South Korea Spring Trip 2018 Budget

Hi, I’m back again with a new post!

Maybe this is one of the most awaited posting for you who have plan to South Korea. Yup, I will share my budget details for while I was in South Korea for 9D8N (31st March – 9th April 2018).

The reason why I want to travel to South Korea is because I'm a KPOP fans. I'm a fan of BTS since 2016. I start to enjoy KPOP since 2011 when I was a freshman after watched Super Junior concert on TV. Since then I start to enjoy the variety show, dramas, and of course the culture. Actually, Winter Sonata is the first Korean things that I know when I was in elementary school. Okay, that was the intermezzo :D

I was with my best friend, Indar, exploring the beauty of South Korea. She is not like me who’s love KPOP but she enjoys to watch Kdrama, kekeke. At first, I thought it will be boriI'm so grateful to travel with her because we have the same common, love to eating, taking pictures, & of course shopping :) We stayed in two different place, Seoul (6 days) and Busan (3 days in the middle).

Now, let’s get to details!

Note: 1 KRW = 13.00 IDR – 13.50 IDR

I will skip the flight ticket, accommodation, & pocket wifi tips in this post since you might have read my previous post. BUT if you don’t, you could check here.

KTX

Since we planned to go to Busan, we decided to go with KTX *YEAAYY*. KTX is known as the Shinkansen from South Korea. Maybe some of you know Train to Busan movie? Yeah, this is the after effect after watching the zombie that walked through this train. I think that KTX get more popular among the tourist after this movie.

We have checked other options 'Express Bus' before we decided to go with KTX. It takes 2.5 hours from Seoul to Busan using KTX, while if you take Express Bus around 4 - 5 hours depends on the traffic. So, we did the calculation which is the better one for us.

1. Round trip with KTX

2. KTX & Express Bus (Economy)

3. Round trip with Express Bus (Economy)

And as you may guess, we decided to go with KTX & KTX. Here are the reason:

1. We really want to experience KTX!! Because we don’t know when we will back again to South Korea. So it’s a must!

2. We want to cut the time! Because we planned to visit many places when we were in Busan. Remember, time is money :)

3. You could get cheaper price if you choose group pass/saver (minimum 2 people) ticket.

But if you're not in a rush & you want to save the money for others *skin care perhaps :)*, it’s better to choose Express Bus & Express Bus rather than KTX & Express Bus.

Subway/Metro

This will be your main public transportation when you’re in South Korea. So make sure when you plan to visit the place here, make it in the same direction. You could save your time & of course the the expense for public transportation. The public transportation is more expensive compared in Indonesia. You only have to pay 3,500 IDR - 5,000 IDR in Jakarta using commuter line. While in South Korea you should pay 1,250 KRW = 17,000 IDR (in city/Seoul) or 1,500 krw = 20,000 krw (in Busan).

Entertainment Ticket

You might have plan to Nami Island, Petite French, or Everland, right? You could find the ticket easily even find discounted price on Klook, Seoul Pass, Kkday or many more. But I got the cheapest one at Klook. It’s easy and very reliable so you don’t have to worry if you don’t get the ticket.

Food & Water

Food price is quite similar with Jakarta, around 50K – 100K per meal *for proper meal*. In case of crisis, you could find lots of menu on convinience store. I have to admit that many tempting foods at South Korea convinience store (7eleven, CU, GS25, etc) :p

Mineral water is free in South Korea restaurant. So you don’t have to order mineral water :D But mineral water also more expensive compared in Jakarta. The price around 800 KRW-2,000 KRW. I suggest to bring mineral water before you go out.

Hope you could get some good tips from this post. See you on the next post for the itinerary!