Why do you like Korea? Impressions please

Well, the food, the culture, the foliage in the autumn time...

In my opinion Korea is not a country of striking beauty that shocks you, especially if you have been to other places in Asia already. But it is, without any doubt, an interesting country.

I never manage to compare places, as I think every country is different.. but if you force me to do so, I would say Korea stays between China and Japan, not only geographically. It is different though.

It is calm, warm, polite, clean but without missing some Asian chaos; the people is incredibly nice and the food.. the food is amazing! Temples are beautiful and lots of mountains and parks around the country you can enjoy. It is a very safe place to travel around and cities have also interesting vibes and stuff going on.
I can’t understand the reason why there is not much tourism (from Europe at least - lots of Japanese and Chinese though); I believe because of recent history and problems with North Korea.. and cause Korea has always been kind of isolated from the rest..

Overall, I felt in love with Korea and would definitely go back. I definitely recommend it!

whats the saying? One mans trash is another mans treasure. Pure;ly subjective.

Korea is a unique place. The juxtaposition between the modern and traditional is striking. It is an easy, First World country to travel in with excellent, inexpensive transportation, clean water, a great educational system, first rate communications, and safe. All the benefits of traveling in the first world. Yet you have a thriving market culture, religious conviction, traditional food, traditional villages, people still growing things even in and around cities. Seoul still has, in between its boulevards, an extensive system of alleys where people live and shop, sometimes a dozen lanes deep where hardly a car could travel (without difficulty). Restaurants will usually still have an area for floor seating, and some places are entirely without chairs. Hotels, even modern ones, still have some 'ondal' rooms, without beds.

It is easy to see and appreciate traditional folk culture as well as the success of Kpop, a thriving movie industry, huge department stores, and business success everywhere.

And of course then there is the food which is thoroughly unique and mostly traditional - or you are never far from the traditional.

And the alphabet is easy and fun to learn. With a little bit of effort, you will be able to make out menus and signs.

Lastly, its a lot less expensive than many other First World countries, so you don't need to worry all the time about prices. It's easy enough to find cheap hotels and very cheap food. Activities and attractions do not suffer from tourist price gouging.

All of the above plus there's a great variety of activities. You can easily go bushwalking and then be in a completely different environment later in the day. The people are helpful , the transport is very good and the food really great.

#5 is right. Korea is almost completely mountainous. Where the cities end, the mountains begin, so you can take the subway in Seoul or Busan right to the foot of the mountains. And it is a peninsula in which most people live within an easy trip to some spectacular coastline.

What do I like?

It's mostly personal.

My lovely wife is from here. So are my wonderful in-laws. I have friends here. I live here. I work here. It's pretty much my home.

My impressions?

It's filled with people more or less doing what people do anywhere else. Trying to make a decent life for themselves and their families.

It is correct that not many Western tourists come here. Most of the tourists are from Japan and China, as well as a handful from other Asian countries. For most of these tourists, it's a shopping trip and for things like K-Pop and K-Dramas (concerts, going to places made famous in dramas, studio tours etc.). Western tourists skip over it because other countries in Asia have better food, better scenery, a friendlier outward appearance (smiling Thais, for example), better architecture, a rougher feel etc.

If I were a tourist, I would not come back here. The downside of Korea is the serious lack of diversity. This is a country that prides itself on homogeneity (read: lack of diversity). I'm not making this up; this literally is a point of pride to many Koreans. Koreans, by and large, view themselves as pure and homogenous. There's a great level of sameness to the cities. The same boring, borderline-Soviet architecture. Sometimes cities will have cool little areas, but there's not the range in character in cities that you'd find in a lot of other countries. The same is true for the food. It's true that there's nothing like Korean food. And it can be tasty. But it seriously lacks diversity and innovation; so much of it is smothered in pepper flakes, pepper paste, garlic and sesame. It lacks outstanding freshness (even if the ingredients are fresh; they're hidden by the seasoning, not enhanced by it. Most Koreans I've encountered truly believe Korean food is the most delicious in the world and that it is inherently better than other cuisines,despite little to no exposure to other cuisines. Frankly, it's viewed as better because it is Korean. Thus, you get something that is unique,but there is no urge to innovate and improve.

I wouldn't compare Korea to any other country. It is unique, as a whole.

It's probably the best reason to come to Korea. There's nothing like it.

Japan, Taiwan and South Korea offer comfortable travelling and a fascinating mix of modern culture and old traditions. Great food and friendly (or at least polite) people. Little crime, good public transport and no annoying touts. For me all those 3 countries are exotic (I'm Dutch).

All three countries are densely populated and very mountaneous.

This doesn't mean that Japan, South Korea and Taiwan are very similar, the three cultures are very different. Taiwan has tropical nature and South Korea and Japan don't (except Okinawa).

I admire the way South Korea developed itself, it was a very poor country not so long ago.

I like kpop music by the way, especially ALi and Leessang.

I have a different point of view on South Korea and diversity. South Korea is imo not homogenous because there is religious diversity, a lot of people are Buddhists but there are also a lot of people Christian. Those who don't agree should consider that we live in a world with a lot of religious tensions and conflicts, for example in the Middle East.

There are a lot of big boring appartment blocks in South Korea but they never remind me of Ukraine or Russia because of the lack of delapidation in South Korea.

I want to revisit South Korea, I've been there once, I hope especially to visit Ulleungdo, I couldn't visit it last time because the ferry didn't sail because of the weather.

Enough said about S Korea. Try visiting N Korea for comparison sake. These countries diverted along economic/political/ideological lines only 60 years ago.