From Seoul to Busan, you can now go on a K-drama tour when you visit South Korea

In the picturesque seaside city of Pohang in South Korea, there is a red lighthouse that looks very familiar. Within a short distance is a restaurant with a spectacular view of the ocean, a modest dental clinic, grocery and hardware stores, a bustling fish market, and a charming brick-walled house.

If you watch and love K-dramas, chances are Pohang is now part of your South Korea travel itinerary, given that all of these locations featured in the smash-hit K-dramas of 2021 hometown cha cha chaSuch as the fictional city of Gongjin. Places like this that have featured in memorable K-dramas over the past few years are numerous, and what better way to explore the country than by visiting the places you’ve seen and enjoyed onscreen?

Encouraged by the resurgence of the Hallyu wave during the pandemic, the number of tourists visiting South Korea from around the world is steadily increasing. Statistics from the Korean Tourism Organization show that 1,22,771 lakh tourists from India visited South Korea in 2023. In 2024, the country welcomed more than 53,000 tourists from India until April, showing a 95% increase compared to the same period in 2023. In February this year, the KTO launched the K-Incentive Scheme 2.0, under which travel agents will be encouraged to process quick, simple and hassle-free tour visas for tourists from India between February and September 2024.

On a trip to South Korea in 2022, entrepreneur and licensed therapist Jenny Chang visited and documented several K-drama filming sites on her Instagram page, Nuna’s Noonchi. “I received many messages from people saying that if I ever did a K-drama tour, they would love to join. That started the work for me,” she says. Jenny applied for tourism and business licenses and founded a tour company called Nuna’s Noonchi Tour. Starting in the summer of 2023, Jenny has already gone on five tours and has three more scheduled for the rest of the year. Guests on her tours are primarily from the USA and Canada and Jenny says that given the price of her tours (starting at $4,900) and the premium experience, the average age of her guests is around 45 to 50 years old.

The numbers are also constantly growing – for 2025, Noona’s Noonchi Tour already has 12 tours scheduled, including K-pop themed ones.

Wellness and K-Drama

“Anyone can do a K-drama tour. But as a mental health expert, I add a layer of health to it,” says Jeannie, who also wrote the book, How K-dramas can change your life: Powerful lessons on belonging, healing, and mental healthDuring the tour, she talks to her guests about the importance of mindfulness, leads them through breathing exercises during workshops, discusses themes from her book, and conducts meditation sessions in idyllic locations that have also served as K-drama filming locations.

Jenny Chang and her tour group click a photo in front of the famous lighthouse in Pohang, which has been featured in many K-dramas including Hometown Cha Cha Cha. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Her tour schedules are very busy – Jenny laughs and says her guests walk at least 15,000 steps every day. “There is so much to see and I want people who have traveled all the way to South Korea to see it all on my tour. Group tours work well because we make it easy to reach remote places,” she explains. From the restaurant where the heroes are moving Enjoyed Pork Cutlet and Vincenzo’s Geumga Plaza, Yonsei University features many popular K-dramas Real beautyand locations featured in recent blockbusters Cute RunnerHis tour is full of places.

“The emphasis here is not just on visiting these filming locations, but on experiencing something new, and coming together as a community and making lifelong friends. It’s also important to have local tour guides and staff on my team because my guests are eager to learn about South Korea’s history and culture,” she says.

Day tours organised to explore K-drama filming locations usually focus on Seoul, and more comprehensive, focused K-drama tours choose several cities including Seoul, Busan and Jeonju. While these cities can be reached by road, Jeju Island, another hotspot for K-drama filming, can only be reached by plane, and requires a separate dedicated tour.

While many famous tourist sites such as Lotte World Theme Park or Namsan Tower are featured in K-dramas, there are many other places that are not on the usual tourist itineraries. Local tourism organizations have been serving tourists who are flocking to the country, enticed by the Hallyu wave, for some time now.

“In the 2000s, we noticed that tourists wanted to visit Nami Island, which was featured in the then-popular K-drama winter Sonata“However, since 2015, we have seen a sharp increase in the number of tourists who are interested in K-pop and K-drama and want to visit such places,” says Carlos Lee, sales and marketing manager at Korean travel company Hanatour ITC. “One of Hanatour’s most successful packages is a tour of the house and surrounding area where BTS filmed the second season of their reality show. In the soupThe show’s members had the chance to relax for a few days at a beautiful home in Pyeongchang, which also had a camping area, an outdoor pool, and a volleyball court.

They said, “This tour is one of the top travel experiences in Asia in 2023, curated by travel portal TripAdvisor.” Priced at $146 per person, participants are taken on a bus from Seoul to Pyeongchang for a day, and the company advertises it as a tour that makes it easy to visit places that are not easy for an individual traveler to get to. The tour also includes a pitstop at the bus stop of Hyangho Beach, which was featured in BTS’ song ‘Spring Day’, and was also the cover of their album. you never walk alone,

Enjoyment of Community

The spirit of travelling as a group and enjoying these places as a community is what defines these tour experiences. Content creator and influencer Sherry Shroff, who recently announced a K-drama tour in partnership with South Korea-based company Goodmate, says travelling with a group of like-minded people makes the experience even more enriching and exciting.

“I realized that watching K-dramas is different from other shows because we are exposed to and involved in many aspects of the characters’ lives – such as the culture, fashion, and food,” says Sherry. On her last trip to South Korea, Sherry says she realized just how true this is. “I walked into a convenience store after midnight and bought instant ramen, sausage, and a nori (seaweed) snack – something I’ve seen so many times on my favorite shows,” she says with a laugh, describing these little experiences that add to the joy of visiting the country.

Sherry’s eight-day K-drama tour (prices start at $3,150) will cover Seoul, Jeonju, Busan and Gyeongju, and include visits to K-drama filming locations, a cooking class experience and a hotel stay. Enoch (A traditional Korean house).

She says the idea for this tour was born out of extensive research and interaction with members of her online K-drama club on Facebook. “Partnering with someone local like Goodmate also ensures ease of travel and information. There is a huge difference between traveling as a tourist and wanting to experience things from a local’s perspective, and my tour hopes to deliver an authentic experience with an emphasis not just on dramas but also on Korean culture and food,” she adds.

Sherry has also shared popular vlogs documenting her travel experiences in South Korea. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

In the past few years, with the release of new shows and movies, filming locations have also come into focus. Following the release of the 2019 Academy Award-winning film ParasitesSeveral travel companies offered tours of the houses where the film was shot.

While planning a recent vacation to South Korea, Delhi resident Sonali Pawar says her itinerary was largely inspired by places she saw in K-dramas, even if not the exact locations or shooting locations. “The lively streets of Itaewon, the ivy-covered Yonsei University building and the stone wall of Deoksugung palace, which appear in the show keep going Andextraordinary lawyer woo“These are some of the places I went,” she said.

In addition to checking out popular places that hold significance for BTS, like the Magnet Cafe in Busan, Sonali says, “What really impressed me was how I felt when I went to Pohang, where hometown cha cha cha “It’s a really surreal feeling to see the places I’ve seen in my favourite shows,” she added.

Given that the craze for K-dramas is not going to die down in the near future, if you are planning a trip to South Korea, take out time to run through the Hanbyeokgul tunnel from Jeonju. twenty five twenty oneOr explore Jumunjin beach where the ghost first meets Ji Eun-tak Patron: The Lonely and Great God.