Overview
Planning your trip
Use these articles, resources, and guides to plan and inspire your next trip to South Korea.
Travelers to South Korea will find a captivating blend of ancient traditions and cutting-edge modernity. In Seoul, historic palaces like Gyeongbokgung sit alongside vibrant shopping districts such as Myeongdong and bustling nightlife in Gangnam. Most will start there, but don’t forget to venture beyond Seoul as well. The coastal city of Busan is known for its beautiful beaches, seafood markets, and stunning temples like Haedong Yonggungsa. For nature, hike the scenic trails of Seoraksan National Park or head to Jeju Island’s for sandy beaches and volcanic landscapes. And at every stop, don’t forget to savor the country’s cuisine and try everything from savory bulgogi and kimchi to sweet patbingsu.
Photo by Jun Michael Park
Use these articles, resources, and guides to plan and inspire your next trip to South Korea.
Once upon a time, Incheon was a quiet seaside village, pretty typical for Korea. The men went fishing, the women made kimchi. There were maybe a couple thousand people altogether in the region.
And then it got caught in the middle of a war. Incheon is where, late in 1950, the U.S. Marines landed, marking the beginning of the end of the Korean War, a war that ultimately claimed more than 40,000 American soldiers’ lives and an undetermined number of Koreans.
After the fighting, when Incheon had a chance to dig itself out from the mud and shrapnel, it became part of the Korean economic miracle, the country’s first official free-enterprise zone. With its perfect natural port, flat landscape and 3 million residents, it’s become as much a part of the Seoul megalopolis now as it is a place of its own.
Visit Incheon with a Korean War vet, and they likely won’t recognize a thing, except maybe a small area around Freedom Park. Where once there were rice ponds, there are now high-rise apartment buildings. Even the beach the Marines landed on has been filled and reshaped to make more room for the Korean economic miracle. But there’s an entire generation haunted by this place, and it’s well worth looking around.