Winter in Korea: Travel Guide and Tips

I can’t believe it was three years ago since my last out of the country trip with my husband. Looking back at our last trip, I know that everything will never be the same. Last December 2018, my husband together with my closest friends, decided to book a ticket to Korea to experience winter since it’s our dream to see the beauty of snow and the feeling of wearing thick winter clothes. I know there are a lot of countries that have four seasons just like Korea but we chose this beautiful country because aside from being a K-drama fanatic, Korea is the country that is not strict when it comes to getting a visa.

Booking a Plane ticket

We booked our tickets at JinAir since there is a direct flight from Cebu to Incheon. We availed the promo rate of 130 USD that's around Php 7,000 with 15kg check-in baggage and 12kg carry-on luggage.

What to wear

Since we visited the winter season it's expected to have an extremely cold season. We did bring with us heat tech inner (upper, lower, and socks), extra warm gloves, bonnets, blanket scarfs, puff jackets, boots, or any comfortable shoes that will keep us warm. It was really cold; I must say extremely cold that I could barely enjoy the place because of the weather. I had to wear 5 layers of clothing, 3 layers of pants, and 3 layers of socks but still it wasn't enough to keep me warm. Best to have a heat pack with you and a face mask because this will add more warmth.
Oh, I forgot don't forget to moisturize your face, lips, and body if you don't want to have flaky dry skin.

Where to exchange money Korean Won

Since we’re from Cebu the best place to exchange Philippine pesos is at Raintree Mall, they probably have the best rate for Korean Won.

Where to stay in Korea

Best to choose the place to stay near a station. We stayed at Dream Guesthouse near Nandaemun Market. It's a 2-minute walk in the station and just across the station is the famous Nandaemun Market. We booked our stay at Booking.com since they offer special discounts. We were six in the group so we decided to book a family room for the entire stay. We paid around Php 1,370.00 each for 3 nights with breakfast already.
Note: Due to the very cold weather we weren't able to stick with our planned itinerary instead we decided to choose what we think is the best place to go.

Itinerary for 4 days 3 nights
Day One: Gyeongbokgung Palace and Bukchon Hanok Village

We tour the place on our own so that we can explore the place. The initial plan was to tour four palaces but because we were exhausted from the flight and we didn't expect the weather to be extremely cold,we had to shorten our walking tour.

Day two: Nami Island + Petite France + Garden of Morning Calm

We booked a hassle-free tour via Klook. This will save you time especially if you don't have that much time to commute.

Day three: Jisan Ski Park + Everland

There's a lot of Ski park in Korea but we chose Jisan because this is the only package tour that can be combined with Everland. If ever we will be back here for winter, I will try the Vivaldi Park Resort.

Day four: Namsan Seoul Tower

Overall, we did not fully enjoy our 3-night stay in Korea because it was crazy cold that time but we happen to cover most of our itineraries in fact we I still managed to shop around and spend (310,000 won) Php 15,500.00 for pasalubong (souvenir) :) Total expenses for this trip Php 36,500.00 including all miscellaneous expenses.

Travel Tips:

1. Double up heat-tech because it's damn cold in Korea!!!
2. Wear gloves, scarfs and face masks all the time to keep you warm. Better to have those heat packs in your pocket it will help a lot.
3. Go ice skating or skiing it’s a new experience for us because we don't have that in the Philippines.
4. If you intend to go shopping like me, bring more cash! The shoes and beauty products in Korea are way cheaper compared to the Philippines.
5. Enjoy the food! Try their street food the Odeng (fish cake) and their famous Tteokbokki.
6. Tourist spot ratings: 5/5 as the highest
   • Gyeongbokgung Palace 3.5/5 - it was a huge place but during our visit, there were a lot of renovations going on in the palace. We were lucky to witness the changing of guards.
   • Bukchon Hanok Village 4/5 - I liked the feel and vibe of the place, it was traditional. The village is so big that we really had difficulty looking for the famous dreamcatcher store in the series The Heirs where Kim Tan finds Eun Sang. This is also the famous scene from the series Goblin. We really tried our best to look for the road and café were Eun Tak and Sunny first meet and talks but because it was so damn cold we gave up. The place was not crowded with many tourists.
   • Nami Island 5/5 – the place is really beautiful even if there were lots of tourists, I still find it very unique. Definitely, I will visit this place again and will stay for a night so that we can have the place empty if we want to get nice photos. Nami island is a dream place for us so we will be back here for the spring, summer, and autumn seasons.
   • Petite France 2.5/5 – nothing special about the place but kids will surely enjoy it here.
   • Garden of Morning Calm 2.5/5 – we visited at night time and it was really cold plus it was really crowded you can't appreciate the view because a lot of people were taking pictures everywhere.
   • Jisan Ski Park 4.5/5 - the place was huge and it was not crowded compared to other ski resorts I searched. Skiing is worth a try but I was not ready for it at that time because I just recuperated from a knee fracture. So maybe we’ll try skiing on the next visit with our daughter.
   • Everland 4/5 – it was really cold that time so we didn’t enjoy the rides. Compared to other amusement parks I've visited in other countries; their fireworks were the best 😍
   • Namsan Seoul Tower 3/5 - aside from the love lock bridge, for me, it was ok not to climb up the tower because it was fogging that time so maybe if summer the view will be great 😊

That's it Hivers, I hope this travel guide and tips will help you in any way possible to enjoy your winter experience in Korea. See you for my next wander. Bye 💚