Recommended Korea Tour package

[rockstarz]

Just booked a 8d trip to Korea + Jeju Island at Five Star Travel for 1.4k hope the price is decent ba

 

[dareaper]

not a bad price. it cost me abt a total of 1.6k for a 6.5d (exclusive of flight time) diy trip to seoul + jeju... and that's with the SIA promo of 700 tix to s. korea and cheapo accomodation... then again, it includes the cost of my tickets to nanta and breakout, and my shopping too

 

[rockstarz]

How is the shopping like there ? I guess the people there are pretty fashionable and how much did you bring for spending ?

 

[dareaper]

Hmm i didnt shop that much, probably abt 100,000 krw only. (I changed at about 920~951 krw to 1 sgd in korea). I brought 1000 sgd there, and changed at the airport there, used roughly about 900 sgd (air tix to jeju, accom, food, transport, pubbing, shopping, sightseeing, concerts). I totally ignored the international brands there, since shopping for those in usa would be much cheaper. I went for the small korean boutiques/shops found in the dongdaemun area, which is somewhat similar to queensway shopping center. A lot of the branded stuff (LV, hugo boss etc) there are fake, so i ignored them anyway. The good thing is that they are open from like 11am to 5am! So you can go around in the day sightseeing, and go shopping there at night! Though you need to take note that some of the shopping malls are close 1 day in the week, so need to plan in advance!

All the shopping malls in that area sell mostly the same stuff (doota, migliore, hello apm etc). Personally i prefer doota shopping mall the most, a T-shirt there probably cost 10,000 krw, a long sleeve shirt cost like 12,000 ~ 30,000 krw, and a blazer cost like 45,000 ~ 55,000 krw, all depending on how well you bargain. A lot of shops there sells long sleeve shirts and blazers, and some of the material used is quite good, and the cutting is quite trendy, quite worth it to buy though its "brandless". As always, try to walk around and ask about the average baseline prices for such items, best is if you can offer a price so low that the shop keeper totally give a black face and bo chup you, and slowly work your offers up at different shops, then you can hazard a guess about their actual baseline and usually cash will give you a better discount since they dont need to pay the credit card fees...

 

[rockstarz]

Hmmm Dongdaemun or Myeongdong , which one is a better place to shop at ? Also any solid food die die must try, less the live octopus

I heard Dongdaemum operating hour is long , how abt Nandaemun ? Lastly hos is the nightlife there , club / pub ?

 

[dareaper]

Hmmm Dongdaemun or Myeongdong , which one is a better place to shop at ? Also any solid food die die must try, less the live octopus

I heard Dongdaemum operating hour is long , how abt Nandaemun ? Lastly hos is the nightlife there , club / pub ?

myeongdong is mainly international brands boutiques or the lotte departmental stores... so nothing much to buy there for me... Solid food includes ginseng chicken broth (got a famous one in myeongdong), bulgogi (can find this everywhere, but the nicest one i ate was in insadong), and their bbq pork (cant remember the name)... nothing die die must try one lar, cos i am not big on food one

Nandaemun is more of a place to buy cheap ginseng, seaweed, cameras.. not really a place selling fashionable clothes... Nightlife is so so i guess, hongdae and sinchon is their night spot area. Quite a few pubs have live music, the one which i visited had really good singers.. though it aint crowded at all, abit lack of atmosphere even when its saturday night. I guess the temperature being below sub zero at night may deter some from going pubbing/clubbing when i was there. They have a club night every last friday of the month, which many clubs participate in, so you can buy a tix and have entry to 10+ clubs.. though i only went to 1 club on my trip, the entry was free as long as u can prove that u are a foreigner, drinks were pretty cheap, at abt 5~6000 krw for drinks like baileys...

 

[rockstarz]

k sound like i got the answer i want liao now just wait for my trip to come hehe

 

[luloos]

i went to natas, booked one tour with WTS travel. hoho 1.35k per pax, tax included and insurance also, for 4 person
8days trip with 2N jeju island and 2 nights seoul. all food included except for 2 meals
shopping at dongdaemon and shinchon fashion street ---> i heard that shinchon is the best shopping paradise, cheap and most fashionable. weets
then plus fruit farm trip, horse riding, jet boat riding, hot springs, glass castle, everland, mysterious road and teddy bear museum and TFS also.
nami island also included, kimchi making and lots more. i think its damn worth it =x

oh yeah its Korean air for all flights. is that considered cheap? cause we scouted loads of tour agencies, all of them are 1.45k and above w/o insurance yet, plus places they go are boring, all sight seeing. me and my friends are looking for more fun and shopping, which is also why we took up this package.

 

[rockstarz]

Hi luloos sound like u had a good deal mine trip sounds same as urs, some agency provide too much sightseeing hence we take up five star package which give us 3 days to shop one at Dongdaemun , another at shinchon also myeongdon, ur package sounds very good congrats when u flying ?

 

[luloos]

Hi luloos sound like u had a good deal mine trip sounds same as urs, some agency provide too much sightseeing hence we take up five star package which give us 3 days to shop one at Dongdaemun , another at shinchon also myeongdon, ur package sounds very good congrats when u flying ?

yeap we thought that its actually very good compared to the others we saw at the fair so we took this package and its about 100+ cheaper compared to others and the tour guides were really nice too.
flying in may 25th. how bout you?

 

[krisflyermiles]

Myeongdong area
Ginseng Chicken : Called Nutrition Centre, beside the 32cm ice-cream stall or just outside Savory hotel.

Bulgogi Brothers on the 2nd level. Just beside ABC dept store. Along the same side of Royal hotel. Lunch time, always full house.

 

[rudylili]

Did u guys check out the korean won exchange rate lately?
I regreted changing so early.
now the rate is S$1 - 1005won. (this the internet rate)
I guess can change about S$1 - 940won.

I change it at 920won.
I wonder if i should use credit card to pay when i shop at korea.
How does the bank charge?
I remember i went over to batam to pay for my food and shopping.
Bank did not charge high exchange rate as compare to the one off the counter.

 

[takengo2003]

yes, recently korean won has drop alot, remember last time i went few years back, the rate was $1 to 650 won. you can see how much the difference now.

I will say it is the best time to go korea now.

 

[rudylili]

Hey guys,

For those who have being there before, how's the shoes store over there? Is it as cheap as the ones in Queesnsway Shopping Centre? I am looking out for Nike, Adidas and Puma. I am scouting for those korea exclusive ones, not those common ones that can be found in Singapore.
Require to use discounting skills? or those shops are the flagship store type?
Where can i find them?

 

[dareaper]

go to dongdaemun will need to bargain alot. its somewhat like queensway. more discount if you use cash to pay rather than credit card.

go to myeongdong if you want those flagship boutique stores. still cheaper than sg given the weak krw.

 

[leogeo]

Korean wonm reaching an all time high of nearly 1000 won per dollar le!

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=SGDKRW=X&t=1y&l=on&z=m&q=l&c=

 

[rudylili]

go to dongdaemun will need to bargain alot. its somewhat like queensway. more discount if you use cash to pay rather than credit card.

go to myeongdong if you want those flagship boutique stores. still cheaper than sg given the weak krw.

Thanks dareaper for your prompt reply....

is dongdaemun store selling authentic shoes? If can bargain, how much lower can i bargain for?
Should i ask for a 50% discount at 1st call?

Can't wait to go and buy some nice shoes there....

 

[dareaper]

Thanks dareaper for your prompt reply....

is dongdaemun store selling authentic shoes? If can bargain, how much lower can i bargain for?
Should i ask for a 50% discount at 1st call?

Can't wait to go and buy some nice shoes there....

honestly i dont know if those are fake or not. Some do look pretty good... 50%? go straight for 80% as mentioned in an earlier post, go around to find out their baseline price by offering prices so low that the shopkeeper turns a super black face and bo chup you, then slowly work your offer up one stall by one stall... most shops sells about the same thing anyway, so dont worry about not being able to buy what you want at another store

 

[takengo2003]

definitely have to bargain, some of them can be firm in their price too.

 

[WQtRiggEr]

Hi luloos sound like u had a good deal mine trip sounds same as urs, some agency provide too much sightseeing hence we take up five star package which give us 3 days to shop one at Dongdaemun , another at shinchon also myeongdon, ur package sounds very good congrats when u flying ?

hello rockstarz your package sounds quite value for money as well, may i know when will your trip be? although i haven't booked yet, i'm interested in a trip perhaps in early to mid apr so as to catch the cherry blossom season (from what i know it's abit earlier this year)