Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jennad]

I'm in the process of moving to Korea, and I'm still researching different cities. I'm leaning more towards the south, and but I'm definitely open to anywhere. Can anyone give me advice on where to live? Subjective, I know, but I'll give a list of things I'm looking for:

-Big enough that I can meet other Westerners
-Not so big that I'm fighting traffic/crowds all of the time (so probably not Seoul)
-Not a concrete jungle--I want some greenery, easy access to hiking/outdoors
-Clean air
-Being near water, either a river or ocean, would be ideal, but not absolutely necessary

Thanks for your help!

[jonah47]

I would give Busan a look over although maybe a little too large for you.

[Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida]

Busan is best. Daegu is dire.

[sirius black]

Ulsan and Pohang get a little stick about the clean air but its not as bad as some claim. Not as big as Busan 1 million and 600k respectively but both on the ocean with beaches, tight knit foreigner communities as well, both within a couple hours of Busan (as well as Daegu) and plenty of hiking and greenery. Busan is great but also has some urban sprawl as well and can be congested within the city proper so just outside of Busan may tick off the boxes for your list.

[jennad]

Thanks for the tips. I was actually looking into Daegu....why is it dire?

Has anyone heard anything about Yeosu or Geoje? My friend just got a job on Geoje Island and it looks pretty cool.

[willteachforfood]

If you are looking for a "fabulous" place to live then you will want to look at a different country. You will be able to find a reasonable place to live here, but there is not a single city in this country that qualifies as "fabulous".

I think that Yeosu might just qualify for your other criteria, however. If you like nature/hiking then you'll be much happier down south. Jeollanam-do is way better to live in than Gyeonggi-do, and Gangwon-do is too cold and too scarcely populated. You will meet plenty of westerners in Yeosu and it's big enough to have all of the basics (shopping, restaurants, cinemas, etc.), plus Suncheon is just up the road with more options and lots of foreigner bars.

Koreans love concrete, so for the most part every city is pretty similar, and architecturally mostly depressing....so if you want nature you should live in a smaller town and buy yourself a vehicle to get out of town on the weekends.

[jennad]

[willteachforfood]

[northway]

Everything kind of looks the same.

[willteachforfood]

[Mariella713]

I really like Daejeon. Parks, rivers and hiking oppurtunities in abundance. Less crowded than Seoul and less polluted. You can be sure to bump into foreigners in any Holly's Coffee or Dunkin Doughnut's (btw I prefer the foreigners in Daejeon to Seoul, they're more friendly in my experience ahem). Only about 1 hour to Seoul by train, if that aswell.

[jvalmer]

City planning in a lot of the cities is pretty chaotic. Basically the houses came before the roads, and residential roads weren't built for the massive amount of cars Koreans have now.

[sallymonster]

How about Ilsan? It's a nice upscale planned city with a big lake park, and close enough to Seoul that you can go there when you feel the need for the big city.

If you'd rather live in the south near the coast, I've heard good things about Changwon, which is a another planned city about an hour from Busan.

[Gnawbert]

Chuncheon qualifies for most of those.

It has clean air, a lake and a bunch of rivers, wonderful hiking and pretty friendly locals. Also, it's now connected to Seoul via the subway system although it's not exactly a short commute. I don't know about the other Foreigners but I'm sure there are nice ones and odd ones just like everywhere else.

[sirius black]