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Beyond Seoul
Busan, Jeju, Gyeongju, Gangneung, Suwon and Seoraksan — getting there and what to expect.
2026-09-09
Gamcheon Culture Village, Busan: I Grew Up Here, and My House Is a Café Now
The statue is the piece everyone queues to sit beside now, and it went up about ten months before I left.
2026-09-08
Suwon Hwaseong Fortress: the wall is free and open all night, and the drama scenes are not on it
That gap is why so many people come back from Suwon vaguely disappointed. They arrive with a UNESCO site in their head, walk a long stone wall, take a photo of…
2026-09-01
Seoraksan From Seoul: There Is No Train, and the Entrance You Pick Decides the Whole Day
This surprises people more than almost anything else about travelling here. Korea runs one of the densest rail networks in the world.
2026-08-30
Gangneung: An Olympics Put It Two Hours From Seoul, and the Faster Train Leaves From Cheongnyangni
That has only been true since December 2017. Before then the east coast was a long drive over a mountain range or a slow train, and this was somewhere you…
2026-08-27
Gyeongju From Seoul: Two Hours by KTX, and Then the Part Nobody Plans For
Getting to Gyeongju from Seoul is genuinely easy. Two hours on a high-speed train, one seat, no transfers. That part is true and every article says it.
2026-08-27
Gyeongju: Three Separate UNESCO Listings, and Why One Day Does Not Cover Them
That is the whole problem with this city in three sentences, and it is the reason the internet cannot agree on how long you need here.
2026-08-26
Gimhae Airport to Busan: The Light Rail Does Not Go Downtown, and the Bus Is Not Second Best
That sentence needs a qualifier, so here it is: the Busan–Gimhae Light Rail runs through the airport, and one end of it does reach Busan.
2026-08-26
Busan Subway: There Are Only Two Fares, and the Day Pass Has a Catch
That is the entire fare system, and it is the only thing about riding the Busan subway that will surprise someone who learned to ride in Seoul.
2026-08-23
The Jeju Olle Trail: 27 Routes, and Why the Number Does Not Tell You Anything
The Jeju Olle Trail is a network of coastal walking routes that circles the island, and the hardest part of walking it is not the walking — it is picking a…
2026-08-22
The Ferry to Jeju: Two of the Ports People Search For Are Gone
The ferry to Jeju is real and it runs most days of the week. It just does not leave from the two cities most people type into the search box.