I will be going to South Korea in late Dec 2012 (with two others) for 5N6D and my itinerary is as follows:-

19/12 Arrive at Incheon at 430pm. Take train and subway to Guro station. Staying at Daelim Residence for 2 nights. Visit Namsan Tower at night.

20/12- Go to Everland for the whole day . Take subway to Gangnam Station and Shuttle Bus. Some shopping at Myeondong at night

21/12 - By 7am, leave for Nami Island via subway and train to Gapyeong Station and taxi to Nami jetty for ferry across.
at around noon, leave Nami Island and return to Gapyeong Station. Take train to Chuncheon Station. Eat Dakgalbi for lunch at one of the specialty restaurants. After that take cab to Chuncheon Intercity Bus Terminal and take bus to Hoenggye. From Hoenggye take cab to Alpensia Resort. Check in for 3 nights.

22/12 - Skiing at Alpensia

23/12 - Take shuttle bus to Hoenggye and from the bus terminal take a bus to Sokcho. Visit Mount Seoraksan

24/12 - Skiing and take shuttle bus in the evening to Incheon airport for flight out.


So what do you guys think? Doable?

I purchased in Feb for flight in Dec. Got mine at RM578 return inclusive of tax.

Anyone can confirm whether I can take a bus from Chuncheon to Hoenggye directly or do I have to transfer elsewhere? Thanks.

Regards

It will be winter so if you like the cold then it is recommended. I am going as well from the 19th till the 24th However please know that that period is considered somewhat a high season so make your bookings early (esp if you are not taking a tour) and the prices of hotels are higher during Christmas week.

Temperature can be anywhere between 5 to -10 degrees but it is definitely colder in January. I was there in January two years ago and it went to -20 on one of the nights. The cold is not too bad, its the winds that are a killer. Other than that, I enjoyed visiting Korea in the winter...nice change to the Malaysian hot weather.

When I was there, I stayed at Yim's House. It is located very near Anguk Station and Jong-no3-ga (or was it 2ga, I forgot) station. From there it is very strategic as two of the palaces are within walking distance. You can walk to Insadong from here as well. I stayed there because I had a tight budget and I wanted a single room and not share in a dorm or hostel. The floors were heated, had a double bed (a small queen size). It had an attach bathroom and although it was small it suited me just fine. It also has a small kettle, coffee and free bottles of water (2 per day). It was only 35,000 won per night then (about RM110). It is also at along a quiet street which has a lot of small cheap restaurants. I had a lot of warm soups for only 4,000-6,000 won (about RM12-18)

As for the wind, make sure you have a good thick scarf (woolen and not cotton) that you can use to cover your neck, something to cover your ears as well. Because the wind can be very biting, you can feel it penetrate through your clothes if you don't get proper attire. Also get Vaseline. Our local moisturisers are not good enough.

During my trip this time in Dec 2012, I will be staying at Daelim Residence and I will be going with my family. Daelim's rates are pretty good as well. RM300 per night for a room with 2 double beds. This place however has a kitchen and washing machine. I am going skiing as well but will be staying at a more expensive place Holiday Inn Alpensia.

This post has been edited by cynthusc: Jul 13 2012, 05:21 PM

Hi Leong, It's quite far I should think. did not go to Namsan on my last trip. I think if you want to be near to Namsan, its better to stay in Myeondong. You can take a subway easily.

This post has been edited by cynthusc: Jul 13 2012, 05:23 PM

This is my travel report. I was there for 6 days 5 nights. This report will be useful for those who want to go skiing. We are a party of 5 with 4 adults and one kid

19.12.2012
Reach Incheon at 4pm on Air Asia X. The flight was great and we arrived early by 15 minutes. It took us about 30 minutes to clear immigration and another 10 minutes or so to get our luggage. Exit the luggage area and went to the nearest convenience store to buy the T Money. Loaded up 10,000 won each of three cards (we were a party of three as two others arrived on an earlier flight).

Then went to the SK Roaming Counter to get a Korean sim card. I have a Samsung Note but they tried using the card but it didn't work. So I had to rent a phone. It cost me 70,000 won the entire 6 days I was in Korea. I used it as a hotspot and all the other phones could be used to surf the net.

Please take note that the limousine buses are to be taken from one floor down. You don't need to buy a ticket from the booth if you have T-Money. Just use the card. It is 9,000 won to Guro-gu. Look at the signboard to confirm your bus number and go to the bus stop that has the corresponding number to the bus you want. When the bus comes make sure you tell the Ajusshi bus driver where you want to get off.

Since it was Dec, it was seriously cold. Temp was -10. My friend who was so sure that she could handle the cold and was wearing only a fleece jacket over a t-shirt is regretting like hell. This was not my first trip there so I was well wrapped up. I recommend: underwear, thermals, sweater and winter jacket. Scarf and hat is a must.

We reached Guro in a about an hour and I called the owner of Daelim Residence, Mr Jang who speaks pretty fluent English to inform him of my arrival. We walked about 10 minutes and reach his place. Our room is like a small apartment studio with 2 queen size beds. Very clean with full amenities. It has a full set of cooking utensils and everything you need including free mask, hair gel, free hot cocoa. The price is also very good at 200K won per night. The room can fit four very nicely. We rested up and had a great galbi meal at a restaurant recommended by the owner. It was very cheap too. For the five of us (who are big eaters) we ordered six sets of galbi, a bowl of tofu soup (sundu bu chigae) and a bowl of bibimbap and noodles and it cost us 120K won. It may seem expensive but one set in KL is close to RM100. The portions were big and extremely yummy. We then walked around and bought huge strawberries for 7000 won per box. It was worth every penny! It was too cold to do much so we went back to the residence and had an early night after reloading our T money. The kind Ajumma at the Family Mart refuse to let me leave until she programmed my daughter's T-Money card to ensure that she gets the discounted price for children. She was in her 50s and she communicated by writing Hanja (korean in chinese characters) which my daughter translated to me. I gave her a hug after that!


20/12/2013

We woke up nice and early and left the residence at 730am. We took the subway to from Guro station (a 5 mins walk from the residence) to Gangnam station and had breakfast at Lotte Mart. Really delicious burgers especially the woman's burger! One mistake I made was taking the subway at that time: rush hour! Do take the subway after 9am if possible.

We then cross the road to the bus station and took a bus to Everland. The ride was about 40-50 mins and can get a little windy. From the stop there is a free shuttle bus right to the entrance of Everland. Don't forget to get your discount voucher printed online and you can buy the tickets cheaoer.

How was the experience at Everland? Loved it! I recommend going during winter because you can go snow sledding. We went like no less than 10 times! There wasn't much of a crowd so on more popular rides, it was a less than 10 minute wait. The roller coasters were scary!

Well if you guys want to hear more, I will continue later!

Part 2

Everland - During winter, the mechanical rides might not operate if the weather does not allow it. Most of the roller coasters only started operation after 12noon. The safari ride to see the liger was fun because they also had bears who come up to the buses and say "Annyeong". We also tried all the street snacks they had. We ate churros, the fish cakes or odeng, their hotdogs, corn (don't eat this coz thier corn is tasteless and not juicy at all), hoddeok and ice cream!

All in all we had a great time. Although I knew there were fireworks at night, we were pretty tired with all the walking and sledding. We left at 5pm and took the same route back to Seoul.

We then took the subway to Gyeongbokgung Palace from Gangnam and walked to Tosokchon for the famous ginseng chicken. We order three bowls of the chicken and one pancake and it was more than enough. It was okay...above average I would say. We then took a short walk around the area and at 9 we headed back to the residence. As usual we bought another two packs of strawberries. This time the Ajumma recognise us and gave it to us for 6500 won per box.

For those who are planning to consider staying at Daelim, please note that it is quite a distance from central Seoul. We chose it because the rates were good and because we were not planning to visit Seoul much.

21.12.2012

On this day the plan was to take the subway and train to Nami Island but as my fellow travellers were worn out (some of us are in our mid forties) from all the Everland fun, we decided to head to Pyeongchang directly. We said goodbye to Daelim and Mr. Kim the receptionist was kind enough to drive us to Guro station. This time we were smarter and left at 10 am instead. This was my favourite day because it snowed heavily and for all of us it was the first time we experience snowfall. I had been to Seoul during winter before but during my last trip of 10 days in January not one day did it snow. As usual we did the 'sakai' thing and played in the snow outside Daelim Residence.

From Guro Station, we took the subway with all our luggage to Gabyeon Station. We exited Gabyeon Station and cross the road to the Dong Seoul bus station. In the station we bought our tickets to Hwenggye. All you need to do is look at the board where the different times are displayed and buy the number of tickets you need for your chosen departure time. As the ride will take more than 2 hours, do buy some snacks for the trip. Remember to wait at the correct bus stop. Check your ticket for the number. There will be several guys near the buses, show them the tickets and they will direct you to the correct bus.

The bus is not a direct bus and will stop at several stops. If I remember correctly Hwenggye is at the third stop. Before reaching the first stop the bus will also stop halfway for passengers to take a toilet break. The buses are very comfortable and spacious.

After getting of at Hwenggye (remember its just a small stop), we cross the road and took a cab to the Alpensia Suites. Hwenggye is in Pyeongchang-gun and this is the location for the Winter Olympics in 2018. It cost us 9000 won for the cab fare. The cab drivers that we meet throughout our stay in Pyeongchang were very friendly and nice. In fact, the cab would stop wherever we wanted and waited for us to buy whatever we needed before continuing our journey. We stopped at a bakery and at a grocery store to buy water, snacks and bread. Strawberries too!

As Hwenggye is the nearest town to the ski resorts, we went there a number of times. If you would like budget accommodation, then this is the place to stay.

To be continued...

In Alpensi

Part 3

We arrived at the resort just a bit after lunch. At the Alpensia Resort, we booked a small apartment with 2 rooms. 1 room has a king size bed and the other room is an ondol room. I can say that this apartment fit five of us comfortably. It has a kitchen and a living area as well as two bathrooms. The ondol room can fit four and the living room maybe another two. All in all if one has a tight budget, this apartment can fit 8 people quite well. It costs RM600 per night.

Please also note that if you intend to return to the airport from the resort they do have a shuttle but that shuttle is on a "first come first serve" basis and you cannot book it earlier. As I prefer certainty, I booked the shuttle going to Seoul instead. The drop off is at a Jamshil station.
PLEASE BOOK ON THE DAY YOU ARRIVE AND NOT THE LAST DAY AS THEY REQUIRE 48 HOURS NOTICE TO BOOK YOUR PLACE.

The resort is beautiful and as our apartment is in the ski house, it was really convenient! We booked a skiing lesson for all of us the next day and then ate at the Japanese restaurant. The food was quite good and delicious. We ate there two more times throughout our stay there. We became snowbunnies that day!

The next day we started our skiing adventure early in the morning at 9am. It was a painful adventure indeed! Let's just say that if you are not that fit, skiing is very hard. For those who are unfit, just book a half day skiing session first. Paying for the full day but not being fit enough to go all the way is a waste. We skiing until 4pm with a break in between for lunch. By noon my daughter could ski down the slope! I think kids pick it up much faster!

Later that night we headed to Hwenggye and I asked the cabbie to take us to the best galbi restaurant. He was a really kind guy who not only took us to the very very traditional restaurant, he also ordered for us and asked the lady owner to call us a cab after we were done. How traditional was it? Well there was no heater and we had to heat ourselves on the stove where the galbi is cooked! The galbi was exceptional! We also tried the bimbimnamyeon which is a Pyeongchang specialty. Memorable night!

To be continued



This post has been edited by cynthusc: Mar 14 2013, 03:52 PM

Taxi is only cheap if you are travelling in groups. Otherwise it is cheaper to take the subway. If you are in Seoul, subway is the cheapest and most convenient way. Try to avoid rush hour...theirs is worse than KL.

Sorry, most of my pictures have my daughter's and relatives faces so I don't want to put them online. A lot of weirdos nowadays.

Maru,

I can't remember the rates but when we used the cab in Hwenggye, a 10-15 min ride was about 8K won. So when split among 4 that's about 2K won per person. In Seoul the subway is still the best. If you want to take a cab from the airport, you can book it online which is cheaper and for 4 people it is worth it. I can't remember the link...let me look for it and I will PM you.