South Korea or Taiwan in October with Kids

nayanmodi on 15/09/2019 - 10:50
Last edited 15/09/2019 - 11:24 by 1 other user

Hi all,

We are planning a trip to Seoul in mid-Oct for around 2 weeks. We are open to visit other cities in South Korea as well.
We are 2 adults and 2 kids (4 years & 8 months old baby).

I have done some research but I was wondering if anybody who has been there can give us some useful tips.

What are the must-see places in Korea?
Things to do with kids?
Should we take pram or baby carrier? Are there facilities for babies i.e. baby change room etc?
Will Air bnb be ok accommodation wise and which area?
How hard will it be to find vegetarian food?
Local transport option?
Which apps would you recommend while traveling over there i.e. translation app, train subway maps etc? Also, I think Google Maps don't work.
Any other tips?

Many thanks for your time! :)

NB. I have another thread asking for tips covering Taiwan.

• 

  nayanmodi on 15/09/2019 - 10:57

  Merged from Taiwan in Late October with Kids

  Hi all,

  We are planning a trip to Taipei in late-Oct for around 1 week.
  We are 2 adults and 2 kids (4 years & 8 months old baby).

  I have done some research but I was wondering if anybody who has been there can give us some useful tips.

  What are the must-see places in Taiwan?
  Things to do with kids?
  Should we take pram or baby carrier? Are there facilities for babies i.e. baby change room etc?
  Will Air bnb be ok accommodation wise and which area?
  How hard will it be to find vegetarian food?
  Local transport option?
  Which apps would you recommend while traveling over there i.e. translation app, train subway maps etc?
  Any other tips?

  Many thanks for your time! :)

  NB. I have another thread asking for tips covering Korea.

• 

  jjjaar on 15/09/2019 - 11:25

  +1

  Have you popped in over to the TripAdvisor forums? A lot of these have probably been answered in existing threads. It’s a specialty travel forum so you’ll get more and quicker replies.

  • 

    nayanmodi on 15/09/2019 - 23:20

    thanks. I'll look into this.

• 

  GarrusVakarian on 15/09/2019 - 11:32

  I used public transport when I visited Seoul not too long ago. Relied heavily on apps to navigate.
  With regards to apps, I used
  - "Learn Korean Phrases | Korean Translator" by Bravolol as well as Google Translate which covered most things.
  - Kakaobus for public buses; has more up to date information than google maps. It is not in English, so I used geographical location to tell where I was on the maps.
  - KakaoMetro; same as Kakaobus but for trains.
  - Google maps still works well but does not have the best routes for public transport.
  - TMoney; just an app to track your TMoney card which is similar to MyKi card

  Look into booking a sim card so you'll have data on arrival. KT roaming offers unlimited data plan without calls/sms. They throw in a TMoney card for free

  • 

    nayanmodi on 15/09/2019 - 23:20

    thanks for the sim card tip!

  • 

    KingHitMaster on 16/09/2019 - 01:50

    Just to add, I visited seoul at the end of last year and found that Naver Maps in English was the best way to go for me. I believe at the time it had just recently been released. On previous trips, I had used Google maps and it was definitely adequate but Naver Maps is definitely a step up.

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  H E B on 15/09/2019 - 13:42

  Have been to both with kids and found both to be not too different overall but with younger kids Korea overall is a tad easier and enjoyable as a bit more space.

  Taipei:
  Better and more organised public transport system. The MRT is really easy to use and gets you to all the big places.
  More vegetarian options and affordable food (more of their population appear to be on some sort of a vegetarian diet but be warned their vegetarian includes eggs, if you are a hindu you may be adverse to eggs)
  More crowded and much harder to get around with prams. If your kids are old enough I'd leave that at home and hold onto them tight.
  There are some large open spaces such as a few big parks and memorials as well as a national museum
  Taipei 101 building
  Lots of shopping markets, department stores.

  For a more interesting experience for children head outside of the city. One city is not really comparable to Korea (a whole country). Good experiences south, middle lake area and east awesome scenery in the rocky mountains national park.

  Taiwan is a small country so a LOT EASIER to get around overall quickly on the train and high speed rail networks which is more affordable.

  Korea:
  Less crowded.
  Lots of large palaces all over the country you can visit more suitable for kids and prams, more fun to explore.
  Still lots of department stores and shopping
  Same easy high speed rail network
  A bit more family friendly
  Slightly more costly than Taipei and the country.

  From memory the older kids enjoyed Taiwan, the younger kids enjoyed Korea.

  • 

    nayanmodi on 15/09/2019 - 23:23

    thanks for the detailed response. We will probably take a small travel pram where the baby can sleep instead of our full-sized pram.

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  Thatbargainhunter on 15/09/2019 - 23:38

  I acnt help you with Korea, as my first trip to the south is booked for next year.

  However, Taiwan is an amazing place to visit and I can't see it been a problem with the kids.

  1 week, there is still plenty of time to move around the country. The country is small and transport generally insanely good. Consider trips to Taroko, Kaoshiung (I really like Kaoshiung) Tainan and Taoshiung.

  For me, the most memorable thing about Taiwan are the night markets. You must go, they are fun, good food and insanely cheap. They are all over the country, with the best (by far) in the northern suburbs of Taichung.