Ray Bartlett

This book’s biggest selling point are the lavish photos. There are overviews of Seoul and the provinces, but nothing too detailed. Understandably, some of it is online. I appreciated the historical background information. The section on culture could have used updating to reflect the recent burst of books, movies, and music coming out of Korea.

I really would have liked maps that showed the train and transit systems, as I imagine most visitors won’t be traveling by car. The overlapping show more long-distance and commuter train systems are confusing—the limited English-language information on the Web doesn’t help much—and I would have liked more on that. show less

Excellent book containing lots of information about Korean history, culture and customs. Beautiful photographs. I skimmed through this book before our 2025 Korea trip