Hello! My sister and I are going to Seoul, South Korea for 1.5 weeks, and then Tokyo, Japan for another 1.5 weeks in September! Itll be our first times there and I was wondering if theres any places we absolutely have to go and check out, or any restaurant's you guys reccomend! Anything will help, even if you have advice on subway cards or anything to help us get around! Thanks

lonely planet travel guides are great tools to begin your planning.

Seoul is very easy and cheap to get around on the train. We used Google maps to find places at our hotel then plotted then on a map we got from the concierge. There's a huge fish market that you can go to and pick what you want then have it cooked in their little restaurant. I think we paid $50 for some really good crab, mussels, clams, and scallops including then being cooked in a hot pot and a couple beers.

Trevor you cant use google maps in Korea cause it’s blocked so it’s a bit more difficult to navigate. You have to use naver or KakaoTalk maps but they’re in Korean. Transportation is korea is cheap, you can buy a card from the machines to load up and use them to scan every time you go in and go out. Japan has a similar card that they call the suica or pasmo. They’re the same thing but different companies, you buy and recharge. Japan you can use google maps and it’s very efficient !

We had no issues when we were there. China was a different story.

Trevor you can use google maps to load it but you can’t physically map it there aha

Daria how do you mean? I said we searched on Google then mapped it on a physical map.

Oh sorry I misread ! I thought you had kept using google maps instead ! So just wanted to let OP know that google maps navigation doesn’t work in Korea but in japan it is great aha

Trevor use maps.me

Take the train from the airport its WAYYY easier and faster. I always write down the address of hotel I am staying at in case there are hiccups - remember the Korean lettering system is not in the English alphabet so u need to have the name of the hotel written out properly or no one will understand if you need help. The fish market is amazing, the night shopping is awesome. Highly reccomend going out late atleast one night and checking out the shopping district. The 3D museum is really cool.

This! Do not take a bus or taxi. Train from the airport to Seoul then any connecting line to get where you need to be. Will save you time and money.

The subway system is very easy to navigate as all signs are in both english and Korean. In many cases subway is faster than a taxi too. there are wonderful totally free walking tours put on by seoul city. The guides are extremely well trained and do not even accept tips. http://english.visitseoul.net/.../General-Information_/15026
ENGLISH.VISITSEOUL.NET
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Food safety standards are extremely high so street food is safe and delicious. For the best, look for crowds. The markets are interesting too. I went around by myself with no worries. The Koreans were very surprised that a senior would be travelling by herself.

We stayed at the Tmark Grand Hotel on the edge of Namdaemun Market. Lovely hotel and great location. We ate breakfast each day at the tiny busy cafe across the street. Bibimbap -yum!

For Tokyo, I used individual little tours from viator to help me plan - worked out really well!

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Hi, if you’re interested, my brother and sister in law lives in Seoul, I can hook you up with them. Pm me