The worst time to visit Korea is Chinese New Year

Korea is highly regarded travel destination nowadays. The moment we sit down and start planning for a vacation travel to Korea, we will first think of when would be the best time to visit. Sadly being the fact that, constraints are always there to limit our choices. Even though we know which days or months are great to visit Korea (such as March for March for Spring flowers, October for Autumn colours or January for skiing), they will not always coincide with the days when we will be available. So we started to learn how to see things differently. We start persuading ourselves that any time would be great to explore Korea, and start widening our choice of traveling period, not to when is the best, but to avoid when is the worst time to visit Korea.

Whenever friends ask me for the best time to visit Korea, I will make their life easier and tell them the worst time to visit Korea instead. So when would be the worst time to visit Korea? It is definitely Chinese New Year! Any other time would be the best time to visit Korea. Why Did I say so? Please read on…

worst time to visit korea - Night crowd at Dongdaemun

One of my friends is still struggling with anxiety now. He still can’t secure public transport tickets to get him and his family from Busan to Seoul on first day of upcoming Chinese New Year. All flights and trains are fully booked for the first 3 days of CNY! In short, this has proven my verdict: The worst time to visit Korea is during Chinese New Year!

Here is the whole story.

My friend has planned for a vacation travel to Korea during the festive Chinese New Year holidays. He knew it would be Korean national holidays too. So he planned it long ago. He fixed his itinerary, including where and when to travel in Korea, and booked all his accommodations well in advance, more than 6 months ago. No issue here.

How about the public transportation from Busan to Seoul? He searched on the internet and found that air fares during Chinese New Year is extremely pricey, even so for budget airlines such as Busan Air or Eastar Jet. Fine. Then he opted for KTX, the bullet trains which connect the 2 cities in 2 hour journey. I personally prefer this option since there are trains departing every 15 minutes or so which is very frequent and we will have the chance to view Korean countrysides along the journey.

Unfortunately, online booking for KTX can only be made maximum one months in advance. And this is when the problems started.

He received an email from the hotel he booked 6 months ago in Busan (not to mention the name) that, the rooms he booked will undergo renovation during the CNY period and no longer available! Even worse, no other rooms can be offered in the same hotel as they are all booked out! Sh*t! When he searched for other hotels, all ideally located hotels are fully booked during that period!

And it is not the end of the story.

He knew that trains booking would be extremely hot for CNY period once online booking is open a month before departure. So he sat tight on his chair in front of his computer at midnight hoping that no further hiccups in KTX booking. But sh*t he said. All trains tickets sold out within minutes!! Can you believe that? I couldn’t when he told me. So I tried myself to look for flights or trains for him but to no avail too!

“Don’t give up just yet” I told him, “We still can book express bus. ”

So we searched and god blessed, there are still seats available for bus service! But hang on! We couldn’t book it online unless we are local Korean who is holding the local bank cards! OMG! I personally couldn’t believe this would happen to Korea!

So that’s the end of my story. Now he would hope for either booking through local agents or try their luck when only they are in Korea.

This is the situation you would possibly face if you plan a trip to Korea during Chinese New Year. I have been telling people that peak season in a country, though busy and crowded, could be a great time for visiting, to experience how local people celebrating. But this is not true for Korea. Public transports and hotels are all fully booked. You can’t even move around Korea. This will surely disrupt your travel plans.

Chinese New Year period during the beginning of the year is definitely the worst time to visit Korea. – Travel Feeder, your travel photo blog

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