Trip Report: One month in Seoul, South Korea

As I know a lot of digital nomads are interested on the Korean lifestyle, I had the task to stay for one month in Seoul as explore it as much as possible. So here’s my full report of living in Seoul as a remote worker.

## The Location

Well Seoul is the main and most popular city of South Korea and there’s soo much to discover, from k-pop culture to exotic coffee shops.

I stayed in Huam-dong, an residential area, that definitely makes you feel like you are living as a local. Everything around is in korean language, which you can learn how to read very easily, but fortunately many locals can speak english well.

My neighborhood is located just below Namsan Park, a beautiful uphill green area, where people go to walk every day or visit the famous Seoul Tower.

This area is very close to the main touristic parts, like Myeong-dong, which can be reached easily by bus or Uber.

One important thing to know is that many apps that we use in the western are not usable here. For example: Google maps. You can still see the restaurant, or places, but you can’t navigate (something about privacy in Korea with Google apps).

Hence, you need to download new apps like Naver Maps, KakaoTalk and such, that are still not fully translated but you get the idea after using them.

## The Cost

Fortunately living in Seoul is not expensive at all. Of course, it will be different if you stay in the Gangnam area where there’s mostly luxury condos, but areas like Huam-dong or Hongdae are definitely suitable for students and locals.

I spent around 2200 USD for a whole month, counting my accomodation, transportation and more.

Is all detailed at the end of the video I published about Seoul.

## The Weather

Seoul has really good weather around spring & summer, so I heard, because I actually went in winter and let me tell you: it was really cool. There’s one video that I saw a bit of snow, even tho it’s not that common in the city.

Winter gets around 0-12 celsius, so prepare to wear many layers. I still enjoyed the time there.

## Coworking space

There’s plenty of coffee shops to work all around the city, and most are total acceptable to bring your laptop.

Unfortunately I didn’t check coworking spaces as this time I stayed in a coliving, called Seoul Nooks, which has it’s own area to cowork so I work mostly at home.

Totally recommend to check this coliving space as it’s tailored to have a mix of locals & foreigners, even tho they only accept a small percent of requests…

No need to worry about the internet, tho, as almost every place has really fast internet via fiber.

## What to do

* **Gwangjang Market** \- First of all, you gotta try all the street food and this night market is definitely on top of my fav places to check! There’s even a famous spot which was documented in a Netflix show, that has delicious noodles. * **Itaweon nightlife** \- Another famous place, as there’s many movies recorded here, and has tons of discos to check out a night. * **Korean BBQ** \- Of course, you can’t go wrong with Korean BBQ, where staff cut and cook the pieces for you. Delicious stuff. * **Soju Workshop** \- Their famous rice drink it’s more than just a drink, it’s an social experience as locals have different manners of drinking Soju. * **Bukhansan National Park** \- Hiking is popular among locals, and there’s a massive forest behind the city with plenty of treks. * **Jimjilbang** \- For resting definitely gotta check out the Korean spas, with hot chambers, baths, food, and a place to chill the whole day. * **DMZ** \- If you want to understand the conflict between North & South Korea, there’s a demilitarized zone that you can see a little of of the North part.

## FAQs

* Can you get by with just English? * Yes, most local speak but some workers from restaurants won’t. * What do you do for work? * I’m a YouTuber filming digital nomad destinations. * What is the minimum salary you’d recommend to get by here? * Around 2K usd as a starter. * What didn’t you like? * I can’t really think about something that bad.. maybe that the culture is very different than western that you can definitely feel more like as outsider. Or that it can get really cold in winter.