50K All-In Budget for 7 Days in South Korea (Cherry Blossom Season)

Annyeong!

I know a lot of you are very excited about this blog and many of my friends have been asking me how much have I actually spent during my travel to Korea in April 2017. Hence, I’ve decided to write a blog about this to share it with you guys.

First, I traveled with my two girl friends, we shared the same dream to see cherry blossoms for real. Thus, we planned our travel to South Korea.“Spring Season” is one of the top seasons to travel to Korea, our airfare cost was not cheap as we had thought. But, I could say that the deal was already fair and worthy as we chose the forecast dates when cherry blossoms would have its full bloom in Korea. Our goal was to get the dates that we wanted because cherry blossoms, in full bloom, would only last for a week. So, fingers crossed on the dates we picked out as we don’t want to be disappointed when we get there.

Below, I have created a summary of our expenses during our 1-week trip to South Korea.

Cherry Blossom Season - Korea Travel Budget for 7 Days

Visa Application

We applied for a tourist visa under Rakso Travel agency as going directly to Korea Embassy is time consuming and it would just cost you the same if you live in the province. Imagine the hours you will spend to travel back and forth to the embassy and if you are an employee like me, you need to take a leave (sayang ang leave! Pang travel na yan, besh).

Update as of July 1, 2018: “Visa application will be processed through designated travel agencies only due to increased number of Korean visa applicants.” – Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the Republic of the Philippines. Click this to see full information and the list of designated travel agencies.

Airline Tickets

As you can see, your airfare cost can be lower or higher than the amount above. It depends on the airline, date, month, itinerary or season you want to travel to Korea. I have a friend who booked a flight in AirAsia and only spent P4,000 for his roundtrip airfare in the month of June (summer season). So that’s already a big savings from your pocket but you won’t see cherry blossoms during that month. There are several airlines to choose from and just catch the best deal for your travel. Jeju Air had the best offer during that time. Travel Tip: You may want to consider your time of arrival and departure when you travel. I prefer morning schedule for my arrival and evening schedule for my departure. This is because you can maximize your itinerary.

When I had my first travel to Singapore, my time of arrival to Changi airport was already at 4pm and the travel time going to the place where I stayed took me less than an hour. It’s already night time when I arrived so my day 1 was already over. Even my departure time was 4:45pm so at noon time I was already preparing as I need to arrive at the airport atleast 2-3 hrs before the flight schedule. So, I just spent a three-hour itinerary during my last day in Singapore.

24 Guesthouse Insadong

Our guesthouse is just a few meters away from Jonggak station, airport bus stop and is very accessible to everything you need. The guesthouse is strict on check-in time but they allowed us to leave our luggage, so we can start sightseeing while waiting for our check-in time. The room and bathroom were both clean. No insects or what. They don’t clean your room everyday but that’s fine. They offer coffee, bread, jam, and ramyun noodles for breakfast so don’t worry about your breakfast every day.

Don’t be confused when you search 24 Guesthouse on the net as they have many branches in Korea. Ours was the one located in Insadong. See the branch list here: http://www.spaceinno.co.kr/sReservation/rvMain.asp

Philippine Travel Tax and Transportation

It’s a fee imposed by the Philippine government for Filipinos traveling abroad. P1,620 per passenger for economy class and P2,700 for first class. I know, we feel the same way. It hurts! You need to pay travel tax every time you travel abroad. And, it doesn’t end there guys, prepare an additional P600 for international departures and P150 for domestic departures (if you are departing from Clark International Airport). Sakit besh.

And since we came from Pampanga and our departure was at NAIA, we prepared extra money for our food and transportation to NAIA and back home.

Pocket Money

Pocket money is for our daily expenses like foods, top up cards, entrance fees, Hanbok rental, pasalubongs and other little stuffs. Make sure to bring enough money for you to enjoy your Korea trip so you wont be disappointed that you have not brought enough cash because you’d definitely see many things to buy like skincare, makeup, clothes, cute stuff and everything. (pag andun ka na, mapapabili ka talaga. Promise!) Travel Tip: I recommend not leaving your credit card because you might need it in those days :D And it’s always good to bring your debit or credit cards along with you when traveling for emergency purposes.

Everland - ticket purchased at Klook.com

Remove this item from your budget if not planning to visit Everland. P1480 is just the entrance fee and it includes few rides for free. You need to pay for other attractions using credit card which we did for Robot VR. We purchased a ticket at the ticket booth for the Hologram Concert. More of these exciting things to do in South Korea in my next blogs to come.

So there you go guys, as much as I would like to make this blog short, I couldn’t, because I want this blog to be informative, and I hope that you will find this blog helpful in your plan going to the land of Oppas!

I would love to go to Busan on my next travel to Korea when I find a chance. How about you guys? Where are you traveling next?

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