What it cost to live in Seoul 1 month as budget slow travelers

By / November 19, 2024 / budget slow travel, monthly spending tracker

Another month, another stop on the Earth Vagabonds budget slow travel world tour.

Seoul, South Korea was the location for our most recent 28-night Airbnb stay. (See the video tour post with the Airbnb link).

Below is the expense breakdown, taken directly from our ‘Spending Tracker’ cell phone app where we religiously record every penny / Korean won that we spend.

What it cost to live in Seoul 1 month as budget slow travelers

$1052  —  Housing

$326   —   Groceries

$323   —   Gifts/Charity

$219   —   Restaurants

$123   —   Supplies

$108   —   Local transit

$92    —    Excursions

$79    —    Beer

$37    —    Travel

$0      —    Health

_________________________

$2,359 total:  28 nights for 2 people

A very satisfactory total — in our view — for nearly a month in the heart of one of the biggest cities in East Asia. Especially since the total includes the charitable donations we made.

Our spending ‘goal’ for the time in Seoul was $3,000. So we came in under budget. Woohoo! That will help balance our time in Japan this summer, where we were over the same three grand per month expense goal.

Related: What it cost to ‘fast travel’ in Japanv- for two months

Further notes & explainers

As usual, we didn’t really make any extra effort to keep costs down. Like everyone everywhere, we just lived our lives, day to day, and tried to get good value for our money. As we often point out: we are NOT on vacation.

Thankfully, while one could easily double or triple our spend to live in Seoul – it’s really not necessary to enjoy the place. In fact, about every other day was spent walking, exploring, hiking the natural and historic sites in and around Seoul – even the DMZ. The main cost on those days was public transit fares, and maybe a mid-day snack.

Further, mom & pop restaurant meals, take-out, or street food and a couple beers is all we usually require (wife Ellen doesn’t drink alcohol at all). Fine dining, costly wine or liquor, Starbucks lattes — rarely. We get pizza once a week, boil 15+ eggs at a time, and keep pasta and fresh salad in the fridge ready to eat. Groceries are not cheap in Korea (or Japan, or Taiwan) – but we always quickly learn where the best prices and sales are.

Similarly, taking guided ‘tourist’ tours or rushing from one attraction to another is a sure way to balloon a budget. As always, we do some internet research, go slow, use public transportation, spread our sightseeing over the whole month — and allow for plenty of ‘down time’ too.  

It should be noted, it cost us only $37 to get to Seoul by bus (after a couple quick stops in the South Korean countryside – Gyeonju and Hahoe Village). Obviously, flying into Seoul from outside the country would add many hundreds in travel costs to the total. Next month’s spending breakdown in Taipei, Taiwan will include airfare from Seoul.

FYI, South Korea has suspended the standard $50 per person visa cost for Americans through the end of 2024. A measure intended to boost tourism after Covid. (Taiwan visa entry is free for U.S. passport holders.)

Korea was getting chilly during our stay. The leaves were changing. Our first autumn in years. We bought some flea-market sweatshirts and pants — reflected in the supplies category.

Best news: no spending on health this month. No problems. No doctor visits. No prescriptions. Anything we needed (ibuprofen, a bandage) we already had.

Finally, hopefully our ongoing monthly spending reports continue to show that living in desirable, world-class locations outside America is not only interesting and fun — but can be downright cheap compared to what it costs to live in the USA.

As always, be thankful and generous – happy trails & more beer.

Life is NOW!

Thanks for reading, “What it cost to live in Seoul 1 month as budget slow travelers.”

About Theo

Theo (also called Tedly) retired early from the news business to wander the planet with his wife, Ellen. He enjoys exploring all Earth has to offer from jungles and beaches to volcanoes and deserts, always drinking beer along the way.

How to retire early and budget slow travel all over the world

We’ve been traveling the world since 2015 when we retired early and sold everything except our backpacks. We live a comfortable lifestyle — on a budget from $2,000 a month in developing countries, to $3,000 a month in more expensive nations.

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