VISITKOREA App: Official Korea Trip Planner & Travel Help

Plan Korea with Official Information: What VISITKOREA Does Best

VISITKOREA is strongest for official trip ideas, current events, travel basics, and planning. Use NAVER Map or KakaoMap as a second check for final navigation.

Published Jul 18, 2026

How to use it

Install VISITKOREA, select your language, and browse Travel Basics before departure.
Search destinations or open Suggested Itineraries, then save only the places that fit your dates and region.
Sign in if you want Travel Planner, saved items, personalized recommendations, events, or benefits.
Allow location and selected notifications only if you want nearby event, attraction, festival, or offer alerts.
Before leaving for a place, recheck its official page, save its Korean name and address, and open the final route in NAVER Map or KakaoMap.

Can you use it?

Korean phone number: NoBasic travel information can be browsed without a Korean phone number. Membership and event participation use separate account details.
Foreign-issued cards: Not applicableThe app is free. Tours, tickets, bookings, and partner offers can redirect to services with their own payment rules.
Sign-up: ConditionalBrowsing works without membership. Travel Planner, saved items, personalized services, events, or coupons may require a VISITKOREA account.
Identity verification: ConditionalBasic information does not require identity verification. Some events or benefits may require login, email, or identification such as a passport.
Cash: Not applicableVISITKOREA itself is free; linked partners and venues set their own payment methods.

What to know

Travel articles and suggested plans are ideas, not guaranteed live operating information. Recheck opening days, reservation rules, and transport.
A place added to Travel Planner is not a reservation. Admission, timed entry, transport, and restaurant bookings must be completed separately.
A listed promotion, coupon, tour, or booking can have its own login, passport, region, date, and payment conditions.
Background location is required for nearby smart notifications and can use more battery. Advertising and late-night notifications are optional.
The built-in map is useful for orientation, but a Korean map app is usually better for the exact entrance, live transit, or final walking route.

You can read basic travel information without a Korean phone number. A VISITKOREA account is needed for features such as Travel Planner, saved items, personalization, and some events or benefits.

The current iOS listing includes English, French, German, Japanese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, and Traditional Chinese. Content depth can differ by language, so check the English version if a translated page is missing recent details.

VISITKOREA Plan Your Trip screen with Travel Planner and About Korea sections

Use notifications selectively

The app can send location-based alerts for nearby offers, events, attractions, and festivals. This requires location access set to Always and notifications enabled. Promotional alerts, including late-night alerts, are separate choices; leave them off if you only want core travel information.

Verify the last mile elsewhere

An official tourism article can still become outdated when a venue closes for maintenance, a festival date changes, or reservations sell out. Before traveling, open the attraction’s own site and confirm the date, hours, price, and booking conditions.

For the final route, copy the Korean place name or road address into NAVER Map or KakaoMap. VISITKOREA is the stronger discovery and planning layer; Korean map apps are usually stronger for the exact entrance and live transit details.

Turn a list of ideas into a day you can actually follow

Start with one regional anchor rather than filling a day with every highly ranked place. For example, choose a palace or museum with a fixed opening time, add one nearby meal area, then keep one indoor or weather-proof option in reserve. Check travel time between the actual entrances, not just the district names. Two places that both say “Jongno” can still require a bus ride and a long walk.

For every must-do stop, keep three details outside the planner: the Korean place name, the road address, and the official booking or operating-hours page. A screenshot is useful when mobile data is weak or a translated place name produces several map results. On the morning of the visit, check closures, the weather, and the last practical transport back to your accommodation before committing to a distant attraction.

Treat suggested itineraries as a starting sequence, not a promise that every stop fits your pace. Queues, hills, luggage, children, and summer heat can change a realistic day dramatically. If removing one stop makes the rest of the route comfortable, the shorter plan is usually the better plan.

The official website and app share the VISITKOREA service, so try the browser version if a screen will not load or a saved plan does not refresh. Do not rebuild an urgent same-day itinerary inside the app: copy the two or three essential stops into your notes and navigate to them individually. A planner problem should not erase the Korean addresses and confirmation numbers you need for paid bookings.

If the built-in route points to the wrong side of a station, building complex, or park, search the destination in NAVER Map or KakaoMap and compare the entrance name. For an attraction with multiple gates, use the gate named on the ticket or official visitor notice. Keep VISITKOREA for context and verified tourism links, but let the venue and transport operator decide the final operating detail.

What VISITKOREA is best for

VISITKOREA is the Korea Tourism Organization’s official visitor app. It brings together destinations, food, accommodation, shopping, festivals, travel basics, themed articles, suggested itineraries, and trip-planning tools.

Use it at the idea and planning stage: decide which region fits your dates, learn what is seasonal, and build a short list. It is also useful after arrival for current tourism announcements, official campaigns, and access to the 1330 travel helpline.

VISITKOREA Where to Go screen with Destinations and Suggested Itineraries

Offers and coupons

VISITKOREA Exclusive and other promotions can provide discounts from official partners. Read the eligibility, redemption period, required identification, and booking channel before relying on a benefit. Some offers are available to international visitors but may require a passport, account, or advance reservation.

If this does not work

Use NAVER Map or KakaoMap for detailed place pages and final navigation.
Use the 1330 Korea Travel Helpline for travel interpretation and urgent non-emergency questions.
Check the attraction, festival, transport operator, or venue's own site before paying or traveling a long distance.