Our favorite South Korea tours and excursions

Few countries allow you to experience their traditional culture even while fast asleep! Don’t miss the chance to stay the old-school Korean way, in one of its hanok guesthouses. 

Wooden, tile-roofed and intrinsically East Asian, courtyard homes known as hanok once covered the country, though they’re now vanishingly rare – the vast majority of Koreans now live in apartment blocks. Thankfully, a few hanok neighborhoods remain, including the Hanok Village in Jeonju, and Hahoe Village, near Andong. The good news for visitors is that all of them have plenty of hanok guesthouses, where you can savor the homely delights of a near-bygone era. This usually extends to sleeping on futon-style bedding (the floors are heated through winter) and eating traditional breakfasts. In Jeonju Hanok Village there’s the added bonus of having some of Korea’s best restaurants on your doorstep, while in Hahoe, you’ll wake up in the calm of the Korean countryside.

Korea has more Buddhist temples than you could count in several reincarnated lifetimes –staying at one offers the chance to experience a way of life virtually unchanged in centuries. 

Our temple stay takes place at one of Korea’s more unusual places of worship. Tucked within the forests and fields of the Gyeongsang countryside, Golgulsa is a real stunner, but bizarrely, the monks here mix meditation with martial arts. Don’t expect too many taekwondo kicks, though – sunmudo is a Zen-based martial art form quite in keeping with Buddhist practice. 

Temple stay programs tend to run to a strict schedule; experiencing the life of a monk, if only for a short while, is the whole point. On day one, you’ll don temple robes and get through some meditation and sunmudo practice before a vegetarian Buddhist dinner. It's early to bed, and early to rise; the next day starts at 5am! After some chanting, meditation and breakfast, there’s time for a tea ceremony and more sunmudo before checking out.

The Demilitarized Zone – or DMZ – is a four-kilometer-wide buffer zone between North and South Korea. There’s palpable tension in the air between these razor-wired borders; created by mutual agreement at the end of the Korean War in 1953, it was dubbed the “scariest place on Earth” by Bill Clinton. 

The DMZ stretches clean across the Korean peninsula, though its focal point is undoubtedly the Joint Security Area in Panmunjeom. Here, soldiers from North and South Korea eyeball each other at scarily close range; and if you’re in luck, you may have a chance to step across the border into one of the huts that the two sides use for negotiations. 

On our guided DMZ tours, you’ll also see a mountain observatory, where you can peer through binoculars at the “propaganda village” of Kijong-dong; and tunnels secretly made by North Korea, apparently for a surprise attack on Seoul. Got questions? Rest assured your guide will be able to fill you in on all things DMZ.

Most visitors to Korea come away raving about its food – but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t pinch a few of the nation’s culinary secrets and take them back home with you. All that this act of theft takes is a little tuition... 

Our Korean cooking classes take place in the dynamic city of Busan, famed for its beaches and hectic nightlife – and, of course, its fantastic culinary scene. With a plethora of regional specialties, a vast collection of traditional food markets and some of the best seafood in the country, there’s nowhere better to get “hands on” with Korean food culture.  

After your welcome drink and homemade Korean sauce tasting, experienced chefs will give you an in-depth lesson on how to create your own authentic Korean dishes using fresh, seasonal ingredients – with a side of local culture thrown in. Afterwards, you’ll get to try the fruits of your labor – and complimentary recipe cards are included, so you can use your new skills back home.

Just fifteen minutes by ferry from Jeju Island, Udo is Jeju’s “mini-me”: an extraordinarily picturesque islet where the fields are lined with walls of hand-stacked volcanic rock. Bicycles make a delightful way to get around, since there’s next to no traffic, bar the odd tractor. 

Your guide will be able to suggest places to cycle to, though the choice is yours. One fine target is Geommeolle beach, known for its black sand; from here you could leave your bike behind for a while, and take the short hike to Udo’s highest spot for a panoramic view of the surrounding turquoise waters. You’ll also be able to ride to some of the island’s many fishing villages – and perhaps sample some of the peanuts Udo is famed for, in ice cream and rice beer form! 

After taking the ferry back to Jeju, you’ll visit Sunrise Peak, a volcanic bluff formed by an underwater eruption 5,000 years ago. Its bowl-shaped crater is a truly spectacular sight –and from up here you’ll be able to wave Udo goodbye, too.