery Seoul Pass expires, we decided to start our day early at MBC World.

MBC World is located in Digital Media City. It is a Hallyu Theme Park. When we arrived at MBC World, we showed our Discover Seoul Pass at the ticket booth in exchange for our ticket.

Read more about Discover Seoul Pass here.
👍 To get a discount on your Discover Seoul Pass, you can purchase the pass here.

I expected a lot of people to be there as it was a Saturday and it’s a Korean Wave theme park. I imagined K-drama and K-pop fans would be everywhere but surprisingly, we were the only ones there.

We enjoyed taking photos with Korean actors and K-pop bands that we don’t even know. Relax, not the real ones, just displays!

PS: Sorry, we came to Korea with just little K-drama and K-pop knowledge. K-pop and K-drama 101, anyone?

We had a virtual reality tour of the MBC complex, a dance tutorial from a K-pop girl group, a picture with G-Dragon — the king of K-pop, watched a 15-minute Big Bang hologram concert and a fan sign from a Korean actor — the girl in charge said he’s famous.

We also pretended we were news anchors and oh, we had a music recording with G-Dragon, too!

After a fun-filled experience at MBC World, we decided to eat our lunch at the nearest park. However, people were filming for a drama around the area so we ate our lunch at the nearest convenience store instead. We brought our leftover chicken from the night before. 😬

Trick-Eye and Ice Museum

After MBC World, we made our way to Hongdae station to get to Trick-Eye and Ice Museum.

Hongdae was a very busy place, so much different from MBC World. Mostly young people were there and we could see lots of foreigners, too. We visited the Ice Museum first.

The Ice Museum was a small room across the ticket booth and it was cold! 🥶

As we entered, we instantly spotted an ice slide, an igloo and an ice chair. My favourite part was the replica of a house at the end of the room. It had ice furniture, ice piano, ice bed and ice toilet. Yes, I know you got it. It was all on ice!

The Trick-Eye Museum occupies most of the space on the same floor as the Ice Museum.

At the Trick-Eye Museum, we enjoyed taking a photo of every display they had. One of my favourite displays was the swimming pool one. Our clothes don’t match the display though. 😆

They also have an app that gives extra visual effect on your photos but it needs a little bit of work as it was a little bit buggy.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

After Hongdae, we were on our way to the Seodaemun Prison History Hall when we realised that our train would stop at Gyeongbokgung station. So, we decided to head out and make a quick stop at Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Gyeongbokgung Palace used to be the main royal palace. It has very spacious grounds. As expected, the palace was full of visitors. We saw a lot of people wearing hanbok, a traditional Korean attire, as they give free admission to visitors wearing them.

We didn’t have to pay any admission fees because we had our Discover Seoul Pass.

The palace was getting busier so we head off to the Seodaemun Prison. It only took around 14 minutes by train to get there.

Seodaemun Prison History Hall

The Seodaemun Prison History Hall was previously a prison for liberation activists during the Japanese colonial era. Now, it is preserved as a memorial hall to remember those imprisoned in the complex.

It felt too overwhelming reading about the experiences of the people confined in this prison. After knowing some of their stories, and going through the torture chambers and jail rooms, I have nothing but great respect for them.

After feeling so down and sad from our visit to the Seodaemun Prison, we needed to do something fun to cheer us up. Since our Discover Seoul Pass had not expired yet, we went to the Lotte Fitin K-Live and planned to watch a K-pop Hologram Concert.

Lotte Fitin K-Live

We got to the place and it was like a K-pop mecca. They sell all things K-pop, from pens, notebooks, cups, toys, lightsticks, etc.

We went to the ticket booth and they scanned our passes. The show that was on next was a 45-minute JYP Nation hologram concert but we didn’t know who they were so we took the 50-minute Big Bang Special instead. Since the show was still going to happen at 8:00 pm, we decided to walk around the place.

We realised that Lotte Fitin K-Live has similar photo booths and Big Bang displays as what MBC World had. They had the same Big Bang cardboard as the one in MBC World!

Dongdaemun Design Plaza

We still had plenty of time left before the show starts so we agreed to head down to the Dongdaemun History and Culture Park to look for the LED Rose Garden.

While looking for the LED Rose Garden, we somehow met some locals. They were looking for the art museum and tried asking us for directions as they thought Jaclyn was a local. But obviously, we didn’t have a clue about what they were looking for.

It seemed like one of the locals studied in the Philippines and even know how to speak the language. We ended up spending the night with them and not watching the hologram concert. We already watched a 15-minute Big Bang hologram concert at MBC World so we were fine with skipping this one.

Our new friends gave us good tips on where to buy reasonably priced souvenirs and Korean food. After parting ways with them, we decided to look for the Chyeongyecheon stream but had to stop at a market as we were a bit hungry. A little bad habit of mine: forgetting to get restaurant and market names! Sorry!

The market was still open and they serve Korean street food. The food lady even fed us.

After realising we were the only female customers in the market, we decided to take away the food we were eating and made our way to the Chyeongyecheon stream.

Chyeongyecheon Stream

We were hoping to see the light display but we came too late. Nonetheless, we did a stroll on the stream and talked our worries away.

South Korea Day 3:
North + South of the Han River

Myeongdong Cathedral

We visited Myeongdong Cathedral on a Sunday. The plan was to attend the English mass but we didn’t get to wake up in time for that.

It is a 10-minute walk from Namsan Gil House but we made a few unnecessary wrong turns. Eventually, we found our way.

We got inside and the mass was in Korean. We stayed a bit and prayed. It was surprising to see the cathedral full of people as South Korea is not known for being a catholic country.

Bukchon Hanok Village

From Myeongdong Cathedral, we made our way on foot to Bukchon Hanok Village. We passed by a few Korean food stalls so we had to stop and try some while making our way to the village.

I was in awe when we arrived at the Bukchon Hanok Village. It seemed like we went back in time. The village is filled with traditional Korean houses.

We noticed some houses had notice not to disturb them but some houses were open for visitors, with some entrance fees, of course!

Insadong

It was about a 15-minute walk from Bukchon Hanok Village to Insadong. We got lost again for a bit because we missed a turn but we easily found our way to the main street where they sell souvenirs.

Before we went shopping, we decided to try one of the Teahouses in the area. The teahouse had a good ambience and it was quite chill.

Seoul Olympic Park

After wandering around Insadong and doing some souvenir shopping, our next stop was Seoul Olympic Park. We caught the train as it is located on the other side of the river.

As we arrived at Seoul Olympic Park, we could see there were a lot of teenagers and families spending their day out at the park.

We made our way to the Rose Garden but there were no roses nor leaves as spring hasn’t sprung yet. So, we started wandering around instead. During our walk, we found some interesting sculptures.

We got tired of walking so we decided to head off to the well known Gangnam area. I mean since we were already in South Korea, might as well visit Gangnam, right?

Gangnam

We took a bus from the Olympic Park to Gangnam. Just right across the street from the bus stop at Gangnam, we saw this huge sculpture. It seemed like a teddy bear-like white tiger with sunnies on.

The teddy-bear like figure is called a Gangnamdol, which is a combined term for Gangnam, Idol and Doll. It symbolises the characteristics of K-pop groups on these teddy bear-like dolls. While walking further down the street, we saw a whole lot of these with some K-pop group names on them. Jaclyn took photos of each one of them just because.

Gangnam has a different vibe compared to Myeongdong. It’s more of a ‘high-fashion’ feel. We also noticed some high-end stores and brands along the way with luxury cars revving up the streets.

The sun had set and we got hungry so we ended our walk at the last Gangnamdol. We didn’t want to walk back to the first Gangnamdol to catch the bus so we decided to just stay around the area and find a place to eat.

Dinner At Gangnam

We passed by this restaurant offering Cheesy Spicy Chicken. Like I said earlier, I am not good at getting restaurant names. I’m sorry! I promise to get better at getting restaurant names on my future trips!

I’m not into anything spicy (especially the Asian kind of spicy) but I love cheese so I was game to try them. We only ordered one serving as I know I would only get to eat just one chicken.

The dish came and it was on a sizzling plate. It had cheese, spicy chicken and big jalapeno slices. I thought I was going to be fine because cheese cures the spicy taste, right? Nope, it didn’t! Nonetheless, it was a food experience to remember.

Some Sevit (Seoul Floating Island)

After a spicy dinner, we decided to walk to Some Sevit from the restaurant. It was quite a long walk but it didn’t matter as we got to see Gangnam streets at night.

We knew we were near Some Sevit as we saw this beautifully lit building. As colourful as it looked outside, there was nothing much happening on the inside. It was pretty much empty as there were only a few shops selling souvenirs.

A few steps from the floating island, there’s a spot where you could just sit, chill and enjoy the night view. There were heaps of people there, mostly lovers on a night date and some families with young children having a picnic, enjoying a view of Seoul from the other side of the Han River.

South Korea Day 4:
Myeongdong + N Seoul Tower

Myeongdong

This was the second to the last day of our visit to South Korea. Well, our last day in Seoul really as we would be spending Day 5 doing the DMZ + JSA tour.

👉 Book your DMZ + JSA tour here.

We were planning to go to Nami Island but the guy at the reception said it was not a good time to go as we would just be seeing bare trees and not much of a good view. So, we decided to just have a chill day and maybe do some last-minute souvenir shopping.

We have been around Myeongdong on our first day but didn’t see much of it so we’ve decided to check it out again. Our stroll also led us to the Lotte Department Store. This department store is huge! It had a lot of luxury brands and cosmetic stores.

For our lunch, we made our way to the food court, which is located at the basement of the building. Their food court had so much variety, traditional Korean dish, western food or Asian food. You’ll never run out of choices!

Aside from the food court, they also had a supermarket so we decided to stock up on our Choco Pies.

After a scrumptious lunch and some shopping, we didn’t want to stay at the Lotte Department Store any longer as we didn’t want to be tempted on buying more things. They won’t fit in our luggage anymore!

N Seoul Tower

On our way back, we decided to go visit N Seoul Tower again. The first time we visited, it was at night so why not visit it in the daytime?

We stopped at Namsan Gil House to drop off our shopping and quickly freshen up.

We did not take the cable car but walked our way up to the tower. Yes, it seemed like a very good idea at that time. It was quite an exercise and there were times we were running out of air. We didn’t think this through!

Nonetheless, I was glad we did this walk as we got to see views we couldn’t have seen if we took the cable car or the bus.

With the trees being bare and the weather being gloomy, it looked like we were in a scene from a suspense/horror movie.

It was about 6:00 pm when we decided we should head back to eat. This time around, we decided to take the bus to Myeongdong station, which was about 40 minutes ride.

South Korea Street Food

When we got to Myeongdong, there was just food everywhere. The first food we tried was the Cheesy Lobster. Then, the Octopus with BBQ sauce and mayo.

It was just food after food after food nonstop. I think we tried every food stall. Everything was delicious! A must-try on your visit to South Korea.

My favourite was the Cheesy Scallops. I always loved Cheesy Scallops since I was a kid so I had high expectations when I saw this food stall. I was drooling just seeing them prepare it. It was just the best!

South Korea Day 5:
Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) + Joint Security Area (JSA)

On the last day of our visit to South Korea, we decided to do the DMZ + JSA tour. The tour is not always available as it would depend on the weather and the government relations between North and South Korea. At the time of our visit, we were lucky that North and South Korea were friendly with each other.

🔍 Check to see the availability of the DMZ + JSA tour here
or the DMZ Morning Tour here.

The day started with us being picked up from the guesthouse by a van to bring us to the meeting point where the actual tour bus was.

Imjingak

The first stop of the tour was at Imjingak. It is located in the last village in South Korea before getting to the Demilitarized Zone.

When we arrived, I could slowly sense the tension. It felt like people were trying to live their normal lives but also were prepared for war to happen.

The first thing that caught my eye in Imjingak was the soldier sculptures. It looked so animated like it came from a cartoon show. The soldier figures are found at the Bridge of Freedom and the bridge is where people leave messages for their family/relatives in North Korea.

Just a few steps from the bridge, there’s a train that was destroyed during the war and on a fence near it, there are more messages of peace from visitors.

DMZ Third Infiltration Tunnel

The next stop of the tour was the DMZ 3rd Infiltration Tunnel. This is one of the tunnels that North Korea dug to be used for a surprise attack on Seoul but it was detected in 1978. North Korea has denied them building this tunnel so South Korea made use of this for tourism purposes.

Before entering the tunnel, we needed to put all our valuables in a locker. We were not allowed to bring any cameras. We also had to wear a hard hat as the tunnel becomes narrow.

There are two ways of entering the tunnel. One would be by walking down the inclined pathway and the other would be by train. Well, we didn’t know about the train thing and everyone from our tour was walking so we walked.

It was a long walk towards the end of the tunnel, which was the third barrier from the demarcation line and also a dead-end. The barrier had a small window where we could see another barrier.

It wasn’t hard going down but going back up was a bit of a struggle. There are some rest stops and we stopped every once in a while to try to catch our breath as we headed back up.

Dora Observatory

The next stop was the Dora Observatory. It is the stop where we got to see the North Korean flag and their Propaganda Village.

Our guide said that on a clear day we could easily spot the North Korean flag and the village but when we got there, it was a bit foggy. We had to use the binoculars to see them.

We had our lunch straight after the Dora Observatory visit. The DMZ + JSA tour package included a Korean style lunch. After, we headed off to Camp Bonifas, where we did the JSA tour. This is when things were now getting serious. I felt nervous and excited at the same time.

Camp Bonifas

At Camp Bonifas, our bus stopped at the gate as we had to wait for our guide inside the camp. There was one US military personnel and one UN personnel assigned to every tour bus. We got off our bus to get inside the Advance Camp building. Inside, we received a do’s and don’ts briefing and a little bit of history about the place.

We then had to get on a military bus which took us to the Freedom House. Behind the Freedom House are the Conference Buildings, the blue buildings where the South Korean and North Korean officials meet.

It is inside this building where you could legally cross the Military Demarcation Line but you couldn’t get out of this building through the North Korean door as two South Korean soldiers guard this.

Panmungak

Behind these blue buildings is Panmungak, the main North Korean building. North Korean military officials use the building as an office. There was only one North Korean soldier guarding the Panmungak at the time of our visit.

There are around 6 South Korean soldiers guarding the conference buildings and the Demarcation Line. They get a break every 4 hours so they could take a rest, eat, use the toilet, etc. but the one North Korean soldier in the Panmungak building gets relieved every after 12 hours.

Our guide told us that each country tries to one-up each other. When South Korea plays some Kpop at camp, North Korea will play North Korean music on a loud blast so when this happens, the South Korean side plays Mariah Carey songs all day on a loop. I guess using music as a weapon is way better than using guns.

On the way back, the military bus took us to the Bridge of No Return. It is a bridge where prisoners cross to the other side and when they have crossed this bridge, they are not permitted to come back. I would’ve loved to take photos but it wasn’t allowed.

Dorasan Station

After Camp Bonifas, we stopped by Dorasan Station. This station was used to connect North Korea and South Korea. It has been restored for this purpose but North Korea has closed its borders, making this station not used for its full potential.

Dorasan Station was the end of the DMZ + JSA tour. However, before they dropped us off in the city, we had our last stop at a Ginseng store where we get to taste/buy Korean ginseng.

The tour was a bit tension-filled but at the same time very informative. Definitely, a must-do when you visit South Korea.

South Korea, See You Soon!

After being dropped off at Seoul City Hall, we headed back to Namsan Gil House to get our luggage. We then took the train to the airport, checked in and said our goodbyes to each other and Seoul.

First Visit to South Korea Recap

I had an awesome first-time visit to South Korea. During our short stay, we were able to explore a few attractions with our Discover Seoul Pass and saved heaps on admission fees. We also used the pass as T-money for our transportation fares.

I hope you find my experience and 5-day South Korea itinerary helpful. When you visit South Korea, don’t forget to try South Korean traditional and street food and book a DMZ+JSA tour (if it is available).

I know you will have an awesome visit to South Korea soon. Enjoy and have a safe travel!

First Visit to South Korea Links

• Accommodation – Agoda, book here
• Discover Seoul Pass – To get a discount, you can purchase the pass here
• Tour – DMZ+JSA Tour, book here or the DMZ Morning Tour here

Related Posts:
Discover Seoul Pass Review: What You Need To Know
South Korea In 10 Days: An Amazing Travel Itinerary