South Korea Tours for Seniors

I’ve done over a dozen tours with Collette and this one was my favorite for many reasons: The hotels were super clean and modern; more included meals and right balance of free time. The tour manager was very informative and sent us helpful information two weeks prior to departure. Visits and stories from Hiroshima bomb survivor and North Korean defector will stay with forever. Finally, I feel Collette’s small group tour offers better experiences and value.

South Korea is an amazing country to visit as a tourist having: modern high quality, across the board infrastructure; beautiful scenery; cherry blossoms every where in season; fascinating historical cultural sites; first class museums; unique and vibrant food culture both in restaurants and on the street; excellent coffee; welcoming, friendly and helpful people; signs and explanations in English on public transport and at tourist sites; safe, crime free environment. A fascinating, inspiring and memorable trip.

We saw quite a bit on this trip, but so many things were scheduled right down to the minute. It would have been nice to have a little bit of free time at some of the sites, even if it was just half an hour to shop for a minute or grab a drink. There were so many temples and shrines that it was a bit overwhelming. I absolutely did not like the overnight at the monastery. It was so difficult to sleep on a mat on the floor when you are old and the food was not that good. It was a relief to get to a rest stop the next morning to get some food and coffee. The tour was conducted in English and Spanish and then we had so many different tour guides coming on and off (Japan) and people joining and leaving the tour at various times. I do have to say that the tour guides worked their butts off wrangling all the people around, and they all had an immense knowledge of history and traditions. It was disappointing that we did not get to do the ferry from Busan to Japan. We had to fly which took time away from exploring Busan. It would have been nice to have more than half a day there. There were also many changes on the first day as to going to the DMZ. We specifically chose this tour for those sites and we ended up going to neither. The substitutions were ok though, but it is not what we signed up for. The english guide is not listed below, but I would rate her five stars on both language and satisfaction (Sohey Ahn). The bus drivers were all excellent.

This trip was amazing from start to finish! It was such a great mix of culture, history, food, and scenery - every day felt different and full of new experiences. South Korea really surprised me with how diverse it is. From busy Seoul to quiet temples and mountain hikes, there was so much to take in. The trip was pretty full-on at times, and I’d have loved a bit more free time in Seoul or Busan to explore on my own, but overall it flowed really well.

Tour Managers were extremely knowledgeable with good command in English. They offered optional tours which weren't included in our package, and took us to these sights. Able to accommodate food restrictions! Best part was meeting and speaking to the Ama Divers!

The trip was different to the tours I have used before in that the majority of fellow travellers were Spanish speaking and different people joined and left the group on different days. I have only used English speaking tour companies in the past with the same group of travellers from beginning to end. Also there were no optional excursions, welcome meeting, farewell dinner or group photo which is customary with most tour companies. The attraction of Europamundo, however, was its competitive pricing and variety of itineraries. For 2 days of my 4 day tour there were other English speakers (maximum 5) but I was the only one on the last 2 days of my tour which was a strange experience for me and not something I would have been happy about for more than a couple of days. Having said all of that though, my fellow travellers were friendly and I was able to communicate with them in my broken Spanish with a couple of them speaking some English. The positives about this tour were the value for money, the itinerary which was extensive, packing in a lot and the guides. The English speakers were provided with a separate tour guide which was great as our group was so small and eventually just me! The guide in Seoul, Symon Park was excellent and very helpful with tips and advice. He gave us (the English speakers) his number and told us to get in touch with him even for advice even after he left the tour in Seoul. My guide So He who joined in Busan and was with us for the rest of the trip was also very knowledgeable. I learnt a lot about Korean history and details about all the sites we visited from her.