That’s official, you finally decided to go to South Korea and dive into this fascinating world where ancient age-old customs blend with the latest trends and where there’s more cafes than you’ll ever see in your entire life. Perfect to explore while staying productive and creative!
But first, here’s a few things to help you make the most out of your journey.
Getting ready
What visa do I need?
For most countries, no visas are required to stay in Korea for up to 3 months (or 6 months for Canadians). Even the K-ETA is not mandatory anymore. But, please, don’t take this for granted and check what are the current requirements for your situation on the Korea Visa Portal.
If you want to stay longer than that, as it is easier to get, first go for the Working Holiday Visa if you still meet the requirements. And then go for the Workation Visa (also known as Digital Nomad Visa) if you meet the surprisingly high income requirement (76K USD).
Do I need to speak Korean?
Strictly speaking: no, thanks to translation apps. But knowing a few sentences is not that hard and really goes a long way! Koreans will be pleased to see that you are making an effort.
Also, Korean has a very simple writing system (Hangul) that you can quickly learn and will massively help you on a daily basis.
The nice thing is that it will also allow you to understand many Korean words because they are just transliterated it from English (e.g. 스터디카페 -> seuteodikape -> study cafe) 👏
What should I know about Korea and Koreans?
The culture in Korea is quite different from anywhere else. Usually, everything will go surprisingly well, but you will still be the foreigner from a different culture. So go there with an open-mind, be curious about those differences and always be respectful.
Amongst others, here are a few things you should do or know about:
- Hand things with 2 hands (e.g. credit cards, cash, glass, etc.)
- Don’t tip, even at restaurants. If you appreciate a service, buy more of it instead 😅
- Don’t stare, but accept that others might stare at you
- Be quiet in the subway/bus
- Smoke in designated area only, even in the streets
- Be ready to be pushed or bumped into without hearing “sorry”
- Be ready to be pushed or bumped into with an avalanche of excuses
- Accept help from others, especially elders
- Some people will be curious about you and might start talking to you
- Very few garbage bins in the streets, bring your stuff back home
- Be ready to hear sniffing and spitting in the streets
Where should I live in South Korea?
Everywhere! Korea is a beautiful country to explore and has amazingly fast wifi pretty much everywhere. We would recommend starting with one of the main hubs, such as Seoul, Busan, or Jeju and then explore further in places like Jeonju, Gwangju, Mokpo, Yangyang, etc.
What apps should I install?
Korea have their own version of apps for most services and foreign apps (such as Google Maps) don’t always work well.
- Naver Map (hint: set the language to korean to get unfiltered results)
- Papago, for translation
- Google Lens, to translate text in pictures
- Shuttle, for online orders
- T Locker, to store your bags in lockers in the subway stations
- Uber (aka UT in Korea)
Is there any communities for digital nomads?
Yes, great ones and not just for digital nomads! The main ones we recommend would be:
- Digital Nomads Korea - Biggest digital nomads community in South Korea
- Seoul Nooks - Small and warm community for location-independent people
- Nomad Her - Vibrant community for women travelers
- Local Chingu - Safe community centered around Korean culture
- Digital Nomad Meetups - Weekly meetups in Gangnam, Seoul
- Code Seoul - Community for programmers with weekly meetups in Gangnam, Seoul
Arriving in South Korea
Get a SIM card
Without a local Korean phone number (010), you’ll feel stuck everywhere. Most services require a phone number to get access to them (e.g. waiting line for a restaurant).
Luckily you can easily get one directly at the airport. You can even pre-order one here:
If you stay more than 3 months, you’ll have to either renew your SIM card (after getting the ARC) or buy a new one.
Get a transport card
To commute (by bus, subway or even taxi), you’ll need a transport card. The most common and widely accepted one is a T Money Card and you can get it in any convenience stores, including the one at the airport.
⚠️ To recharge it, you can only use cash.
Go to any convenience store, hand your transport card to the cashier with some cash and they’ll know what to do. You can also recharge it at a machine in subway stations.
Daily life in Korea
You will be surprised to see that doing the groceries for 1 or 2 people is quite expensive (especially fruits). It is actually not really worth cooking at home considering that eating outside can be as cheap as 4$USD per person for delicious food. So don’t be afraid to go try these tiny restaurants with only a few items on the menu, all written in Korean.
Korean is famous for its pretty cafes and they are (usually) laptop-friendly. So cafe hopping while working could be a good way to explore as well.
Regarding other services such as going to the gym, pilates, indoor golf, etc. There’s a lot of options available but not all of them are short term + foreigner-friendly. So you might have to do a bit of research before finding one in your area.
And there is so much more to do and discover. So go out there and explore!
Longer stays in Korea
If you stay more than 3 months (or 6 months for Canadians), it means you got the proper visa for it and you will have to get your resident card (ARC). This will unlock many services such as opening a Korean bank account, online ordering with Coupang, or cheaper data plan with your SIM card.
You have to book an appointment online to get your ARC. Be sure to gather all the required documents.
Usually, the delay to have an appointment is 1 month, so book it ahead of time. Tips: to speed up the process, you can check every night if a slot was freed for the next few days, you might be lucky.
That's it for now! With these you should be comfortable starting your journey in South Korea. Enjoy!