Sites and phones in Seoul

September 15, 2007 9:56 AM

Seoul for a day, and... should I buy a mobile phone there?

I've got a one day layover in Seoul next week - arriving around 8 PM and leaving at 8 PM the following day. I'm staying at the Ibis Myeong-Dong, if neighborhood is relevant.

The general question: What can I do in 24 hours? What should I do? What do I absolutely have to do? Is it feasible and worthwhile to do a DMZ tour?

The more specific question: I need to replace my aging phone. Is it worthwhile and possible -- from both a financial and technological perspective -- to get a phone in Korea? I'm on T-mobile so can put in my own sim card. Something i-Phone-ish/Blackberry-ish with browsing and email. If so, which phone (presumably a Samsung) should I get?

너를 감사하십시요

posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

Phones? In a word, no. There might be places selling GSM phones for foreign travellers (i.e. at the airport) but those funky Korean phones will so not work outside of Korea.
posted by holgate at 10:06 AM on September 15, 2007

To give some more clarity to holgate's answer...Korea is one of the few places with an extensive CDMA network architecture -- and no GSM. There will be services to take your SIM card and give you a phone to rent -- but that's just using the SIM card for billing's sake. It's still a CDMA phone. That's a rarity in Asia (and in fact, most of the non-North American world).

CDMA phones are not nearly as transferrable as GSM phones, and good luck seeing if Sprint, Verizon Wireless, or Alltel let you take a Korean phone onto "their network." God only knows, maybe MetroPCS or Cricket would let you try, but definitely ask first.
posted by kenneth at 10:41 AM on September 15, 2007

Finally, a question I can answer!

I asked a similar question a while ago, although I had much less time than you did. Here's an account of my day in Seoul.

You could possibly do a DMZ tour; I think they leave in the morning and get back in the late afternoon. Check the sites of some tour operators to make sure. Have fun!
posted by pravit at 11:04 AM on September 15, 2007

Oops. I missed the earlier threads which are in fact quite comprehensive. Apologies and thanks pravit.

Phone advice couldn't be clearer. Thanks.

Anyone tried the DMZ tour?
posted by RandlePatrickMcMurphy at 12:01 PM on September 15, 2007

I gave the DMZ a miss, myself. If you want to go, then you probably want to pre-book a half-day tour leaving in the early morning (how will you be doing for jet-lag?)

Otherwise, what to do depends on how many other palaces, museums, teeming electronics markets, shopping malls and folk villages you have seen in the region.If you have time to buy a second-hand Lonely Planet guide to Seoul before you go, I found it very useful, as are many websites like Virtual Tourist.
posted by Idcoytco at 11:59 PM on September 15, 2007

너를 감사하십시요

감사합니다 is standard. Never heard anyone actually say it with the conjugation you've used, though it's grammatical, more or less. Machine translation? [/tangent]

I went on the DMZ tour when a friend visited and wanted me to come with him. Well worth it -- I recommend it highly, even though I'm usually down on 'touristy' stuff. You can walk from Myeong-dong to the hotels where the tour bus leaves -- not far at all.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 10:49 PM on September 16, 2007

One thing about the DMZ — check the tour information beforehand. We wanted to take my in-laws when they visited but couldn't because some tours have dress codes (no shorts, no sandals, no tank tops) and require documentation (passport or alien resident card) that they/we hadn't brought with them/us.
posted by Brittanie at 1:00 AM on September 18, 2007