Private Tours of Seoul and Korea

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Can be a Full-Day Tour, or 6 hours, or a half-day — any length you need.
The best sites of the historic downtown of Korea’s capital, 8-9 hours with an expert American-resident Professor

• This tour’s intention is to be a fascinating orientation & overview of Seoul “old & new”, with introduction to who the Koreans are, and the key points of their history and religions/customs. There is a standard itinerary for this tour, but it is completely flexible on the number and nature of the sites visited. On offer are the best sights of Seoul’s historic downtown area. It all depends on where I pick you up and drop you off, and just what you want to see and do. Alternate possibilities include Seoul’s best palaces, Buddhist temples, Christian churches, Shamanic or Taoist shrines, museums, historic buildings & traditional neighborhoods, restaurants & tea-shops, and so-on. I offer 2, 3 or 4-hour, 6-hour & 8/9-hour versions of this tour; you can choose (this below is the longest one). If you want something other than that, a custom-designed tour could be created to suit your desires. We can move faster or slower, as you wish.

• ITINERARY  (Full-day)
  This is my standard and very popular Itinerary for this 8~9 hour tour: it can be adjusted for individual preferences.
• Old & New City Hall, intro to the scale and feng-shui (geomancy) of old Hanyang
  Restored Cheonggye-cheon Stream
  
• Seoul Plaza historical monument sights
  
• Gyeongbok-gung Main Royal Palace
  Folklore & Shamanism artifacts at palace rear-exit — a great contrast to the palace.
  
• Great Korean Lunch?
  
  Bukchon Hanok Village
  A quick look at the traditional-houses alleyways, and visit inside one old mansion
  
• Jogye-sa Buddhist Temple (national headquarters) and Museum, and the TempleStay Center
  Visiting the national headquarters temple, with fascinating tales — and it has a museum and the TempleStay Center.
  
• Insa-dong traditional-culture street -- a very colorful historic area to walk through, check-out some alleyways — perhaps a bit of souvenir-shopping or herbal/green-tea-drinking if desired.
  
• Tap-gol Park
  Korea’s first “public park”, a really interesting place with shrines for the early-20th-century Independence Movement, very important to Koreans until today, and a big medieval pagoda!
  
• I will be telling colorful stories from academic sources all along the way, about pre-modern kings & heroes, and recent presidents and activists, and socio-cultural issues. You will learn so much, and in context!!

• Take this guided visit to Seoul’s largest and most important ancient Buddhist temple for spectacular scenery and observing some interesting traditional artworks.
• Doseon-sa was founded around 1100 years ago just beneath the three main peaks of Samgak-san, Seoul’s sacred & prominent guardian mountain (a National Park), by one of Korea’s greatest Buddhist masters. It has remained the most religiously important monastery of the Seoul area ever since; it is almost always crowded with sincere Buddhists.
• It has several unusual features that will be pointed out and explained to your group. There is a large ancient standing Buddha statue designated as a national Treasure, being worshiped around the clock. There are several unique shrines for great heroes of Buddhism and Korea’s modern development, and a huge complex stone memorial for a great 20th-Century master.
• I will thoroughly explain the history of this temple and its various buildings, shrines and monuments — and tell many colorful stories along the way!
  We can meet at the Sinseol-dong Metro Subway Station (Dark Blue Line #1) or anywhere else convenient. We will take a taxi up the steep road to the temple. I will show you around and explain everything!
• If you wish to experience it, we can eat a basic vegetarian Korean lunch at the temple cafeteria at lunchtime, or eat other Korean meals at one of the good restaurants in the neighborhood below.
• You should be prepared for any likely weather conditions, and should wear good walking-shoes. As this temple is built on a steep slope, halfway up craggy mountain, some brief climbing is necessary on cement stairways; but they do have two elevators, so almost anyone can do it pretty easily.

Shrines of Benevolent King Mountain:

Exploring Korean Shamanism in downtown Seoul

• Would you like to see some sites that are “truly Korean” and yet quite unusual? This tour is entirely “off the beaten path” but is also right on a corner of downtown Seoul. It includes Inwang-san [Benevolent King Mtn], Seoul’s center of Shamanic shrines and practice, and an interesting park with relics of the Joseon Dynasty’s royal Neo-Confucian heritage. These are rarely-seen yet fascinating sites overlooking the busy modern centers of financial and government power. Our walking-tour will conveniently meet and finish at Metro subway stations. As the shrines are built on a very steep slope, some uphill walking is necessary on cement stairways, roads and paths; but it’s worth it! This tour can meet on any day at any time at the Station, or I can pick you up at your hotel.
  I am a well-known expert on both Korean Buddhism and Korea’s folk-religion traditions, and will give a fascinating tour! You will learn a lot about both Confucian & Shamanic beliefs & practices, and see some amazing photo-perfect sights!
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  ITINERARY
  We meet at your hotel or the Gyeongbok-gung Metro Subway Station.
  I will show you around Sajik Park, including the Joseon-Dynasty Altars to the Earth and Harvest. Then we will visit the large modern shrine for Korea’s Founding-King Dangun just up behind the Park, and learn about his myth and its continuing modern significance.
  Then we will proceed to walk for about 20 minutes up to the “Benevolent King” temple/shrine complex of Inwang-san, the very rocky mountain just west of the Palace, which has been the most active site of Korean shamanism for thousands of years.
  We will see the mystic Seon-bawi rocks, the Guksa-dang National Spirit Shrine, several examples of active outdoor shamanic shrines, and stand on top of a giant boulder for one of the best views of Seoul there is. We just might see some live-action Shamanism happening right in front of us – or we may not, you never know! When finished, we walk back down a shorter way. 

 Lovely Forest Scenery, Temples, high-ridge Neighborhood with Views, monuments  and quirky Cafés!  

This is a lovely neighborhood of "Gangbuk" Seoul behind famous Mt. Bugak, with a wide variety of offerings, scenic and fascinating, but only a few "insiders" know about its very charming character.  

• We will start at the "Sword-Washing Pavilion", then climb the ridge to a colorful little Buddhist temple fronted by the Buam Waterfall, and then walk through the beautiful hilltop  forested parklands, admiring the ruins of an 18th-century noble-scholar's retreat-house and it's carved-stone monument.  
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• Leaving into a tony ridgetop neighborhood, we'll visit another charming Buddhist temple (quite different from the former) with a designated-treasure Mountain-Spirit painting.  Then we'll walk out on the high ridge, to enjoy the stunning views! 
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• We will pass several charming cafes, and visit the most evocative decorated one, famous from a couple of Korean TV dramas. Finally we will descend into the best known urban area of Buam-dong and be introduced to its unique cafes and art-museums. We will end at the historic North Gate of the Seoul City Wall, now a popular trailhead; we may then eat lunch together in a great chicken restaurant if you wish; and from there we can catch several forms of transportation to your hotel or wherever you need to get next.

 Spectacular Jingwan-sa & Samcheon-sa Temples -- Tour with expert professor Mason 

• This is a private guided tour to some of Seoul's best spiritual sites with grand mountain beauty, extremely photogenic.  Two great historic Buddhist temples, quite different from each-other.  Your guide is a top expert on all these places.  We will begin at the beautiful Hanok Village (modernized traditional Korean houses) with the western Samgak-san peaks soaring behind-above, a great view in-itself.  
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• Then we stroll on in to Jingwan-sa, a stately open-square courtyard compound patronized by a king a thousand years ago, then important in the 1919 Independence Movement -- now staffed by welcoming nuns (female monks) who love green tea ceremony and traditional worship-festivals.  Then we will have a nice 30-minute walk on the lovely Dulle-gil Forest trail, past gardens & groves. We will stop for a quick haemul-pajeon [seafood-pancake] (or other foods) lunch in an utterly charming old-style restaurant overlooking the gushing stream of a rocky gorge (each pays their own, according to order). 
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• Then as finale we will tour the spectacular Samcheon-sa monastery deep in a steep mountain-gorge, with amazing views featuring a 1000-year-old Buddha-carving, great holy pagodas and the grandest Mountain-spirit Shrine in the entire Seoul area.  Then, we take a taxi back to civilization...
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• All through this, colorful stories of old Korean culture will be told! 

•  This is a very picturesque, historic and relatively quiet neighborhood just on the western side of downtown Seoul, but often overlooked by residents and visitors.  Jeong-dong is filled with architectural treasures exemplifying the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, as Korea's Joseon Dynasty (then temporarily called the Great Han Empire) came crashing down under pressures from foreign imperial powers. I will tell many poignant stories from that era.  
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• Included will be the Seoul Anglican Cathedral, old Salvation Army Head-quarters, entrances of the British and American Ambassador's Residences, Old Courthouse, PaiChai Boy's School, the old First Methodist Church, Simpson Hall of Korea's first high school for girls, the historic Jungmyeong Diplomatic Hall and the former Russian Legation Tower -- along with the small museums contained in many of those!  
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• If you are interested in the history and great architecture of the 1880s~1920s era, this tour will fascinate you. . . 

 Gyeongju is Korea’s BEST place to visit – that is, if you don’t mind listening to heroic spiritual myths & legends from the ancient times, right at the sites where they happened, viewing the relic-treasures there! This small city hosts FOUR different UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites, which is a remarkable wealth of those on the global scale. The most spectacular such relics are Buddhist and from Korea’s ancient period (4th through 9thcen.) when civilization was just getting going on this peninsula, but Gyeongju also boasts three important sites reflecting the best of the Neo-Confucian Joseon era (15th through 19th cen.). This tour is your greatest opportunity to experience Gyeongju’s best places in a deep way; and also eat the very best meal of its celebrated traditional cuisine, guided by a professional academic expert on Korean cultural history, who speaks native American English (and who lived there for 3 years). This is accomplished by doing a roundtrip on Korea’s KTX bullet train, leaving Seoul early in the morning and returning in the early evening – extremely efficient! 

•  The train takes about 130 minutes, and you can eat a light breakfast on the way down if you wish.
• Catching a taxi from Gyeongju Station, we will begin at Korea’s very first World Cultural Heritage Site, the amazing combination of Bulguk-sa [Buddha Nation Temple] at the foot of the eastern mountain and Seokgul-am [Stone Grotto Hermitage] near its lofty summit. They offer viewing of seven of the world’s best ancient Buddhist artworks, all National Treasures, in the peaceful contexts of their perfectly-restored compounds. There is a long, exciting legend of why and how these were built, and your guide will tell that along with fully explaining their profound significance.
• Surely hungry after those 3-4 hours, we should have lunch at the Bulguk-sa international-quality restaurant complex. Your guide will recommend having the Gyeongju specialty Bulgogi-beoset Jeonggol [shredded & marinated prime beef in a stew with several types of mushrooms and some other veggies], with plenty of Korean side-dishes such as kimchi. For those who wish to avoid red meats, we could instead enjoy a Sanchae Jeongshik [full table of mountain-vegetables, some wild, with a roasted fish & etc]. Any desired drinks may be quaffed.
• After lunch we’ll head back towards downtown Gyeongju. Depending on how much time remains to us, and traveler’s personal interests, we will tour some other key sites such as Bunhwang-sa Temple with Hwangryong-saji, the National Museum, Cheomseong-dae Astrological Tower, the Great Royal Tombs Park with Heavenly-Horse Tomb, and the Gyo-dong Neo-Confucian root-home of the famous Choi Clan with dignified old hanok architecture of the nobility, (all these are parts of the “Shilla Historic Areas” UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site). Each of these has a colorful myth/legend/history to it, and your guide will recount each in entertaining ways…
• Having become immersed in the best tourism city of Korea (some will say Seoul, but this is debatable!), we will taxi back to the Station, picking up along the way some of Gyeongju’s famous unique barely-bread for a snack on the way home. Then we’ll ride the bullet-train back to Seoul, arriving whenever you wish (according to the plan we make in-advance).
• Please note that this tour can be customized to suit particular food needs or desires – but always still with the same traditional Korean atmospheric cultural experiences!
• Please note that this tour often requires some advance notice in order to buy the train tickets – especially on weekends they can be sold-out as much as three weeks in advance; the guide will do his best to get the tickets we

 Suggested pricing: US$500 or 740,000 KRW for the first person (includes 1st-class KTX tickets, all taxis and the lunch), and then $180 or 260,000 KRW for each additional person, up to 7 possible. This tour could begin anytime from 06:00 AM until 9:00 AM – estimated return to Seoul 19:30 but could be sooner or later if the clients want.  

 Please note that my one-day Gyeongju Tour can easily be expanded into two or three days, staying the night in a charming Hanok guesthouse, a basic motel or a nice hotel after enjoying some of the city’s evening delights, then seeing more great places on the next day – highly recommended by Professor Mason are these:

• 1) Nam-san, Gyeongju’s legendary “South Mountain”, a very craggy complex of peaks and ridges covered in dense forests of beautiful Red Pines, containing nearly a hundred historic religious sites featuring a wide array of excellent ancient stone-carvings, each with a myth or legend attached. Primary sites we could visit include the Gamshil Buddha, Tap-gol Carvings, Bori-sa Buddha, Namsan Village ‘Twin’ Pagodas, Chilbul-am [7 Buddhas Hermitage], Tongil-jeon Unification Hall, Seochul-ji Mystic Pond, Samneung Valley, Sambul-sa  [Three Buddhas Temple], Poseok-jeong Garden, Yongjang-sa Ridgetop Ruins, and Sangseon-am [Upper Immortal Hermitage] carvings. 
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• 2) The two Neo-Confucian UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites in the far north of the city: the Oksan Seowon (15th Century Academy) and the still-inhabited 600-year-old Yangdong Aristocratic Village, both excellently preserved and fully hospitable. 
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Just inquire about the extra expenses necessary for either of these extended options.

This is a unique opportunity to visit colorful and weird Korean Shamanic Shrines and witness their practices, take great photos;     no other guide offers such tours in English! 

• Starting early in the morning from a Seoul train station, we'll ride the bullet-train south for an hour to historic Gongju city, and a scared mountain that was one of the nation's first national parks, with the highest of reputations as a spiritual center.  We will visit about ten Shamanic Shrines, old & new, in the foothills of Gyeryong-san National Park, one of Korea's most sacred areas.  As the shadows grow long we'll be taken back to the train to get back to Seoul at 18:30 with our hundreds of rare photos. Our guide is a renowned expert on these matters, and will explain all we see.  We might encounter some shamans at work, and witness their amazing rituals -- you never know, it's up to chance (perhaps as willed by the spirits?)
• We will begin with two old shrines in a dramatically-sited deep, narrow stream-gorge, featuring a large waterfall gushing between boulders upon which a half-dozen Shamanic altars stand. The waterfall is believed to be home to the “Golden Dragon Spirit”, and there is a Daoist hall in front of it enshrining that theme, and a great Mountain-spirit Shrine across from that.
• 2nd will be the 250-year-old Royal Mountain-spirit Shrine that still venerates the "Central Peak of the Kingdom", remarkably authentic and the only remaining one. It's just behind the grand historic Spirit Garden Temple, and we'll be guided through its best features; then we'll get a great country-style lunch nearby.
• Then we'll stroll thru superb views of the holy mountain, and on up the road. The modern Shamanic Shrines are very dense there, and we will just walk from one to the next, our guide showing the best ones, with unique arrangements according to the natural landscapes and an incredible variety of colorful artworks of all the deities!
• It's one long day, from about 6:30am leaving Seoul, and back to the Seoul station about 18:30 or 19:00.  Brown-bag breakfast can be eaten on the 1-hour train-down; pre-dinner snacks on the train back north.  KTX high-speed train, and taxis to the initial site;  walking after

 On the fresh-new "Great King Jeongjo Tour" you will experience the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Sites associated with him (r. 1776-1800) -- the spectacular Hwaseong Fortress, it's Haeng-gung Palace, Jeongjo's Statue, then Jeongjo's Tomb and its caretaker the fantastic Yongju-sa or Dragon-Pearl Temple. You will also enjoy hearing colorful stories about him and the people important to his story and all Korean History -- Great King Yeongjo, the tragic RiceBox Prince, his mother (Korea's first female author!), the genius "Dasan" Jeong Yak-yong and the great artist "Danwon" Kim Hong-do.
Starting from Seoul, we will meet in the lobby of your hotel or in Seoul Train Station at 9 or 10am, and board a KTX bullet-train (tickets will be bought in-advance). 30 minutes later we'll get taxis to the NE Gate of the Castle, where we will begin hiking on top of the wall, visiting its pavilions and learning its stories, including the reason for its construction according to the ingenious design of "Dasan" Jeong Yak-yong.

We will appreciate the huge bronze statue of Jeongjo, and then we'll visit the expertly-restored Palace, with more stories and details explained. After a break for snacks & drinks, we'll ride a bus over to the Royal Tombs of Jeongjo and his Parents, another UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site.

Finally, we will visit the amazing Yongju-sa [Dragon-Pearl Temple], capital of all Buddhist sites in southern Gyeonggi Province, and our guide will show and explain its unique artworks, including two National Treasure paintings by Joseon's most famous artist "Danwon" Kim Hong-do. After that we speed back to Suwon Station to catch our transportation back home before dinnertime!  

NOTE that rather than the Royal Tombs & temple, we could *instead* visit the Korean Folk Village, not too far away.  Just let me know if you favor this option -- price stays the same.

 Jeonju is one of Korea’s most fascinating and picturesque cities, as the well-preserved hometown of “Taejo” Yi Seong-gye the “Grand Founder” of the Joseon Dynasty and so with many important historic sites centered around the famous Hanok Village – a big neighborhood of traditional Korean wooden buildings, which has become a very hip tourist attraction. This tour is a great opportunity for you to experience the best sites of Jeonju, and eat the very best meal of its celebrated traditional cuisine, guided by a professional academic expert on Korean cultural history, in native American English.  

This is accomplished by doing a roundtrip on Korea’s KTX bullet train, leaving Seoul early in the morning and returning in the early evening – extremely efficient!  The train takes about 90 minutes, and you can eat a light breakfast on the way.

Taxiing from the Station, we will begin at the Hanbyeok-dangru, a very charming traditional pavilion built in 1404 overlooking the river from a rocky cliff, where venerable scholars gathered to enjoy discussions and entertainment for five centuries.  It’s a short walk from there down to Jeonju Hyanggyo, the very important Neo-Confucian private academy where the best scholars were trained, a grand Hanok school-complex with several original buildings surrounded by huge ginkgo trees.  From there we stroll over and up to the Omok-dae hilltop lookout to get great views over the famous Hanok Village and see a stone monument for Taejo himself.  With your guide explaining everything, these are all perfect opening places to get excellent photos and slip into the mood of historic Jeonju.

We then visit the Jeondong Cathedral, the historic, beautiful Romanesque structure in the heart of Jeonju City, finished in 1914 and providing a stark contrast to the old Joseon architecture all-around, captivating in its complex soaring design and statues of Korean Catholic martyrs; your guide will explain its importance in religious history.  Right across the street we pass through the grand gate and walk through the Gyeonggi-jeon Shrine with Royal Portrait Museum.  This large and celebrated complex erected  in 1410 features lovely grounds shaded by numerous old trees and fascinating history exhibits.  You may feel as if you are immersed in one of the great historical Korean movies or TV-dramas…

By then we will be very hungry for lunch, and enjoy a well-deserved stop at the Hanguk-jip [a.k.a. Hankookjib, meaning simply Korean House], the oldest bibim-bap restaurant in Jeonju.  Bibim-bap is one of the most popular dishes of Korean cuisine, premium rice mixed with fresh vegetables, a fried egg, small slices of marinated premium Korean beef, sesame seeds and oil, and savory spices – served with sumptuous side-dishes!  This restaurant opened in 1952 during the Korean war, and has been run by three generations of a family devoted to its own delicious home-made sauces and the very best ingredients – earning it the highest reputation and official designation by both the South Korean government and the Michelin Guide.

Happily sated, we will then stroll all-through the Jeonju Hanok Village, getting ‘instagramable’ views of the traditional houses in their narrow alleyways, and visiting some of the many interesting quirky places there, such as art exhibits, cultural presentations, a hanja [traditional mulberry paper] studio, and charming themed cafes.  When our time runs out, we will taxi back to the main station and ride the bullet-train back to Seoul, arriving whenever you wish.

Please note that this tour can be customized to suit particular food needs or desires.  It can be changed to be higher-protein / lower-carbs by changing to more meat and tofu dishes, and can be done as a vegetarian or even vegan meal if that is needed – but always still with the same traditional Korean atmospheric cultural experiences!

Please note that this tour often requires some advance notice in order to buy the train tickets – especially on weekends they can be sold-out as much as three weeks in advance; the guide will do his best to get the tickets we need.

Please note that this tour can easily be expanded into two days, staying the night in one of the charming Hanok guest houses in the village after enjoying some of the evening delights there, then seeing more great places on the second day – personally highly recommended by Professor Mason is the Moak-san National Park just outside of the city, featuring Geumsan-sa the Golden Mountain Monastery, one of the top-seven Buddhist Temples in the entire nation, and several other really interesting sites that foreign visitors rarely get to see, but will always remember.  A day trip to the famous Tap-sa Pagoda Temple posting 108 dramatic stone towers at the amazing-shaped Horse-Ears Mountain Provincial Park could also be easily accomplished.  Just inquire about the extra expenses necessary for either of these extended options.

Suggested pricing:  US$400 or 600,000 KRW for the first person (includes KTX tickets and the lunch), and then $150 or 220,000 KRW for each additional person, up to 7 possible.  This tour could begin anytime from 06:00 AM until 9:00 AM – estimated return to Seoul 19:30 but could be sooner or later if the clients want.

  Way over on the rocky east coast, yet now easy to access via bullet-train, Gangneung is one of Korea’s most photo-worthy and fascinating cities, the cultural center of Korea’s East Coast. It remained virtually unknown to global travelers until it co-hosted the Winter Olympics in 2018. Some aspects of it have gained fame with Instagram “influencer” hipsters since then, but the main attractions continue to be the classic yet off-the beaten-path sites of cultural history with their stunning scenery and authentic old Hanok buildings of traditional Korean architecture.  This tour is a great opportunity for you to deeply experience Gangneung’s best sites, and eat the very best meal of its celebrated traditional cuisine, guided by a professional academic expert   on Korean cultural history, who speaks native American English. 

This is accomplished by doing a roundtrip on Korea’s KTX bullet train, leaving Seoul early in the morning and returning in the early evening – extremely efficient! The train takes about 90 minutes, and you can eat a light breakfast on the way.

Riding a taxi from the Station, we will begin at the fashionable “Anmok Beach Coffee Street”, visiting the original gourmet coffeehouse created by the old master who sparked Korea’s modern premium-handmade coffee craze (those who don’t drink coffee can get a variety of herbal teas to sip as we view the seaside).  

Then we’ll drop-by the Exhibition Hall showing the fascinating rituals, aspects and treasures of the famous Dano-je Festival, an annual event around early June that preserves Korean Shamanic, Daoist, Buddhist and Folklore traditions better than any other event in the nation (it’s designated as a UNESCO Intangible World Cultural Treasure!). 

After that we will be hungry for lunch, and so will enjoy a well-deserved feast of characteristic Gangneung dishes – soft tofu stew, lightly spiced fresh clams & other shellfish/seafood, and savory buckwheat or potato pancakes, with kimchi of-course! – in the village dedicated to cuisine.

Satisfied in our bellies, we will proceed to feed our minds. We’ll catch a taxi to the Ojuk-heon [Black Bamboo Pavilion] shrine, hanok houses and museums that are dedicated to one of Korea’s best-loved philosophers and his mother. Here is preserved the very room built around 1500 CE where Mrs. Shin Saim-dang gave birth to leading Neo-Confucian philosopher “Yulgok” Yi I (the two heroes featured on Korea’s 5,000 Won and 50,000 Won bills!) and now preserves their relics and cele-brates their remarkable accomplish-ments. Your guide will clearly explain Neo-Confucianism and the extremely important role it played in Joseon Dynasty society, with these two as leading figures. You will love the simple and dignified old hanok architecture and the museum of the mother’s artworks (Shin was a great painter & calligrapher).

Then we will visit the nearby Seongyo-jang, one of the only remaining authentic aristocratic mansions in the nation. Wandering through the gardens, halls and courtyards with your guide’s careful explanations of that lifestyle, you might feel as if you are immersed in one of the great historical Korean Dramas… 

Leaving there, just up on the ridge behind it is the famous Gyeongpo-dae Pavilion, subject of many poems and paintings, that overlooks lovely Gyeongpo Lake, South Korea’s only natural one, right near the coast. Coming down, we will stroll along the north shore of that lake past several authentic Neo-Confucian pavilions hundreds of years old, enjoying the scenery as the seabirds roost on the rocky islets. Finally, we’ll walk onto a sandy beach lined with magnificent pine-trees, enjoying the views as the waves roll-in and the sun sinks. 

Having gotten immersed in the best of the greatest city of northeastern Korea, we will taxi back to the main station and ride the bullet-train back to Seoul, arriving whenever you wish.

Please note that this tour can be customized to suit particular food needs or desires. It can be changed from the fairly higher-protein/ lower-carbs meals of seafood and tofu dishes to no-fish-more-meat; or can be done as a vegetarian or even vegan meal if that is needed – but always still with the same traditional Korean atmospheric cultural experiences!

Please note that this tour often requires some advance notice in order to buy the train tickets – especially on weekends they can be sold-out as much as three weeks in advance; the guide will do his best to get the tickets we need.

Please note that this tour can easily be expanded into two days, staying the night in a charming Hanok guesthouse, a basic motel or a nice hotel after enjoying some of the city’s evening delights, then seeing more great places on the second day –highly recommended by Professor Mason are these:

1) Naksan-sa [Mt. Potalaka Temple] is an ancient sacred site founded by Master Uisang as a pilgrimage destination in the late 600s. It is located right on the coastal cliffs, offers stunning views of the seascape with waves crashing on the huge rocks below. It is dedicated to enshrinement and veneration of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, and features a large stone statue and other shrines for him. The complex includes Hongryeon-am[Red-Lotus Hermitage], an extremely picturesque shrine built right over a sea-cave that is devoted to that bodhisattva and the Dragon-King. It also includes a pavilion that serves as a meditation platform overlooking the ocean associated with Master Uisang and the myth/legend of how he founded Naksan-sa.

2) Odae-san [Five Platforms Mountains], one of Korea’s greatest national parks, just outside of the city. It offers a vast sacred area of dense forests and tumbling streams, encompassing five great mountains in a circle. It features two great temples founded in the early 600s, Woljeong-sa and Sangwon-sa, dedicated to the Bodhisattva of Wisdom.

3)  Strolling along the coastal Jeongdong Shimgok Badabuchae Trail, a new attraction of walkways and bridges offering stunning views of big waves crashing against craggy cliffs dotted with twisted old pine-trees.

Just inquire about the extra expenses necessary for either of these extended options.

Suggested pricing: US$400 or 600,000 KRW for the first person (includes KTX tickets and the lunch), and then $150 or 220,000 KRW for each additional person, up to 7 possible. This tour could begin anytime from 06:00 AM until 9:00 AM – estimated return to Seoul 19:30 but could be sooner or later if the clients want.