Help juggling a one-week (9 days) itinerary in Seoul, Jeju and Gyeongju

for Seoul add the war memorial museum, best museum in Korea, Leeum Museum is so-so.

you can almost do the seoul itinerary in 2 full days since many of those sites are close and will take an hour or two at most, i'd also add myeong-dong and namdaemun market (they are walking distance from each other)

dont think there are any flights from Jeju-Ulsan easier route is Jeju-Busan and get a bus to Gyeongju from there, its not that far and there are buses direct from the airport to Gyeongju

itinerary from gyeongju sounds perfect

Personally I'm not a big fan of Seoul, and if I were you I'd spend a little less time in Seoul and more time in one of the national parks to take advantage of being here when the leaves are changing colour. If you're interested in getting out into the parks, here's a government website that has the predicted dates:

[http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/FU/FU_EN_15.jsp?cid=1391042]

For your time in Seoul, Changdeokgung and Gyeongbokgung are both worth checking out, and definitely stay for the changing of the guard at Gyeongbokgung as it's quite an interesting spectacle. If the weather's nice it might be worth a trip up Namsan for views over the city as well.

I've been to Jeju 3 times, and I would recommend going to Seongsan on the northeast coast (about an hour on the bus from Jeju City) and checking out the caldera and then taking a ferry to Udo Island (about 15 minutes) and renting a bicycle to cycle around the island. The bicycles are available as soon as you get off the ferry, and you can circle the island in a couple hours.
I also recommend taking one of the trails up Hallasan, but the weather doesn't always cooperate so it could get fairly cold up there if it's raining. I was underwhelmed by Manjanggul, but some people like it. It's really just a long underground tunnel, which I guess geologically is impressive, but to actually see it is not that interesting.
I'd also recommend staying in Seogwipo on the south coast rather than Jeju City as I think the south coast is more beautiful, and it's much quieter/relaxed than Jeju City.

Leaving Jeju, I second what the first poster suggested and fly to Busan. There are at least 10 flights a day between Jeju and Busan and your best bet pricewise is either Jeju Air or Air Busan. You can catch an express bus from the airport all the way to Gyeongju Bus Terminal for about 9,000 won and they leave every hour at about 35 minutes past the hour if I remember correctly.

You mention Ulsan a few times but I'm not sure why. Are you visiting someone there? I've never heard of any reason for a tourist to visit Ulsan. From Gyeongju you can go to SinGyeongju Train Station which is outside of the city but I'm not sure how far, and take the KTX (Korean bullet train) to Seoul Station. I think there's around one every hour.

If you have any other questions let me know,

Jason

Good advice from Jason. I'd cut 2 days from Seoul & spend 2 days in Seoraksan instead. There are frequent buses from Sokcho to the national park entrance and a cablecar up to the lookout. Access is from east Seoul bus station.

I've been to Ulsan & was pleasantly surprised. Stay a night at Baengojin for Ulgi Park. Ulsan is also much closer to Gyeongju, than Busan, & has direct flights from Jejudo. "(Gyeongju bus) departures from Ulsan Airport are at 8:20am 11:40 16:10 18:40pm."

See for yourself:

http://www.treklens.com/members/chrisJ/photos/Asia/South_Korea/South/Ulsan/

http://wikitravel.org/en/Ulsan#b

And I'd also agree with Jason on Jeju. Sungsan Ilchulbong was great, the lava tubes just so-so. But I've never been in any lava tubes before, even though there is one at Undara, in the far north of my home State of Qld in Australia. It was too dark to get a decent shot using a film camera (I now have a Nikon D90 Digital)

http://www.trekearth.com/members/ChrisJ/photos/Asia/South_Korea/South/Jejudo/

How do you book a flight from Jeju to Ulsan?

Found this in a quick google search:

Did You Know?

Korean has the most one stop flights between Ulsan, KR and Jeju, KR.
2 airlines operate between Ulsan, KR and Jeju, KR
Seoul, KR is the most popular connection for one stop flights between Ulsan, KR and Jeju, KR.
11,964 seats are available per day to fly out of Ulsan, KR connecting to Jeju, KR
Asiana has 5 one stop flights between Ulsan, KR and Jeju, KR.
The largest aircraft operated by Asiana flying between Ulsan, KR and Jeju, KR is a 737 with 150 seats.
7 flights per week fly out of Ulsan, KR connecting to Jeju, KR
The shortest flight between Ulsan, KR and Jeju, KR on Asiana is 476 miles.

"Which airlines fly from Ulsan to Jeju (USN to CJU)?The following airlines fly this route: Busan, Korean, Asiana."

http://www.farecompare.com/flights/Ulsan-USN/Jeju-CJU/market.html

http://www.koreanair.com/

http://flyasiana.com/english/

http://en.airbusan.com/AB/airbusan/english/main.jsp?loc=en (click 'domestic reservation' at left)

Would you still go up Seoraksan if you are planning to spend time in Hallasan?

How exactly would you fit traveling to and from Sokcho/Seokrasan into the itinerary above? Where would you squeeze it in?

Yes, Hallasan on Jeju doesn't have the spectacular jagged peaks of Seoraksan. Like I & others have said, you could cut 2 days in Seoul as most of the major attractions are easy to reach by subway & are close together.

http://www.trekearth.com/viewphotos.php?l=7&p=523710

http://www.trekearth.com/viewphotos.php?l=7&p=522294

http://www.trekearth.com/viewphotos.php?l=7&p=485240

I'm still a bit confused about how to get to and from Seoraksan without wasting an extra day just traveling. Does this itinerary work?

OCTOBER 22 (Saturday) - Land in Seoul in the morning, Go around Seoul (where do I leave my backpack?), Take night bus to Sokcho
OCTOBER 23 (Sunday) - Take bus from Sokcho to Seoraksan, Take beginner's hikes all day, Take night bus to Busan/Ulsan (?)
OCTOBER 24 (Monday) - Take bus to Gyeongju, Go around Gyeongju
OCTOBER 25 (Tuesday) - Go around Gyeongju, Take flight to Jeju
OCTOBER 26 (Wednesday) - Jeju
OCTOBER 27 (Thursday) - Jeju
OCTOBER 28 (Friday) - Jeju, Flight to Seoul
OCTOBER 29 (Saturday) - Seoul
OCTOBER 30 (Sunday) - Seoul

I thought pushing the bus trips to nighttime saves me a day. Any suggestions on where to leave a backpack on my first day and how to get from Sokcho to Gyeongju?

Is there some better way to juggle the schedule?

Going to Seoraksan on October 23 takes me there just after the peak of the foliage, and going to Hallasan in Jeju around October 27 takes me there just before the peak of the foliage.