South Korea Classic: Seoul, Gyeongju & Busan

Soo-Yeon meets you at Incheon International Airport — around eleven hours' flight from London — and transfers you by private car to your hotel in the heart of Seoul. The flight is long and the rest of the day is yours: a rest, an unhurried first walk in the streets around the hotel, or simply a cup of Korean barley tea while the city settles around you. In the evening, if you have the energy, Soo-Yeon accompanies you to a gentle welcome dinner of bibimbap and grilled beef at a restaurant she has known for years.

The day begins at Gyeongbokgung, the grandest of Seoul's five royal palaces, where the changing of the royal guard takes place beneath the great Gwanghwamun gate. Soo-Yeon leads you slowly through the throne hall, the pavilions and the lotus pond, explaining the court life of the Joseon dynasty that ruled here for five centuries. Then the lanes of Bukchon Hanok Village, where six hundred traditional tiled-roof houses still stand between the two palaces, followed by a leisurely lunch and an afternoon in Insadong — Seoul's street of antique shops, paper makers, calligraphy galleries and old tea houses.

A full-day excursion north to the Demilitarised Zone — the heavily fortified border that has divided Korea since 1953 and one of the most extraordinary places on earth to visit. With Soo-Yeon and a licensed DMZ guide, you visit the observation posts looking across into North Korea, the Imjingak peace park and, conditions permitting, one of the infiltration tunnels dug beneath the border. It is a sobering, unforgettable half-day that brings the modern history of the peninsula vividly to life. Return to Seoul in the afternoon for a rest and an evening at leisure.

A relaxed morning in Seoul before Soo-Yeon escorts you to Seoul Station for the KTX — Korea's high-speed bullet train, which glides south at almost three hundred kilometres an hour in smooth, spacious comfort. In a little over two hours the rice paddies and pine hills of the south slip past the window and you arrive near Gyeongju, the ancient capital of the Silla kingdom. After checking in to your hotel by Bomun Lake, the afternoon brings the royal tumuli park of Daereungwon — a green meadow of grassy burial mounds where the kings and queens of Silla have lain for fifteen hundred years.

A full day among Gyeongju's greatest treasures, both UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Bulguksa Temple, built in the eighth century, is the masterpiece of Silla Buddhist architecture — its stone terraces, twin pagodas and timber halls set against a backdrop of wooded hills. A short drive higher into the mountains brings the Seokguram Grotto, where a serene granite Buddha sits in a domed stone chamber gazing out towards the eastern sea, considered one of the finest Buddhist sculptures in all of Asia. Between the two, an unhurried temple lunch and time simply to sit and absorb the calm.

A final, gentle morning in Gyeongju — perhaps the National Museum, with its golden Silla crowns and the great bronze Emille Bell, or the Anapji royal pond — before a comfortable private drive south to the sea and the city of Busan, around an hour and a half away. After checking in to your hotel overlooking Haeundae beach, the afternoon is at leisure: a stroll along the golden sweep of the bay, a coffee at a beachfront café, or simply the pleasure of the sea air after the temples of the interior.

A full day exploring the colour and character of Busan. The morning begins at Gamcheon Culture Village, a hillside neighbourhood of brightly painted houses, murals and tiny galleries that tumbles down towards the sea. Then Jagalchi, Korea's largest fish market, where the women fishmongers — the famous jagalchi ajumma — preside over a glittering hall of the morning's catch. In the afternoon, a calmer note: Beomeosa, a serene Buddhist temple set in the pine forests of Mount Geumjeong above the city, one of Korea's most revered.

A relaxed final morning by the sea in Busan — perhaps a last walk along Haeundae or a visit to the cliffside Haedong Yonggungsa temple set dramatically above the waves — before Soo-Yeon escorts you to the station for the KTX back to Seoul. The bullet train returns you to the capital in under three hours of seated comfort. On arrival, you check in for your final night and enjoy a farewell dinner of Korean barbecue, with Soo-Yeon raising a glass to the journey you have shared.

A final, leisurely Seoul morning — depending on your flight time, perhaps a last visit to a tea house in Insadong, a stroll along the restored Cheonggyecheon stream that runs through the heart of the city, or simply a relaxed breakfast. When the time comes, Soo-Yeon transfers you by private car to Incheon International Airport for your flight home, with a warm Korean farewell.