Travelling on budget: How much I spent on my trip to Seoul, South Korea

Nearly 9 years ago, my best friend and I had been discussing about “going out of our nest” since we were in high school, and when we were able to do so just last year, we wanted our experience to be satisfying and less stressful while managing our budget. Being students, travelling can be a little bit worrying if it’s your first time being independent out of your own country, so we managed our best to minimise the expenses so we could shop a lot to our hearts’ content without worrying that we’d get broke, LOL. Here I’d like to from my own experiences doing whatever that was necessary to travel on budget. And believe it or not, my budget for my entire stay in Seoul could cover one plane ticket to Europe from my country!
If you haven't seen this side of Asia yet, chances are you're missing out on a lot. South Korea is a haven for those who love some good spots to visit with beautiful sceneries and cultural influences that you can just enjoy and appreciate. K-beauty and fashion, as well as the craze for K-pop and K-drama have also been a widespread obsession by people all around the world that their tourism statistics have been positively growing in a rapid pace since the rise of Hallyu wave, and the trend seems to go up every year. These are obviously not all to it that you have in Seoul, so you're gonna have to come here yourself to check out what hidden gems are out there in here.
My entire budget minus the plane ticket and accommodation (which both were paid before the trip) was about 600,000 Korean won (500 USD). I’ll try to list out how much I spent on everything!

1. ACCOMMODATION – 14 days for 160,000 KRW (142 USD)

Most hotels can be a tad too overpriced for backpacking travellers like me (in fact, I think they hike up the price just for the sake of getting more $$ for foreigners who don't know better). Opt for a hostel, dormitory or a shared room from Airbnb. You can get the same spacious room in a 700USD hotel room for less than 150USD! It all depends on where you stay as well, so do a bit of a research on that. Most people live near well-known hotels in districts like Gangnam and Dongdaemun, but we chose a neighbourhood in Bogwang-dong, Yongsan district, which is in Itaewon. It's full of nightlife, perfect for those seeking cosmopolitan environment. There's a LOT of foreigners from various countries, and most of the shop workers know how to speak in other languages, especially English (in case you're afraid of communicating problem!)

The house we lived in was a shared space on the rooftop, called Leon's Family House, in the depths of a small neighbourhood. You’d have to walk a little to reach there from the town, but it wasn’t that bad for my young blood. If you need to feel convenient there are always many other options where the rooms can be right in front of a mall or convenient city centres, but we opted for a local lifestyle. There are about two separated rooms, where one is a bigger space with living room, kitchen and bathroom, while the other where we lived in was a small room complete with shelves, a full bed and a fully functioning AC, as well as heater. The landlady has about 4 friendly cats who'll play with you whenever you try to get into the main area. :) Basically you'll have to go to the main area to shower or cook (yes, she allows us to use her condiments to cook!), which isn't too bad. In case you're wondering about privacy, she's barely at home, so we basically lounge around a lot in the main area, which she allows us to before 12am.
I know some people would want to consider the privacy, space, as well as convenience, but it totally feels like home this way in comparison to being in a hotel. It's so cozy, and SO, SO serene during the night.

The entrance, leading upstairs.

Bathroom, with a washing machine you can use. (Peep the kitties!)

Super cute dream kitchen.

2. Food – 800-12,000 KRW (less than 10 USD)

Now that you got your accommodation covered you may be worried that there's no buffet and room service waiting for you when you wake up, but if you’re smart enough to get an accommodation in a neighbourhood in the city, you're already near a convenience store just a few blocks away. Or if you're lucky, just downstairs of where you live. There's plenty of local 24 hours convenience store in most neighbourhoods in Seoul, easily accessed everywhere. In fact there was about 3 near where I live alone, and they all sell a variety of fresh cooked food, you name it all: local comfort food like kimbap, rice balls and soup to fried chicken, steak, noodles and salad, and also things to eat later canned food and noodles in a cup. These stores provide a microwave oven and water heaters you can use to make your food on the spot. There's also bars and restaurants everywhere. If you're a fan of making your own food, you can buy fresh ingredients at the market to cook at home.

Me and my best friend decided to stock up food like canned tuna (there's chilli, curry and jajang tuna, which are all super delicious), instant rice (yes, this exists), ramen in a cup, and furikake, which is basically rice seasoning. We eat these before we go out and travel and cut a lot of expenses spent on food, which can be twice expensive outside. But hey, we can be lazy too at times, so we’d always end up eating fast food at Quizno’s or Popeye’s (who can say no to Popeye’s?) which are usually around 5,000 to 7,500 KRW, which you can’t really complain about since the price for the big amount of food is already quite reasonable. Once we also ordered a whole box of spicy fried chicken, costed around 15,000 KRW - and there were about 20 or so drummets. Simply put, we didn't finish it the same night, so we saved it for the next morning.

Chickeeeeen.

3. Transportation – 1200 KRW (1 USD) per ride!

Seoul is known for its transportation's efficiency. Though my foreign friends who live in Korea has always told me to never, ever take the cab. Some may say it’s relatively inexpensive and that it’s more convenient, but from what I’ve heard a lot from them friends, some (in very rare cases) taxis blatantly hike up the price for unlucky riders. It supposedly happens a lot more times when the foreigner doesn’t know the language, that these unethical drivers take advantage of it.
Another reality is that a lot of foreigners themselves don’t know the differences between the existing types of taxis. There are standard, deluxe and jumbo taxis, which all varying in price ranges. So if you took a deluxe taxi (which is black in colour), or international taxis (with drivers who know how to speak English and other languages), don’t be surprised that it’s quite pricey for a short distance to your home. But, if you don’t mind it and want to opt for convenience, sure, you’re always free to ride a taxi! Just bear in mind that the meters start at 3,000 KRW, while other transports are much cheaper.
So what do you ride then? Simple: The train, or the bus. Don’t be lazy to walk to the nearest train station, it does save up a lot. The train arrives every 10 minutes or less, which is quite convenient for impatient people like me, ha! All you need is a rechargeable card called T-Money card which you can use to access any public transport and even to buy just about anything in supporting shops, like in convenient stores. One trip by the train to Myeongdong from Itaewon is about 2,000 KRW in comparison to a taxi fare which can reach about 5,000 KRW and above, depending on the traffic. Some shuttle buses are also free of charge. Do the math.

The train station. Not only there's a big ad with Jo Jungsuk (I just love him) you can see that the tracks and the platform are separated by a glass door for your safety.

4. SIGHT-SEEING – 1,500 KRW-40,000KRW (Below 35 USD)

This activity should be the most you spend on, because you have the opportunity to actually travel and see new things. Now that you saved up on your accommodation, food and transportation fare, you can enjoy a lot of other things in Seoul. Most places are free of entry, but there are also certain places that requires a basic fee in order for you to enjoy your visit.

A few of the places that require no fees were historical sites like the Jeongneung Royal Tomb and Bongeunsa Temple, but another which is the Gyeongbokgung Palace, costed about 3,000 KRW.

Gyeongbokgung Palace. A must visit. You even get to follow a tour guide who will explain to you the story behind the king's throne.

That's the throne!

We also went to Namsan Tower, a very popular landmark of Seoul, which was also free except for the services there (like trying on the traditional clothes and going up the cable car, which we didn't ride), and it was worth the while since our visit there weren't costly at all.

Namsan Tower.

Autumn view from the top of Namsan.

Then we checked out a theme park called Everland, which entrance fee was the most expensive so far, about 40,000 KRW. I got a 10% discount for bringing my passport along so please remember not to leave them behind. :p There were a lot of typical things you see in a theme park here, but as it was Halloween season there when we stopped by, there were a zombie show going on. Super cool!

*Really beautiful architecture. This place has a lot of activities much similar to Lotte World (South Korea's very own Disney World).

5. WINDOW SHOPPING

I was free to shop for so many things after planning out what to spend things on. But one tip: always go window shopping first, because you can always find something better for a more reasonable prices in some other places. The best place to shop is in Myeongdong and Hongdae, since they have all the trendy fashion and beauty items you can't find anywhere but in Seoul. Itaewon and Gangnam (the home for all things expensive) are known for high end brands like Puma, Fila, Adidas, Lush and so on, so it was interesting to walk around there too. And the most jaw dropping prices were seen around Apgujeong area, where a pair of jeans was around 200,000 KRW...
If you want somewhere with cheaper options, go for Namdaemun, Dongdaemun or the Ewha Womans' University underground station. There are a whole lot of things you can find that are not only great in quality but are also affordable for your budget.

I'm not very fortunate enough to spend that much money on things so consider yourself lucky if you don't find these necessary, haha. But 5 of these things are rather essential for me now whenever I travel, so I do hope you find it informational and useful, if you're a traveller on budget like me too! Also, in my next posts I will write more about the historical sites and activities you shouldn't miss out while travelling in Seoul, do look forward to it. :)