Tourist Activities

Hanboks at Gyeongbokgung

One of the most iconic activities to do in Korea is renting out hanboks. By doing so, you're able to get free admission into the palace! My friends and I rented ours with Hanboknam, which was a walking distance from the palace. There's actually many hanbok shops in this area, so we just chose a random one. Coming into this, I thought I was able to pick whatever design and color I liked, but turns out, it's limited according to length. I was unfortunately too tall or short for the ones I really liked, so I ultimately had to settle on another one.

My friends and I rented our hanboks for about 1-1.5 hours and we mainly just took pictures when we walked into it. We all agreed that we have never felt more like a tourist than this day lol.

Lotte World

The next day, I went to Lotte World, an amusement park in Seoul. I went around early October when the weather was starting to cool down to avoid standing in the heat. I bought a day pass through Klook for about $30, but you can probably find them through other sites. It’s about an hour away from the dorm, and we made sure to go there early before they opened to avoid the lines (though, we did not end up beating the lines 😀). We went on a Friday and we thought it would be less busy as it was a weekday, however, there were still so many groups of families and students, for some reason.

Another iconic activity is wearing school uniforms at Lotte World, so we decided to rent them out for the whole day. I unfortunately failed to realize the need to bring shorts before wearing a skirt, but you can rent shorts for a fee as well. Despite being there from opening to closing, we only ended up riding a total of 3 rides. The day consisted of more waiting in lines than riding the rides. If you go, expect a minimum of an hour when waiting for the rides. Many people actually bought collapsable seats to use when waiting in the lines, so I'd recommend investing in one of those from Daiso.

Lotte World is made up of indoor and outdoor sections, but it's also extremely crowded no matter where you go, so be prepared to possibly get overstimulated. Towards the end of the day, my friends and I decided to take a group photo in front of the Lotte World Castle, which has a photo zone you need to stand in line for. We ended up standing in line for 2+ hours, up until it closed at 10pm, so we had to rush and take the pictures within a few minutes sadly.

Nami Island

My friends and I took a half-day trip to Nami Island, which is a separate island in South Korea that’s apparently man-made. It was about a 2.5-3 hr subway ride to go to the point that takes you to the island. We decided to zipline there for about $40, which includes a ferry back; otherwise, you could take a ferry there and back for about $10. Prior to ziplining, we ate breakfast/lunch at the convenience store for a quick meal; there are food shops at the island, however, I heard it was limited. We spent the day sightseeing the different sections of the island and buying souvenirs. We also went to an area where we could rent row boats!

Everland

Everland is the second amusement park in Seoul and it's about 2 hours away on bus/train. I also bought a day pass from Klook for about $30. I went on a Friday again and, compared to Lotte World, Everland is a lot less crowded. I still had to wait in lines for the rides, but not nearly as long as the ones for Lotte World so it was manageable. It also has Panda World, where the Bao Family stays; because of its popularity, we only had 5 minutes to see the pandas (in addition to red pandas and monkeys), but it was still cool since it was my first time seeing them in person. I was able to ride 6 or 7 rides, which is double from Lotte World! Personally, I prefer Everland over Lotte World and I would go again.