Korea Itinerary, 7 to 10 Days: Seoul, Sokcho, Busan or Jeju

The short answer: with 7 days, spend 5 in Seoul and 2 in Sokcho. With 10 days, cut Seoul to 3, keep 2 in Sokcho and give 5 to Busan or Jeju. Seoul gives you the big city. Sokcho, a little over two hours away by bus, puts the sea and Seoraksan National Park 20 to 25 minutes apart by car. Busan and Jeju are the two we suggest adding when you have more time.

We run a mulhoe restaurant (mulhoe is Korean cold raw-fish soup) right in front of Sokcho Beach. This is the plan we would give a visitor with a week or ten days in Korea.

How should I split 7 to 10 days in Korea?

Build the trip around Seoul and add one place at a time.

Each move between cities takes up close to half a day, so fewer stops usually means a better trip. If you have to choose between seeing more places and staying longer in each, staying longer is rarely the wrong call.

The 7-day plan: Seoul, then two days by the sea

Put Sokcho in the middle of the trip rather than at the end. That way a slow bus or a change in the weather is much less likely to put your flight home at risk.

We are not Seoul guides, so we will not pretend to plan your days there. Five days lets you see it at a walking pace.

For Sokcho, our two-day, one-night Sokcho route covers both days hour by hour. If you can, make the Sokcho days weekdays. At the Seoraksan cable car, a two-hour wait on an autumn weekend drops to twenty or thirty minutes on a weekday.

Why give two of those days to Sokcho?

From Seoul, Sokcho gives you the sea and a big mountain in one short trip. The express bus from Gangnam takes 2 hours 10 minutes to 2 hours 30 minutes and stops in the middle of town, a short walk from the beach. Seorakdong, the entrance to Seoraksan National Park, is 20 to 25 minutes from the beach by car.

You can see Seoraksan without hiking. The Seoraksan cable car takes you up to a viewing deck in about five minutes. For more of what Sokcho has beyond the mountain, see our guide to Sokcho beyond Seoul.

Guests who weighed Busan against Sokcho often tell us they picked Sokcho because it is closer to Seoul, works as an overnight trip, and has Seoraksan. If you are still deciding between the two, we have written an honest comparison of Busan and Sokcho.

The 10-day plan with Busan

Busan adds a second, much bigger seaside city. The KTX from Seoul Station takes about 2 hours 30 minutes.

Busan and Sokcho are both on the east coast, but they are far apart. Going back through Seoul between them makes the timing simpler. Gimhae International Airport in Busan has many direct international flights, so you may be able to fly home from Busan instead of returning to Seoul. Check this when you book.

The 10-day plan with Jeju

Jeju adds an island. It is a short domestic flight from Gimpo Airport in Seoul.

Swap Busan for Jeju in the plan above: fly from Gimpo on day 6, spend days 7 to 9 on the island, and fly back to Seoul on day 10. If your flight home leaves from Incheon, allow time to get there from Gimpo. We do not know Jeju well enough to plan your days there. It is a large island, so look into how you will get around before you go.

Does the season change the plan?

Yes, mainly for the Sokcho days: autumn brings the foliage and Seoraksan’s biggest crowds, winter is quieter with snow on Seoraksan, and summer is beach season, when rooms fill early.

• Autumn — the leaves on Seoraksan usually peak in mid-October, roughly the 15th to the 25th. This is when Seoraksan is most crowded. See our Seoraksan foliage guide.
• Winter — fewer people (except around New Year and the Lunar New Year holiday), snow on Seoraksan and the sunrise over the sea. See Sokcho in winter.
• Summer — Sokcho Beach is open for swimming and the town is at its busiest. Book rooms early.

How do I get from Seoul to Sokcho?

By express bus from Gangnam in Seoul. There is no train yet; a railway from Chuncheon to Sokcho is under construction.

Bus times change with traffic and the season. Check the timetable when you book. The full details are in our guides to getting from Seoul to Sokcho and from Incheon Airport to Sokcho.

If you stop in Sokcho

We are directly in front of Sokcho Beach, three minutes on foot from the express bus terminal. You can walk over from the bus with your luggage and have a cold bowl of mulhoe before you check in.

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