South Korea
Five Joseon palaces and hanok lanes in a capital that runs late, a fast train to a port city of beaches and painted hillsides, a volcanic island in the south and the most fortified border on earth an hour from Seoul — South Korea is compact, punctual and far easier to travel than its distance from India suggests.
Old palaces, new city,
and a fast train between them
South Korea is a small country that behaves like a large one. Seoul alone holds five Joseon-dynasty palaces, a UNESCO-listed royal shrine, whole neighbourhoods of tiled hanok houses and a skyline that would not look out of place in a film set fifty years from now. Then a KTX train leaves Seoul Station and puts you in Busan, on the opposite coast, in about two and a half hours.
That is the shape of a good Korean trip: Seoul at one end, the south coast at the other, and the country's history in between at Gyeongju, where the tombs of Silla kings sit as grassy mounds in the middle of town. Add Jeju, the volcanic island below the mainland where the coast is World Heritage-listed and Hallasan is the highest mountain in the country, and you have a fortnight that never repeats itself.
For Indian travellers it is also unusually straightforward. Delhi to Seoul is a single non-stop flight, the time difference is only three and a half hours, cards work almost everywhere, the metro is signed in English, and the country is one of the safest in the world to walk around at night. The one piece of real admin is the visa, and the missions in India publish exactly what it takes.
When is your Korea?
Four sharply different seasons. Spring and autumn are short, beautiful and busy; summer is hot and wet; winter is cold, dry and cheap.
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South Korea visa — what you need to know
Indian passport holders need a visa for South Korea, and for a holiday that is the C-3-9 short-term tourist visa. It is applied for in person in India, through the Korean mission responsible for the state you live in, and the missions themselves publish the fee, the documents and the time to allow.
The Korea Electronic Travel Authorisation is for nationals who can already enter Korea without a visa, and the Consulate General in Mumbai states it plainly: India is not eligible for K-ETA, and all Indian nationals must obtain a visa through a Korean diplomatic mission. The temporary K-ETA exemption that Korea has extended to the end of 2026 is for those eligible nationals, so it changes nothing for an Indian passport. Any website offering to sell an Indian traveller a K-ETA is selling something that does not exist.
The Embassy in New Delhi covers the north and east — Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, the north-eastern states and others — through VFS Global Korean Visa Application Centres in New Delhi and Kolkata. The Consulate General in Mumbai covers Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana at its own visa counter or through its designated agencies. The Consulate General in Chennai covers Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh through centres in Chennai and Bengaluru. Jurisdiction follows your current residence, not where your passport was issued, and proof of address may be asked for.
The Consulate General in Mumbai publishes a standard processing time of ten working days, says visas are generally issued within ten days of application, and asks applicants to apply at least one month before the planned travel date. Your passport stays with the mission while the application is processed, and the visa, once issued, is valid for entry for three months from the date of issue. The Embassy in New Delhi publishes no processing time on its visa page, so plan against Mumbai's figure and its advice. An express service of three working days exists, but first-time tourist visa applicants are excluded from it.
From August 2026 the fee for a single-entry visa for a stay of up to ninety days is ₹3,600. A single entry for more than ninety days is ₹5,400 and a multiple-entry visa ₹8,100. The visa application centre charges its own service fee on top of this. Fees are set by the Korean government and were revised for exchange-rate reasons, so confirm the current figure when you apply.
Every applicant completes the electronic application form on the official Korea Visa Portal, www.visa.go.kr, prints it, signs the last page and submits it with the passport and documents at the counter. The Embassy has issued a warning about counterfeit portals that imitate the real one and issue fake visas to Indian applicants. On the form, select the mission that actually covers your state — a form addressed to the wrong mission cannot be processed.
For all South Korea journeys we design, we prepare your complete visa documentation package — the forms, the supporting documents, the sequence of submission. Our visa specialists help travellers prepare complete applications with careful document guidance. Final visa decisions always remain with the relevant authorities.
The tourist checklist asks for a day-by-day itinerary with a refundable hotel booking and a refundable flight e-ticket — so do not buy non-refundable fares to strengthen an application. It also warns that employment status may be verified and that a tourist visa must not be used for a business visit. Sponsored applicants and travellers under eighteen add the sponsor's papers and, where a child travels without both parents, a no-objection letter.
Travel South Korea intelligently
Korea is safe, punctual and organised. The things that catch people out are small — the maps app, the holidays, the visa timing — and easy to plan around.
South Korea travel FAQ
The questions Indian travellers ask most often before booking South Korea.
South Korea for every kind
of traveller
The country is small enough that most of these combine in a fortnight. These are the pieces that work, not a list of everything.
Gyeongbokgung with its changing of the guard, Changdeokgung and its Secret Garden, the hanok lanes of Bukchon, Insadong for tea and craft, and a different neighbourhood every evening.
Korea's second city and its port — Haeundae and Gwangalli beaches, the Jagalchi fish market, the painted stairways of Gamcheon and a temple built onto the rocks at Haedong Yonggungsa.
A volcanic island an hour's flight from Seoul: Seongsan Ilchulbong rising from the sea, the Manjanggul lava tube, waterfalls at Seogwipo, the haenyeo women who free-dive for shellfish, and Hallasan in the middle of it all.
The capital of the Silla kingdom for close to a thousand years, with royal burial mounds in the town centre, Bulguksa temple and the Seokguram grotto in the hills; and Andong's Hahoe village, where the clan houses are still lived in.
Day tours from Seoul reach the Demilitarised Zone — observatories, the Third Tunnel and Dorasan station. East of the capital, Gangwon province has Nami Island, Seoraksan National Park and the 2018 Winter Olympic slopes at Pyeongchang.
The K-drama locations, the K-pop districts, the night markets and the food — Korean barbecue, bibimbap, temple cuisine, and a coffee culture that rivals anywhere in the world.
Tell us whether you want Seoul and the palaces, the coast at Busan, Jeju, the Silla heritage or the mountains in autumn, and our travel designers will shape the route around it.
How far in advance
should you book South Korea?
The visa sets the pace, and the two short seasons — cherry blossom and autumn colour — set the demand. Everything else in Korea books comfortably.
Autumn colour and cherry blossom are two to three weeks each. Summer is the monsoon. Choose first, then build.
Apply through the mission for your state at least a month before travel, as the Mumbai consulate asks. Keep bookings refundable.
Seoraksan lodges in mid-October and Jeju in the school holidays go early. Book those legs before the rest.
Seoul, Busan and Gyeongju have deep hotel capacity and KTX seats open a month ahead.
What to pack
for South Korea
A genuine four-season country. A January trip and a July trip need almost nothing in common, and spring and autumn sit comfortably between them.
Shoes come off in temples, many restaurants and every hanok stay. Pack a pair that slips on and off easily and socks you are happy to be seen in.