Cost of Visiting South Korea
What a day really costs in South Korea, and how to spend less
South Korea is a moderate-cost country with cheap everyday pleasures. A bowl of stew with its free side dishes costs ₩8,000–12,000, a subway ride ₩1,550 and a palace ticket ₩3,000. The bill is driven by where you sleep. Of the five countries we price the same way, Korea is joint-cheapest for a careful traveller, level with Hong Kong, and close to the cheapest at a comfortable level.
- Careful: ₩89,000–125,000 a day (about £50–71 / $66–93).
- Comfortable: ₩190,000–253,000 a day (about £107–143 / $142–189).
- Indulgent: ₩392,000–516,000 a day (about £222–292 / $293–385).
How this page was madeWe have not yet been to South Korea. Every figure here comes from the sources named beneath each table and from our own sample of room prices. When we go, we will say so here.
Last updated 20 October 2026
A realistic daily budget
The table is the budget. Each money column adds to the daily total, and the prices further down the page show where every figure comes from.
| Style | Accommodation | Food and drink | Getting around | Paid experiences | Daily total | What this looks like |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Careful | ₩45,000–75,000 | ₩41,000 | ₩3,000–6,000 | ₩0–3,000 | ₩89,000–125,000 | A hostel dorm bed, two cheap restaurant meals and a quick lunch, a coffee, the subway, a palace every other day |
| Comfortable | ₩105,000–165,000 | ₩74,000 | ₩8,000–11,000 | ₩3,000 | ₩190,000–253,000 | Half a mid-range hotel double, a cheap lunch and a mid-range dinner, coffees and a beer, the subway and the odd taxi, a paid sight a day |
| Indulgent | ₩180,000–280,000 | ₩184,000–205,000 | ₩22,000–25,000 | ₩6,000 | ₩392,000–516,000 | Half a four- or five-star double (more at the top hotels), a tasting-menu dinner on three nights in ten, averaged across the days, more taxis, two paid sights a day |
Travelling alone costs more only where a room is shared. A dorm bed is already one person’s price, so Careful barely moves. At Comfortable you pay the whole room, which adds ₩105,000–165,000 a day and puts the day at about ₩295,000–418,000.
How South Korea compares
The same basket, priced the same way, gives each country’s typical day at each style. Korea and Hong Kong are the cheapest of the five for a careful traveller, a dollar apart, and only New Zealand comes out lower at Comfortable.
| Country | Careful | Comfortable | Indulgent |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Korea (Seoul) | £61 / $80 | £125 / $166 | £286 / $378 |
| Hong Kong | £61 / $81 | £139 / $183 | £336 / $443 |
| Japan (Tokyo) | £67 / $89 | £159 / $210 | £330 / $435 |
| New Zealand (Auckland) | £69 / $91 | £122 / $162 | £193 / $254 |
| Australia (Sydney) | £94 / $124 | £163 / $215 | £304 / $402 |
What children cost
Children's fares on Seoul's buses were not published in any source we could reach; the subway figures are the safe guide.
Build your own estimate
Choose where you sleep, how you eat and how you get around, and the builder prices your day and your whole trip from the same basket as the table above. It also prices the same choices in the other countries we cover.
The cost builder needs JavaScript to run.
What things actually cost
Four questions a visitor asks, each answered with real prices. They are the evidence behind the budget, not a second route to it.
A day’s eating and drinking
| Item | Price | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Convenience-store meal | ₩3,000–6,000 | Gimbap, a rice bowl or ramyeon, eaten in-store |
| Street snack | ₩3,000–5,000 | Tteokbokki or gimbap from a market stall |
| Bibimbap or a stew set | ₩8,000–12,000 | Rice and side dishes included |
| Meal in an inexpensive restaurant | ₩12,000 | Numbeo’s Seoul average |
| Korean barbecue | ₩15,000–25,000 | Per person; usually ordered for two or more |
| Mid-range dinner, three courses | ₩45,000 | Per person, Numbeo’s Seoul average |
| Cappuccino | about ₩5,500 | Café culture is serious, and coffee is not cheap |
| Draught beer in a bar | ₩5,000 | Per pint, Numbeo’s Seoul average |
| Beer or soju from a shop | about ₩3,100 / ₩1,900 | Half a litre of beer; a bottle of soju |
Getting around
| Item | Price | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Subway ride with a transit card | ₩1,550 | ₩1,650 on a single-use ticket |
| A day of city travel | ₩3,000–6,000 | Two to four rides, with free transfers |
| Taxi flagfall, Seoul | ₩4,800 | Covers the first 1.6 km |
| Airport train to Seoul Station, all-stop | ₩4,150–4,750 | From Terminal 1 or Terminal 2 |
| Airport express train | check the operator | Published fares disagree: ₩11,000 and ₩13,000 |
| KTX Seoul to Busan | ₩59,800 | Standard class, one way; varies with the stops |
| Blank transit card | ₩2,500–4,000 | T-money, before you top it up |
The big days
| Item | Price | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Gyeongbokgung Palace | ₩3,000 | Free in hanbok, for 18s and under, and on the last Wednesday of the month |
| Royal Palace Pass | ₩6,000 | Four palaces and Jongmyo Shrine; not the Secret Garden |
| National Museum of Korea | Free | Permanent galleries |
| N Seoul Tower observatory | ₩29,000 | ₩23,000 for children aged 3–12 |
| DMZ day tour, booked | ₩50,000–120,000 | The price rises with the sites included |
| Temple stay, one night | ₩70,000–100,000 | Meals and programme included |
| Jjimjilbang (bathhouse) | ₩10,000–20,000 | About 12 hours; some let you sleep over |
Charges and odds and ends
| Item | Price | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| K-ETA travel authorisation | ₩10,000 | UK, US and 20 other nationalities exempt until 31 December 2026 |
| eSIM or tourist SIM | ₩10,000–35,000 | One to two weeks of data |
| Coin locker | ₩2,000–4,000 | A day, at major stations |
| Tax refund on shopping | refunded on the spot | In participating shops, on purchases up to ₩1,000,000 each and ₩5,000,000 a trip |
How to spend less
Most of a Korean budget is fixed by four choices. Make those well and the small savings matter less.
| Decision | What it does to the total | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Where you sleep | The largest line: half a mid-range double is about twice a dorm bed | Mix the two: guesthouses most nights, a good hotel for a treat |
| Travelling alone | Adds ₩105,000–165,000 a day at Comfortable | Share a room, or use guesthouses with single rooms |
| Season and holidays | Seollal and Chuseok fill trains and lift room prices | Book early or avoid them; 2027 dates below |
| How many bases | Each KTX Seoul–Busan run is ₩59,800 | Fewer, longer stays cost less than a chain of one-nighters |
| The big days | A DMZ tour is ₩50,000–120,000; a tasting menu ₩350,000 or more | Choose the one or two that matter most |
| Before you go | Insurance, and ₩10,000 for a K-ETA where required | Price both before you book anything else |
Sleep
- A guesthouse room instead of a mid-range hotel saves about ₩50,000–80,000 per person a night when two share (₩105,000–175,000 a room against ₩210,000–330,000).
- A bathhouse for one night in transit. A jjimjilbang overnight costs about ₩10,000–22,000; see our jjimjilbang guide before you try it.
Eat and drink
- Lunch from a convenience store or market stall (₩3,000–6,000) instead of a restaurant meal (₩12,000) saves ₩6,000–9,000 a day.
- Drink from the shop. A beer is about ₩3,100 against ₩5,000 in a bar, and a bottle of soju ₩1,900.
- Eat the side dishes. They come with every meal and are refilled free, so one main dish each is enough.
Get around
- Use a transit card, not single tickets: ₩100 less a ride, and transfers between bus and subway within the time limit are free.
- Take the all-stop airport train (₩4,150–4,750) rather than the express or a taxi.
- Buy KTX tickets for the trains you need before a rail pass; our getting around guide sets out when the pass pays.
See and do
- Go on the last Wednesday of the month, when palace entry is free. Entry is free in hanbok too, but renting one costs more than the ₩3,000 it saves, so do that for the photographs, not the ticket.
- Buy the Royal Palace Pass (₩6,000) if you will visit three or more of the palaces and Jongmyo.
Korea runs on cards, and most shops and restaurants take foreign ones, but transit cards are topped up with cash at the station machines. Carry ₩20,000–30,000 in notes and top up before the card runs low.
What is free
- The Gyeongbokgung guard-changing ceremony at the main gate.
- The National Museum of Korea’s permanent galleries.
- Walking the lanes of Bukchon Hanok Village.
- The Cheonggyecheon stream walk through the centre of Seoul.
- The riverside parks along the Han.
- Walking up Namsan instead of taking the cable car; the tower itself is not free.
Build your trip total
Add the parts in this order: what you pay before you go + the daily cost × the days + shared costs divided by the number of you + the booked big days + a contingency. The daily figure already includes your room and city transport, so do not add them again. Count the airport train and each KTX journey once, and treat arrival and departure days as full days.
| Item | Per person | How we reached it |
|---|---|---|
| Before you go | insurance: your quote | Price it before you book; it is not a contingency. K-ETA ₩0 for UK and US travellers in 2026 |
| 10 days on the ground | ₩2,215,000 | ₩221,500 a day, the middle of the Comfortable range, × 10 |
| Airport train, both ways | ₩9,500 | All-stop from Terminal 2, ₩4,750 × 2 |
| KTX Seoul–Busan and back | ₩119,600 | ₩59,800 × 2 |
| One DMZ tour | ₩85,000 | The middle of ₩50,000–120,000 |
| Contingency, 10% | ₩243,000 | On everything above that is not yet booked |
| Trip total | ₩2,672,100 | About £1,512 / $1,996, before flights and insurance |
Before you book, check these six things:
- Replace the modelled room and train prices with live quotes for your dates.
- Add the big days you actually plan to book.
- Price travel insurance, which is a cost before you go.
- Check that taxes and booking fees are included in the room price you see.
- Convert at a dated rate, and allow for your card’s foreign-exchange fee.
- Keep a contingency in proportion to what is still unbooked.
What not to cut: the trip’s main draw, travel insurance, safe transport after dark and whatever the entry rules require.
What changes next year
- The K-ETA exemption ends on 31 December 2026 unless it is extended. The K-ETA site lists a notice about extending it, which we could not read in full. Check k-eta.go.kr before you book for 2027; the fee is ₩10,000.
- Palace admission was due to rise on 1 January 2027, and in October 2026 the rise was reported to be on hold. No new price has been published, so the ₩3,000 above stands for now.
- The 2027 holidays: Seollal falls on 6–9 February and Chuseok on 14–16 September. Trains and rooms are hardest to find either side of both.
How we priced this pageWe price the same basket of 25 items, defined the same way, in every country we cover, and for South Korea that means Seoul. Meals, drinks and single fares come from Numbeo; other fares and admissions from the operators’ own pages where we could reach them and from dated published guides where we could not, as each source line says; rooms from our own sample of real hotels, made year-round with trivago’s forecast. The basket was checked on 7–8 October 2026 and the fares and admissions again on 20 October. The figures are a model for planning and comparison, not a quote. How we work out costs
A final word on what South Korea costs
Korea rewards the careful traveller more than most. The things that make a day here — a market lunch, a palace, a ride across Seoul — cost little, so the money goes where you choose to spend it: a better room, a long dinner, a train to the coast.
Andrew + Margaret
- Visiting South Korea Overview
- Accommodation in Korea Decide
- Getting around South Korea Practical
- Best time to visit South Korea Decide
- Entry requirements Practical
- Money, customs and tax refunds Practical
- South Korea itineraries Journeys
- K-ETA — official application and exemptions Official
- VisitKorea — Korea Tourism Organization Official
- Korail — KTX timetables and fares Booking
- Numbeo — Seoul prices Practical
Is South Korea expensive?
Not for everyday things. Food, transport and sights are cheaper than in London or New York; rooms in Seoul are the cost that adds up.
How much cash do I need?
Little. Cards work almost everywhere, but carry ₩20,000–30,000 in notes for transit-card top-ups and market stalls.