This is how I budgeted hard while in South Korea for two months.

In March 2024, I received the incredible news that I was the recipient of a prestigious government scholarship that was going to send me to South Korea. My flights, lodging, and excursions with my program at Pusan National University were going to be paid for, and it seemed golden, as Busan is much cheaper than Seoul.

My program gave me $1,400 for “food expenses,” but I knew with two months, and no access to a kitchen, I was going to have to budget this money hard. As a graduate student who just wrapped up her master’s degree too, I knew I wanted to go into this and see the town, as well as take some trips.

I ended up going to Jeju and Seoul as my two individual, paying out of pocket, trips, but this trip overall humbled me in the art of budgeting while in Korea. None of us, as graduate and undergraduate students, had a ton of money, but we made it work and had fun while we were there.

After looking at all of my credit card statements and tracking my cash flow, I spent about $2,500 USD while I was in Korea for two months. This doesn’t include the fact my lodging, hotel, and trip to Gyeongju were covered by the program I was with, and some of our meals were also covered when we had events. I was given a $1,400 stipend, so I clearly went way out of the range of that stipend throughout the program.

Here were some of my biggest tips for budgeting, as I could have easily spent more money if I wasn’t being careful.

Convenience store 1+1 deals will really help you acquire many drinks/objects if you need them.

Something I find so incredible about Korea is that not only are convenience stores accessible, but they run 1+1 deals on basically everything in there! It rotates every couple days, and varies by store, but I would often run into the local CU and grab whatever drinks were 1+1 when I needed something to drink. I pretty much exclusively survived on these drinks, filtered water from our school, and Jasmin Coffee juices.

Waters typically would not be 1+1, but other healthier drinks like plain tea and Pocari Sweat (for when I was dehydrated) would often be on the rotation for 1+1 deals. If you go into the food section, cookies and chips are also sometimes 1+1. I never noticed any ramen on sale while I was there, though, which is unfortunate.

When I was in Jeju, I also forgot contact solution and wandered into the 7-11 that was attached to our hotel in Seogwipo. There, I found solution for 4,500 won and on a 1+1 sale. That’s how I ended up with two travel size contact solutions with cases when I needed them the most.

Often the best food isn’t the most expensive or fancy restaurant. Around universities is also cheaper!

I’ve been to Korea multiple times at this point, living with locals and seeing all the greatest hidden gems only the locals know in Anyang and Busan. That said, I find a lot of the best restaurants in Korea to be the hole in the wall ones. It’s usually run by a lovely little old lady or a lowkey owner, and it’s not fancy.

Those are the restaurants I tend to remember the most. I was with my Korean roommate once at a soondubu place run by a little old woman, and we had a great conversation with her in Korean. Markets too can be a good source of food, but be careful in the summer—I got food poisoning at Waterbomb in Busan because of the food being left out at a hot temperature.

One of the pro tips that people don’t realize on a budget is to go near where universities are. Students don’t have money, and they don’t always want to eat at the local cafeteria. I don’t know about Seoul prices, but where I was in Busan, a meal would cost at a lowkey restaurant about 8,000-10,000 won. My language partner even showed me a pork belly joint that sold it for 5,000 won a serving and it was really good quality.

If you went to a nicer place that’s trendy, it would be more (~15,000). There was a great pho place near PNU that sold a galbi pho that was incredible, but it was 16,000 won a bowl. Other pho places nearby that weren’t aesthetic were cheaper.

I also bought my eyeglasses near our university (Pusan National University) because apparently they are cheaper around the university too. I paid 60 USD for a solid pair of frames with the best lens quality that they offered. And I’ve been very happy with these glasses!

Don’t forget to haggle when you’re in the markets.

The markets are one of the few places where you can haggle, and they’re always a little more expensive to begin with if they’re touristy. I know Gwangjang Sijang (Gwangjang Market) is particularly overpriced, but I wouldn’t openly haggle with the food vendors (point to the prices on their menus if they up charge, perhaps).

Regardless, 깎아 주세요 is a very useful phrase to know. I’ve used it plenty of times, and romanized it’s “kkakka juseyo.” Literally it means “please cut,” but you use it when you’re trying to haggle for goods.

Something that irks me though about some travelers is that they think they need to haggle to below what the locals pay in some destinations. If you’re coming from the West or a highly developed country, you don’t need that kind of authentic experience. Pay them a little more if it’s not a complete scam—it’ll make such a difference in the vendor’s quality of life.

Walking is one of the best ways to see a city if weather permits.

I love walking wherever I go in the world—if it’s safe. Korea is extremely safe for women, just exercise caution at night and try to avoid going alone to the nightclubs. I’d be more worried about spycams in the public bathrooms.

Anyways, I try to walk my way around Korea if it’s not too hot. Go down the little cute alleyways. For example, in Busan, there’s a really nice walk that connects Gwangalli Beach to Haeundae Beach, but not a lot of people who are visiting know about it. And all of it is free! No public transportation involved.

Korea has such good walking infrastructure, so if it’s only thirty minutes away, you’re healthy, and the weather permits it, maybe take a walk. Korea is known for its cute little tucked away corners, and you might find an area locals flock to. For example, Ikseondong and Anguk tend to be where locals go in Seoul versus Insadong and Bukchon for tourists.

National museums are supposed to be free.

In Korea, if a museum is designated as a national museum, it is supposed to be free for the public to come in and see. Many big cities have free public museums that are national—Seoul obviously has a lot of them, but when I was in Busan and Gyeongju, they had national museums that were really nice and free.

It’s the more gimmicky and privately owned museums that tend to charge more ridiculous fees for the area. For example, I went to the Seomyeon Museum of Art with my roommate, and I was charged 14,000 won for entry. It was a tiny museum. The Busan Museum of Movies is also another privately owned one.

National monuments also tend to be free (i.e. tombs), but others, like Gyeongbokgung, charge a modest fee to foreigners. I paid 3,000 won (about 2 USD) to enter the grounds of Gyeongbokgung, but I was not complaining at that price.

So do your research! The main national museums definitely would be worth checking out—I recommend the big main one in Seoul, as well as the ones around Gyeongbokgung if you have the time.

Bus and subway transfers are free within a thirty minute transfer window.

This is a smaller tip, but foreigners in Korea tend not to realize you can transfer between the bus and the subway with your T-Money card. Some people say Seoul has an alternative card now that is cheaper, but I would personally prefer a T Money card because it can be used all over Korea—the other card is just in Seoul. So if you wanted, you could use your T-Money in Jeju-do.

Once you tap out of a subway, you have a thirty minute window where you can transfer onto a bus or another subway. When you’re on the bus, you want to tap out on the scanner. If you’re not transferring, you can just walk off the bus without tapping the card because you paid your fare.

So take advantage of this! If you need to transfer to get somewhere more complex, do it within this window. Ubers and taxis can add up. Trust me, we Ubered our way around Jeju, and it really added up to about $200 for two days. Thankfully we were splitting between 4-5 people.

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