Here is the good news: Overland camping in South Korea is easy. This is a super safe country and there are parking lots all over the place. Another bonus is that this country has zillions of public toilets, you can literally find them on every corner of the street, in every subway, and in many parking lots. The overland camps are free of charge, generally clean, and come with toilet paper, running water and in most cases with soap.
Note: July – August is the time that 50 million Koreans go on vacation, thus every beach and campsite is packed.
Read More: The South Coast of Korea
The not-so-good news is that we haven’t found many truly mind-blowing places to rough camp. I guess the country is too densely populated for that. South Korea has lots of nature but that’s mostly in the mountains where a piece of flat land isn’t evident to find. To enjoy nature’s majesty, you will have to hike.
Read More: Hiking in Seoraksan National Park
Travel Guides for South Korea
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1. Campgrounds & Overland Rough Camps
Apart from parking lots and rough camps, you will come across two kinds of campgrounds:
- Free of charge, with basic facilities such as cold water and public toilets. No need for reservations.
- Paid campgrounds. These often come with facilities, or so we have been told (we haven’t used them), such as WiFi, hot water, electricity hook-ups. Reservations (online) are required.
Thus far we have stayed mostly in parking lots and once on a free campground. It was weekend thus packed. For us, coming from noisy South America, it was bliss to camp alongside some 20-30 families without blaring radios. At 10 pm it was actually quiet. Koreans have confirmed that this is the norm, not an exception!
Read More: Accommodation & Overland Camping in Russia
2. Backcountry Camping & Shelters in National Parks
Backcountry camping is forbidden in national parks but some do have campgrounds. A number of them have shelters though, good for multiple-day hikers. Note that you have to make reservations in advance. The reservation is mandatory, but you pay at the shelter (find the reservation page here).
Expect fees to be around 8000-10000 won (US $6-8.50). For hikers: instead of carrying around an inflatable mattress and/or sleeping bag you can also rent 1 or 2 blankets at the shelter (2000 won, US $1,75) to sleep on/under.
Bring earplugs! Size of shelters can vary from a dozen to more than a hundred persons.
Read More: Hiking in Jirisan National Park
3. Accommodatie: Jjimjilbang (찜질방)
Jjimjilbang are bathhouses with different types of hot baths but you can also spend the night here. (Thus this may be a very affordable option to stay while e.g. waiting for your car to arrive in the port). Local people often do this.
We went to a few just for the bath but haven’t spent the night there. The jjimjilbangs have common rooms for everybody, but the saunas are for same sex.
4. Staying with Local People
We were invited through our website to stay with local people. Invitations also came from people we were chatting with on the street. We love taking them up, which have always resulted in special encounters and sometimes friendships.
Read More: Thank you, Korea
Recommended Books on Preparing your Overland Journey
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Map with GPS Waypoints of our Camping Spots in South Korea
Let there be no misunderstanding: no, you don’t have to go to these places. No, these are not by definition the best spots. In South Korea you will have no problem finding your own places to camp.
We decided to share our GPS Waypoints anyway, for overlanders who would like some tips about camping spots which we enjoyed or found practical. Please note that this is always our personal experience.
You can also check out iOverlander, where you can see where other overlanders spent the night. Unfortunately, not many sites have been uploaded on South Korea yet so please, add yours too.
(Originally published in 2016 / Updated in March 2018)
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Love your roof tent from Carpas Anaconda! What do you think of it? How does it stack up against your old model? And most importantly, did you splurge for the model with the A/C insert? 🙂
Heya guys, as always, the perfect RTT doesn’t exist. It will always be a compromise in some ways. The old Eezi Awn wasn’t waterproof anymore and we used it only in very good weather. In that respect the Anaconda tent is a winner for us. Absolutely waterproof. But as there was a list of improving the Eezi Awn, there is a familiar list for the Anaconda. Little improvements can be made to taste by ourselves but the most important part would be improving the storm ability of the tent and that would mean touching the structural basis of the fly. In my opinion the Eezi Awn still rules. But for a cheaper tent, the Anaconda holds up very well. And for your information, we didn’t splurge anything as we were giving the tent as a generous gift of the Venezuelan manufacturer for which we still are very grateful.
Korea seems like such an exotic place to camp at! Next time, I think I’ll skip the Airbnbs and try camping instead. Thanks for the tips!
Beautiful article. Got to see awesome snaps. Thanks for this page. Wanting to have a camping trip to South Korea!!
Heya Byron, you should! Definitely check out the mountain trails if you are into that! We can highly recommend that.
Thanks for the suggestion.
hello!!!
do you know if is possible to rent a campervan, motorhome, trayler… in south korea?
i cant find anythink on internet!
thanks!
I have no idea. We have seen plenty of RV’s and campervans, but all seem privately owned and not rented.
Hi. Thank you for listing a good review of camping in Korea!
I want to know about feeling of people who have camped in many countries, and i’m looking for their reflection after experience.
Could you please tell me about the best merit and uncomfortable thing of camping in Korea?
Also please tell me about whether camping tour can be successful in Korea if you considered about that.
The first couple of paragraphs tell you exactly what the pluses and minuses are.
What do you mean with a camping tour?
Hi There,
My wife and I like in South Korea and just built out a minivan to camp in with our two dogs. We are highly interested in rough camping in a forest somewhere or near a river, anything with a really nice view and quiet really. We live in Pyeongtaek. Any suggestions for spots that fit that description? We are heading out for a 3 night trip for Thanksgiving but have no destination now that we know national parks don’t have any reservations. Thank you so much.
It’s too long to remember exactly. On this map in this article I see one that might be of interest, between Guinsa temple and Gosu cave. In the mountains you generally stay in a parking lot near the entrance of a park or temple, which can be beautiful spots. Even if the parks don’t allow entrance, often you can park in front of them. Same with temples. Sorry I can’t do better than that. I wish you a happy Thanksgiving.
this sounds tempting to me, I tried camping in an SUV when i visited Ladakh last year. Is there any service through which I can rent a camping truck in south korea? I would love to have this experience on my next trip.
Heya Shas, really no clue, as you are well aware, we are roaming around with our own wheels. I’m guessing that Google is your best bet. Or if someone reading this, has more info, please let them respond. But do know that South Korea has beautiful mountains as well, and hiking is the best to explore them propperly.
Hi, my name is Mercedes and I was wondering if it could be an option for camping in South Korea renting a car and bring our own tent and supplies? Finding a campervan to rent seems no possible, at least I’m not being able to find anything online…
Thanks for the recommendations!
Yes camping in South Korea is populair and you will find campings around the country. You will also find dedicated camping stores, which are mostly catered to family camping style.
Hi!! I am planning my South Korean road trip to this coming fall, and I am struggling to find a place to rent a camping car (like the Mini Cooper with the roof tent that you have in the one picture!). Something like that would be perfect for me, but I can’t find a website to see what there is to book. What do you suggest? TYIA! 🙂
Heya Krys, I have no clue as to where you would be getting a camping car for rent. You could get a minivan and self camp with a matras in the back probably. As most caravans and camping cars we have seen are either in private hands or are stationary on a campground.
Good luck and let us know what you found out and what you did.
Can you validate the pin for the Guman spot? I scoured the map around the Lighthouse Museum, but couldn’t spot it and the coordinates given are nowhere near the coast.
I’m sorry, way too long ago for me to remember. Which coordinates exactly are you referring to, maybe I can then figure it out again.
From the first photo under the campgrounds section: https://landcruisingadventure.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/cbw_20160820_s_korea_P7214.jpg
Sorry, no way I can find that back. It was somewhere on the (south) east coast near a lighthouse.