Rating: 
Summary: The only choice!
Review: A fantastic, thorough, enjoyable guide to Korea. It's also a lot less focused on Seoul than its competitors, which is great-- there's a lot to see in the rest of the country! I've been in Korea for three years and this is still an indispensible tool for getting around.
Rating: 
Summary: Korea visits
Review: Dear Sir
First of all I would like to thank you for your excellent guide book on South Korea. We had two weeks there last year and have just returned from our second trip and on both journeys I have planned the whole thing with the aid of your book. You ask for comments so here are just a few:
1. As far as we could ascertain there is no 'son' running the Ch'ollip'o Arboretum. Infact we believe that Ferris Miller was never married and that the place is now run by a trust.
2. We do recommend the Pan Asia Paper Museum in Chonju. Not only is the subject most interestingly and imaginitively presented but one can have a hands on experience actually making a sheet of paper which they give you as a momento. We would advise a visit early in the day (it opens at 0900) as hoards of schoolchildren visit as part of educational trips.
3 The National Museum for Contemporary Art in Seoul Grand Park closes on Mondays.
4 We do recommend the Racing in Seoul Equestrian Park. There is a comfortable, warm and welcoming 'Foreigners'' Lounge (entry free once you have entered the ground) where you can have a grandstand view of the track with a backdrop of beautiful mountains. The betting is explained by special 'stewardesses' and all the horses' past form etc comes up on giant screens infront of you so there is no need to toil down to the paddock. It is an especially good occupation for a wet day!
5 I must recommend a gentleman called J.J.Chung (nickname Doublejay) who may be the only person in Korea offering personalised tours in his people carrier. We have just had a second tour with him. His prices are not outlandish, his English is good, he is everlastingly flexible and the most caring of tour guides. His e-mail address is [web page]. he will provide any sort of tour that might be required. For instance I know that last year he took two Americans and their five adopted Korean children to every corner of the country and ,with the help of the media, found at least one birth parent for each child. Other people just like to study the education system. We just like to see everything! But whatever is wanted, he will oblige.
6 And lastly: We do recommend visiting the temples as darkness falls. ( Admittedly the larger temples are usually the ones to see at this time). The drumming by the monks at dusk is an experience never to be forgotten. Fast and rhythmic in true Korean style they drum for some moments before striking the big courtyard bell. Up in the mountains, the thrilling sound carries down the wooded valleys and is quite amazing. We particularly recommend Hwaom-sa for this experience.
Thank you again for an excellent book which has made all the difference to us in our travels...
Rating:
Summary: Korea visits
Review: Dear Sir
First of all I would like to thank you for your excellent guide book on South Korea. We had two weeks there last year and have just returned from our second trip and on both journeys I have planned the whole thing with the aid of your book. You ask for comments so here are just a few:
1. As far as we could ascertain there is no 'son' running the Ch'ollip'o Arboretum. Infact we believe that Ferris Miller was never married and that the place is now run by a trust.
2. We do recommend the Pan Asia Paper Museum in Chonju. Not only is the subject most interestingly and imaginitively presented but one can have a hands on experience actually making a sheet of paper which they give you as a momento. We would advise a visit early in the day (it opens at 0900) as hoards of schoolchildren visit as part of educational trips.
3 The National Museum for Contemporary Art in Seoul Grand Park closes on Mondays.
4 We do recommend the Racing in Seoul Equestrian Park. There is a comfortable, warm and welcoming 'Foreigners'' Lounge (entry free once you have entered the ground) where you can have a grandstand view of the track with a backdrop of beautiful mountains. The betting is explained by special 'stewardesses' and all the horses' past form etc comes up on giant screens infront of you so there is no need to toil down to the paddock. It is an especially good occupation for a wet day!
5 I must recommend a gentleman called J.J.Chung (nickname Doublejay) who may be the only person in Korea offering personalised tours in his people carrier. We have just had a second tour with him. His prices are not outlandish, his English is good, he is everlastingly flexible and the most caring of tour guides. His e-mail address is [web page]. he will provide any sort of tour that might be required. For instance I know that last year he took two Americans and their five adopted Korean children to every corner of the country and ,with the help of the media, found at least one birth parent for each child. Other people just like to study the education system. We just like to see everything! But whatever is wanted, he will oblige.
6 And lastly: We do recommend visiting the temples as darkness falls. ( Admittedly the larger temples are usually the ones to see at this time). The drumming by the monks at dusk is an experience never to be forgotten. Fast and rhythmic in true Korean style they drum for some moments before striking the big courtyard bell. Up in the mountains, the thrilling sound carries down the wooded valleys and is quite amazing. We particularly recommend Hwaom-sa for this experience.
Thank you again for an excellent book which has made all the difference to us in our travels...
Rating: 
Summary: Great cultural info, no good travel info
Review: Huge book, full of great insights into the culture and broad descriptions of surrounding points of interest. However, there is no useful information on hotels, eateries, modes of travel between places (other than comments like: 24 trains per day between puson and seoul [paraphrased sample, don't have book in front of me]). Very dense and difficult to navigate the book to find what you are looking for.If you want Korean cultural information, in depth, on wherever you plan to go in Korea, this is the right book. Otherwise, steer clear.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulously helpful.
Review: I bought it due to the recommendations given on this very website and it was definitely informative but this book is in DIRE need of updating. Korea is changing VERY FAST and 1997 was before the current President (who is stepping down this month) was elected into office!
Rating: 
Summary: Out of date
Review: I bought it due to the recommendations given on this very website and it was definitely informative but this book is in DIRE need of updating. Korea is changing VERY FAST and 1997 was before the current President (who is stepping down this month) was elected into office!
Rating: 
Summary: student
Review: I did not find this to be a very helpful book at all while I have been studying this past year in Korea. Important information is outdated. Many of the places they recommend are overpriced tourist rip offs, while some of the places they disregard have been some of the greatest placed I have visited. I find myself using my friends books by the competition which have catered much more closely to our interests.
Rating:
Summary: As essential as a travel visa
Review: I have visited South Korea several times and have always been disappointed by the paltry selection of guidebooks. That all changed when I found this little jewel. Nilsen's "South Korea Handbook" captured my heart because it describes the things that really matter about a country--its cultural treasures, architectural wonders, scenic sights, and natural history. It skips the usual fluff about hotels and restaurants that bogs down other guidebooks. Nilsen covers only the things that are permanent about Korea, and I thank him for it. The Handbook was so useful that I found myself carrying it in lieu of a map. As a student of architectural history, I was pleased to be able to locate so many out-of-the-way treasures using Nilsen's detailed and useful maps. If you absolutely need hotel and restaurant information, buy a guidebook like Fodor's, but take along a copy of this as well. You'll sure to be well pleased.
Rating:
Summary: This book was my good friend for one year in Korea...
Review: I took the first edition of this book with me when I went to Korea a few years back. I referred to it often over the course of the year or so that I lived there. I found it to be remarkably thorough, usually quite reliable (one of the yeogwans recommended by the book, a place in Pusan, was not what I'd been led to believe by the wonderful writeup in the book...) and totally useful. I recommend this book enthusiastically, and after paging through the second edition in a competitor's bookstore, found it has been improved upon. A must-have if you're headed to Korea for any length of time.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulously helpful.
Review: I used this book to learn how to read Hangul--which opened MANY doors--to plan many of my excursions, and to get places when nothing else worked. I was pleasantly surprised to find that even some details as precise as bus routes got me where I wanted to go, and the detailed information was much more informative and trustworthy than the tour guides I infrequently used. I wouldn't advise anyone to depend on any guidebook for things as ephermal as restaurant and bus line information, but in a pinch, this one worked just fine.
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