Since
Dr Farhana requested for my overall budget to Korea, so here I will give some rough idea on how much will you spent for a trip to Korea. Honestly, it depends on how much money you have. If you have little, just spend it wisely and even if you have so much money, invest it wisely.
1) Airplane ticket: RM600
I am an independent traveler, my intention is to save as much money as I can to have a normal trip like others. The most important part of traveling overseas is to have a flight ticket, unless you can travel to your bordering countries by bus or train. And airplane ticket is no cheap, at least for a person like me,it's not. My return air ticket is approximately RM600 inclusive of tax, 15kg luggage and meals. To get a cheap airplane ticket, you have to buy it earlier, like for me it's 7 months earlier than the date of traveling. Airasia always have promotions, subscribe to their updates and buy a plane ticket to Korea!
2) Passport RM100/RM300
If you travel to Korea for less than 90 days, no visas is required. Just bring along your passport. In my case, my passport is still valid, so no cost for this. You can make a 2 years valid passport for RM100 or 5 years valid passport for RM300.
3) Guesthouse RM567
Seoul has many cheap and affordable guesthouses. They can be ranked like a 3 stars hotel in Malaysia,just that they are as warm as your own house! During my last trip, I stayed at
Korea Central Backpackers, I did a review on that with the cost for one night stay. But for my next trip, I'm going to stay at
Namsan Guesthouse, Myeongdong. This guesthouse is very near Myeongdong shopping area, 5 minutes walking distance to Namsan Tower Cable Car, 10 minutes walking distance to Namdaemun and of course just a few steps to subway station! The room rate of this guesthouse according to ours is 80,000krw for three person. That means for me alone, one night, I pay approximately 27,000krw which is around RM81.
KCB is way cheaper (RM75 per night). Total cost for guesthouse this time is 27,000krw x 7 nights = 189,000krw = RM567
Tips: Always go for a guesthouse located near subway station. Do check the review of the guesthouse first on
tripadvisor, or else nobody will help you if some bad things happened during your stay!
4) Transportation RM255
Korea's public transportation system is very much effective despite the crowds in the subway. The subways, buses and taxis are the major transportation tools. Even in Malaysia I rarely use cars to travel around KL and Selangor (I don't even have one indeed!). It's cost effective, although the peak hours can make you stressed out!
Seoul's subway has 14 lines, with a complicated route. You can have a look of subway map
here. Fret not friends! What you need is a subway map and courage!You can also download the subway map on play store and it works perfectly well!
Download here. I only lost direction one time on the last trip. It's just because I missed one station focusing on the halmonies on the subways LOL.
Get your T-money card (something like Touch n Go) at Family Mart, for is not mistaken around 2,500krw = RM7. Go to the nearest subway station and reload! Last time I reloaded about 40,00krw for 11 days and still have some balance left. What we did was to use the T-money card to buy foods! T-money can also be used for buses, taxis, restaurant, coffee shop and even shopping malls!
Budget: I always estimate the budget a little bit higher so that if it's not working as I planned, I don't have to add extra cost. 7,200krw x 7days = 60,000krw = RM180
Don't forget about the airport transfer too! From Incheon Airport, take an Airport Limousine to your guesthouse. The fare is 10,000krw single way. 10,000krw x 2 =20,000krw =RM60
Taxi is needed if you wanna go to certain area which subways didn't cover. Like for example, to go to Nami Island, the nearest subway station is Gapyeong (Jungang Line). From gapyeong, you a taxi to go to Nami Island. It's not expensive. Just around 4,000krw single way. So its going to be 8,000krw round trip which is RM24. If your friend is with yo, share the fare. RM24/3= RM8
T-money =RM 7
Reload T-money =RM180
Airport Transfer= RM60
Taxi = RM8
Total: RM255
5) Food & Drinks RM357
For food and drinks, it also depends on how much you eat a day. Basic meal is three times a day. For a traveler, eating local food is a must, but that cost quite an amount of money. I'm planning to have some local dishes on certain days. Like if I go to Nami Island, I will want to eat Kimchi Doshirak which I haven't got to eat during the last trip. I have a list of restaurants I will go, perhaps I will write a separate entry. Apart from bringing some food from home (like instant noodles, canned tuna, canned chicken curry), you can buy cooked rice in almost any convenient store in Korea like Family Mart or 7 Eleven. Just heat it up and enjoy it with your tuna/chicken curry/etc. You can even buy some kimchi and eat with the rice.
I make a budget like this on my last trip and I have some balance left since I didn't eat out much because my friend who went there with me last time didn't eat seafood. Since seafood is the only choice (other than meats in Itaewon), we skipped most of the famous restaurant and went to eat desserts at chain cafes which can be found like ANYWHERE in Seoul. Be careful coffee drinker. There are lots of cafes around, control your appetites.
Budget: 17,000krw x 7 days =119,000krw =RM357
6) Entrance Fees
This part depends on the place that you go. If you want to save some more budget, opt for a place that doesn't have the entrance fees. This is the sample of my budget for entrance fees;
1.
Chandeokgung 8000
2.
Nami Island 16000
3.
Tteok Museum 3000
4.
Cable car return (Namsan Tower) 8000
5.
Teddy Bear Museum 8000
6.
Kimchi Museum 3000
Everland Theme Park 40
000
Total: 86,000krw x 3 =RM258
7) Emergency
Always have an emergency money. It doesn't mater if it's in cash or card. Remember to activate your international ATM cash withdrawals and Debit/Credit Card transaction while in Malaysia.
Basically, total cost WITHOUT SHOPPING is
1) Airplane ticket RM600
2)Passport (in my case no cost)
3)Guesthouse RM567
4)Transportation RM255
5) Food and drinks RM357
6) Entrance fees RM258
7) Emergency (depends)
