How to use it
- Choose where you are going. Regions follow Korea’s provinces and big cities, and “Islands” collects island areas such as Ganghwa, Geoje and Ulleung.
- Choose trip length (day trip, 1 night, 2 nights or 3+ nights) and your travel group. If too few trips match, the tool widens the group or the region and says so under the result.
- Choose a lodging type, or “No lodging” for a day trip.
- Choose how you get there. By car leaves out “Getting there”, because fuel and rental cars are already in “Getting around”.
A couple’s 2 nights in Jeju, three ways to stay
A couple flying to Jeju from the mainland for 2 nights (3 days) can only guess at lodging until they book. Put the three usual choices into the tool and compare. Lodging is only part of the bill: on the hotel trip, getting there, getting around and food alone add up to ₩673,900.
| Lodging | Median lodging | Estimated budget |
|---|---|---|
| Hotel | ₩163,500 | ₩947,000 |
| Pension (rental cottage) | ₩227,200 | ₩1,036,000 |
| Guesthouse | ₩94,700 | ₩896,000 |
Driving changes the picture more than lodging on the mainland. One night in Busan (2 days) comes to ₩501,000 by train or bus and ₩389,000 by car, because the car budget drops the train fare but keeps fuel and tolls in “Getting around”.
1-night (2-day) budgets by region
Anyone, paid lodging, arriving by plane, ferry, train or bus. Prices at Sep 2026.
| Region | Estimated budget | Median total spent | Trips |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seoul | ₩445,000 | ₩450,000 | 218 |
| Incheon | ₩404,000 | ₩390,000 | 52 |
| Gyeonggi-do | ₩392,000 | ₩374,000 | 476 |
| Gangwon | ₩508,000 | ₩489,000 | 548 |
| Daegu | ₩376,000 | ₩408,000 | 50 |
| Gyeongsangbuk-do | ₩462,000 | ₩424,000 | 292 |
| Busan | ₩501,000 | ₩457,000 | 203 |
| Ulsan (East region) | ₩480,000 | ₩450,000 | 1,288 |
| Gyeongsangnam-do | ₩436,000 | ₩411,000 | 167 |
| Gwangju | ₩396,000 | ₩387,000 | 48 |
| Jeonbuk | ₩377,000 | ₩387,000 | 237 |
| Jeollanam-do | ₩482,000 | ₩443,000 | 222 |
| Daejeon | ₩324,000 | ₩335,000 | 148 |
| Chungcheongbuk-do | ₩430,000 | ₩410,000 | 198 |
| Chungcheongnam-do | ₩397,000 | ₩372,000 | 233 |
| Sejong (West region) | ₩398,000 | ₩385,000 | 1,099 |
| Jeju | ₩480,000 | ₩412,000 | 130 |
| Islands | ₩445,000 | ₩401,000 | 613 |
How these numbers were counted
- Real payments, not quotes. The National Information Society Agency’s domestic travel log data covers 11,519 trips taken in May–Aug, with every lodging, transport and activity payment. These figures are grouped into the items you see.
- Medians and middle ranges. Averages get pulled up by a few big bills, so the tool shows the median and the middle half of trips for each item, counting only people who paid for that item.
- Korean travelers’ spending. The logs were kept by people living in Korea. International flights, airport transfers from Incheon and tourist-only passes are not in them.
- Small groups are widened. Combinations with fewer than 30 trips drop the lodging type and the travel group, then widen to the whole region. Items with fewer than 10 payments are widened the same way. Trip length is never widened.
Frequently asked questions
Does the budget include international flights to Korea?
No. “Getting there” is travel inside Korea, such as a domestic flight or ferry to Jeju, a KTX train or an intercity bus. The logs were kept by people living in Korea, so add your own international flight on top.
Why are the estimate and the median total different?
The estimate adds up the median of each item among people who paid for it. The median total lines up whole trips and takes the middle one. On a 2-night (3-day) Jeju trip the estimate is ₩948,000 and the median total is ₩1,036,000, because many travelers did not pay some items, such as getting there.
Are the amounts per person or for the whole group?
They are what the person keeping the log paid, which often covers companions too. The per-person line divides each trip by the number of people on it before taking the median.
Are the logged prices still right today?
Every amount is multiplied by the rise in Korea’s consumer price index from when the trips were taken to Sep 2026 (×1.0804). Flights and hotels swing more than that between peak and off-peak dates, so look at the upper end of each range too.