Travel information

Nearly all travellers will enter Korea through Incheon International Airport (Airport code: ICN) on an island in the Yellow Sea 60km west of Seoul, in the north-west of South Korea. Only if you are coming from Japan, Beijing, Shanghai, or possibly Hong Kong, you may be able to fly directly to Busan or Daegu, both much closer to Gyeongju. Travellers from Japan can also take a boat from Fukuoka or from Osaka to Busan. Lufthansa has a flight from München to Busan, although this doesn't quite count as it has a stop-over in Incheon.

Even if you will continue your travels on a domestic flight, you will have to go through immigration and pick up your luggage at Incheon airport. Gyeongju is in the south-east of Korea, about 350 km from Seoul. You have three options for going from Incheon airport (or Seoul) to Gyeongju: by domestic flight, by train, or even by bus.

Money matters

Korean ATMs do not always accept cards issued outside the country. There is no easy way to recognize which ones work and which ones don't (sometimes they have a Global logo or show the Maestro or Cirrus logos). The good news is that there is an ATM that accepts foreign cards right inside the Hyundai Hotel, on the 1st floor close to the retail shops (immediately down the stairs from the Emerald/Ruby Halls where SoCG is held).

Renting a mobile phone

Foreign phones do not work in Korea. Korea does not have a GSM network, and its CDMA network is incompatible with those overseas. If you want to use a mobile phone in Korea, you will probably have to rent a suitable phone. There are three companies that offer this service located in the arrival hall at Incheon airport (between gates 6 and 7, and between gates 9 and 11). The two major companies are KTF (Korea Telecom) and SK Telecom. Both seem to have the same procedures and prices. You will have to show a passport, and will have to use a credit card to guarantee that you will return the phone. You have two choices: First, you can rent a CDMA handset that accepts your SIM card, and that allows you to keep your own phone number and to use roaming in Korea. This costs US$1 per day, and you pay for your calls through your normal roaming arrangement. Second, you can rent a standard Korean phone. This will give you a Korean phone number. Local calls cost KRW 600 per minute, international calls to the US or Europe between KRW 1000 and 2000, but receiving calls is free. You pay for your calls when you return the phone. Renting such a phone costs KRW 3000 per day (or KRW 1500 starting from your second rental).

Korea Travel Phone

Need travel information? Just Call 1330!

At least that's what the Korean Nation Tourist Organization says. You can dial 1330 on a payphone, or area code + 1330 (so you'd dial 021330 in Seoul and 0541330 in and around Gyeongju) from your (rented) mobile phone to reach a bilingual operator who can answer questions about travel in Korea. They can probably also assist if you have difficulties communicating with taxi drivers, bus drivers, restaurant owners etc. The volunteer organization ``Before Babel Brigade'' is created exactly for this kind of situation. Their number is 1588-5644, then press 1 for English (or one of the numbers for other languages such as Japanese or Chinese).

Domestic flights to Ulsan or Busan

Domestic flights in Korea are offered by Korean Air (a member of Sky Team) and by Asiana (a member of Star Alliance). Flights can be booked directly on the carrier's website, if you don't get them as part of your trip to Korea. Prices are identical at both carriers, and are around KRW 60,000 one-way.

Note that nearly all domestic flights leave from Seoul's old airport Gimpo (Airport code: GMP). There is a brand-new airport express (opening March 23, 2007) connecting Incheon and Gimpo airports (every 12 minutes, travel time 33 minutes, costs KRW 3,100).

Option 1: Fly to Ulsan

This is the preferred option, as Ulsan is much closer to Gyeongju than Busan. Korean Air has 8 flights per day from Gimpo to Ulsan (Airport code: USN), Asiana has 5 flights.

You can take a taxi from Ulsan airport to the Hyundai hotel in Gyeongju for about 40,000 KRW. The trip will take 40-50 minutes. Make clear that you want to go to Gyeongju (there is also a Hyundai hotel in Ulsan). You can try to negotiate a fixed price with the taxi driver before you leave.

Alternatively, there is a bus from Ulsan airport to the Gyeongju bus terminal. It costs KRW 4,500, but runs only four times a day, at 8:30, 12:40, 16:50, and 20:10. From the Gyeongju bus terminal, take a taxi or bus to the Hyundai hotel, see below.

Option 2: Fly to Busan

Korean Air has 21 flights from Gimpo to Gimhae airport in Busan (Airport code: PUS) per day, and 2 flights directly from Incheon airport. Asiana has 9 flights from Gimpo and 2 from Incheon.

From Gimhae airport, take an airport limousine bus to the Gyeongju bus terminal. This takes 75 minutes and costs 9000 KRW. Departure times of the bus are: 08:35, 09:35, 10:35, 12:05, 13:05, 14:05, 15:35, 16:35, 17:35, 19:05, 20:25.

If you did not make it for the last bus, take a taxi to the Busan Express bus terminal. Here there are two more buses to Gyeongju, at 22:30 and 23:30. The express bus timetable is available here.

At the Gyeongju bus terminal, take a taxi or bus to the Hyundai hotel, see below.

Train travel to Gyeongju

Korean Rail runs an information counter in the arrival hall of Incheon airport (Counter #31, between gates 6 and 7, open 8:00-21:00). You can already buy your train tickets here. Korean Rail also provides a "limousine bus" to Seoul Station (about 1h travel, KRW 13,000). If you buy a ticket for the bus together with your train ticket here, you get the bus ticket for KRW 10,000.

Alternatively, you could take the airport express to Gimpo airport and transfer to the Seoul subway system there. It takes about 1h20min from Incheon to Seoul station by subway (take the airport express to Gimpo airport, there transfer into the purple line 5 in direction of Sangil-dong/Macheon, then transfer at Sin-gil into line 1 in direction of Seoul station.

Train travel from Seoul to Gyeongju consists of a high-speed ride on the brand new KTX (identical to the French TGV) from Seoul to Dongdaegu (1h50m), where you transfer into a local train to Gyeongju (1h10m~1h25m). Here is the train schedule for June 5:

The price is KRW 44,000 to 46,000. The light gray rows are direct trains. These are not KTX trains, and take considerably longer, but are slightly cheaper at about KRW 36,000.

The Korean Rail time table is also available on-line at english.barota.com (this website may only work with Internet Explorer). Press Inquiry/Reservation. Make sure to select Transfer, select Seoul and Gyeongju. You can only select a date less than two months in the future (but the time table changes very little over time). To make an actual reservation, you would have to become a member - but if you plan to travel on June 5 during the day, an advance reservation should not be necessary. You can buy tickets for your return trip from Gyeongju to Seoul in advance at any station (for instance before your departure in Seoul, or after your arrival in Gyeongju).

Your train ticket will look like this:

This example shows a ticket Seoul - Dongdaegu - Gyeongju for June 29, leaving Seoul at 7:15 on KTX 45, arriving in Dongdaegu at 9:03, leaving Dongdaegu again at 9:20 on train 1721, and arriving in Gyeongju at 10:46. It includes a reservation for seat 10C in car 6 of the KTX, and for seat 36 in car 2 of the local train (not all local trains actually have reservable seats).

In Dongdaegu, your local train to Gyeongju will normally leave from track 2 or 3. You can recognize it from a sign like this on the train (it seems that now all trains from Dongdaegu to Gyeongju have the final destination Bujeon, but Ulsan or Pohang might also be possible).

Bus travel to Gyeongju

There is a direct bus from Incheon airport to the Gyeongju bus terminal. The trip takes about five hours, costs about 30,000 KRW, but there are only four buses per day, at 08:00, 09:40, 19:30, and 21:30.

Alternatively, if you are already in Seoul, it is possible to take a bus at the Express Bus Terminal (on Subway line 3 and 7). Use subway exit no 1, go to Gyeongbu Express Bus Terminal, and take a bus to Gyeongju. The bus runs every 30~40 min from 06:00 to 18:30, takes 4h30m, and costs between KRW 17500 and KRW 28600, depending on the luxury of the bus. The express bus timetable is available here.

At the Gyeongju bus terminal, take a taxi or bus to the Hyundai hotel, see below.

In Gyeongju

If you arrive at Gyeongju bus station, or Gyeongju train station, you can either take a taxi to the Hyundai hotel (KRW 8,000, about 10-15 minutes), or take city bus no. 10 (22 minutes according to time table)

Bus no. 10 runs every 16 minutes from 6:00 to 21:55. The price is either KRW 1,500 (bus with seats only) or KRW 1,000 (bus with standing space). The bus starts at the bus terminal and passes the train station. Its final destination (shown on the bus) is Bulguksa, although the bus actually runs in a loop. It does not pass the Hyundai hotel on its way back from Bulguksa. To get to downtown Gyeongju from the Hyundai hotel, take city bus no. 11, which runs on the same route but in the opposite direction (counter-clockwise). Here is a map with the route of both buses.

There is also a free hotel shuttle bus from Gyeongju train station to the Hyundai hotel, but it operates only twice a day, leaving the information center in front of the station at 12:10 and 22:10. On June 5, the hotel will offer one additional service at 18:05.

Questions?

Contact us at socg at tclab.kaist.ac.kr if you have any questions concerning your trip to Gyeongju, or if you arrive in Korea by other means (for instance, if you fly to Daegu or take a boat to Busan).