South Korea Beyond Seoul: Busan, Jeju, Gyeongju, Andong and Coastal Korea Complete Guide 2026
Browse more guides: South Korea travel | Asia destinations South Korea Beyond Seoul: Busan, Jeju, Gyeongju, Andong and Coastal Korea Complete Guide 2026 TL;DR I have been writing about Korea for years, and most travelers I meet still treat it as a Seoul-only country with maybe a day trip to the DMZ. That is a mistake. The Korea I want to put on the map for 2026 is the regional one: Busan's port grit and pastel hillside neighborhoods, Jeju Island's volcanic UNESCO landscape, Gyeongju's thousand-year-old Silla capital, Andong's Confucian villages, and Gangwon's Pyeongchang ski country with Seoraksan National Park behind it. This guide is built for the post-2024 reality. The Korean Air and Asiana Airlines merger closed in 2024, consolidating long-haul capacity. The K-ETA pre-travel authorization remains suspended for 22 nationalities through the end of 2025, including the United States, United Kingdom, European Union, Australia, Japan, Canada, and others, meaning...