Must buy in Korea — Top 23 cheap, famous & best things to buy in Korea (South Korea)

February 2, 2023

Koreans believe that honey grapefruit tea has the effect of treat coughing, stopping phlegm as well as antipyretic, cooling the body and many other uses. Whether used for hot or cold drink, this is a truly gift you can not miss while traveling in Korea for your adult such as a parent, relative, family or boss in your office.

Honey grapefruit tea (Honey citron tea)1 — Credit: best things to buy in Korea blog.

Normally people would buy jams of grapefruit tea that are packed in very heavy glass boxes and also make it difficult for you when pack luggage to bring back. So, after a while of research, Living Nomads discovered that in the market there is a kind honey grapefruit tea that is packed into small packages in a large box, both saving and convenience for tourists to bring back as gifts.

Fish Cake

The soft fish cake, with chocolate core and red bean and hemp, sweet without satiated. It’s great to buy for the kids, and not only for the kids, sure it will be also touch the heart of your hungry friends at home again.

fish cakes korean Foto by: what is good to buy in korea blog. — Foto by: what is good to buy in korea blog.

Handicrafts items

Do you want to find feature products of Korean culture? The traditional items shops in Insa-dong, Gahoe-dong and Samcheong-dong are places you should to go. Popular souvenirs such as keychains, nail clippers, Hanbok dolls, etc. can be easily found at local markets or street stalls.

Craft a Souvenir with Korean Traditional Paper — A craft souvenir with Korean Traditional Paper

Maedeup is the traditional Korean art form of knotting silk threads or cords.

What about Jeju? Harubang statues – the symbol of Jeju island. Nobody visit in Jeju without looking for a Harubang statue.

South-Korean-Jeju-island-Tol-Harubang-Tourist-Travel-Souvenir-Fridge-Magnet-Blue — Tol Harubang

Ginseng

In the past, ginseng has been a precious oriental medicine that only people with social status or officials family have conditions to use. Now, although it is more widely used and more popular, but Korean ginseng remains a high-end and high-value gift that is extremely beneficial to the health for grandparents and parents. If you want to buy ginseng, let’s go straight to Geumsan ginseng market, this is the largest ginseng market in the world, people usually buy three types are fresh ginseng, red ginseng and white ginseng.

Moreover, there are many products that are bought as gifts such as Korean Lingzhi, Ginseng Tea, Ginseng wine, Ginseng candy…

Handmade soap

Depending on your skin type, handmade soaps in Korea have a lot of lines of product with different scents and ingredients. Like cute candies, they are cared for, carefully packaged with traditional Korean paper or can be put into a bamboo box for convenience as a gift.

Tea

If you do not have the opportunity to buy ginseng, then choose to buy Korean tea for your relatives. In this country, tea is not only a simple drink but also processed to have more health benefits. You can choose famous tea brands such as Nokcha (green tea), Maesilcha (plum tea), Yujacha (lemon tea), Mogwacha tea, Omijea (five flavor tea) and so on. These are the types of tea that improve health, prevention of common diseases.

Cosmetics

Korea is considered as the cradle of beauty and aesthetics, so Korean cosmetics are always in favor, trust by consumers, trust. Here are five famous cosmetic brands in the the land of kimchi.

Skinfood
O’hui
The Face Shop
Missha
VOV

Hanji (Traditional Korean paper)

Once you have selected the gift, there are many different ways to place it in a beautiful gift package. There are many Korean paper shops, or hanji in the Insa-dong area. This is a gift wrapping paper with unique material and color. Hanji will make any gift becomes more graceful. Each sheet costs from 1,000 won or more and depends on the paper type. If not use for gift wrap, you can also use Hanji to create works of art.

hanji paper art Credit: best best things to buy in Korea blog. — Credit: best things to buy in Korea blog.

hanji paper art Picture: Must buy in Korea blog. — Picture: Must buy in Korea blog.

Honey

Korean honey is an expensive commodity but has good quality with strong flavor and characteristic. Honey is rich in vitamins and is a good antioxidant. What is better wonderful when visiting Korea and bring these bottles of honey that good for health as gifts for relatives.

Entering Ssamziegil, there will be a pretty small shop of organic honey from her bee farm in the Yangpyeong. A small honey jar can be worth from 10,000 won to 100,000 won.

The shop also sells honey mixed with other ingredients such as jujube, quince, and ginger. A small jar costs about 8,000 won. This is another option gift for health care instead of honey tea that is advertised with more sugar than honey.

Ceramics

When traveling to Korea, there are many options for you if you want to find a gift of Korean ceramics suitable for your wallet, from jars, jugs or enamel glazing vases to the set of synchronize cups of tea. You can also buy yourself a jade tea set with 2 cups for about 20,000 – 30,000 won.

Dojang (Korean Seal Stamp, Name Seal)

Korean seal stamp, name seal, or “dojang” in Korean, is used as a signature in ancient Korean texts. Here they also make unique gifts at your demand. On the third floor of the Ssamziegil building is a shop called Callizone that specializes in making handmade name seal on request for 30,000 won in 20 minutes. If you have the opportunity to visit Korea, you should also choose one with color and typeface, in Korean or English.

Fashion

Korean fashion is especially famous among young people in Vietnam. Visitor can choose to buy Korean fashion products with the latest trend at the markets and supermarkets such as: Dongdaemun Market (Seoul), Myeong-dong Business District (Seoul), Itaewon Western Street (Seoul), Namdaemun Market (Seoul), Chungjangno Street (Seoul), Mugeo-Dong Street (Ulsan).

Silk Painting

Silk painting is one of the luxury gifts that many visitors choose when coming to Korea. There are many shops selling handmade silk paintings with a variety of content, from natural and animal images to folk anecdotes – each type with different meanings such as the wish of good luck and happiness. Price per roll of silk paintings is about 25.000KRW with small rolls and up to 50.000KRW with large rolls.

Lingzhi mushroom

This is the item that many visitors love while traveling South Korea. Although it is a specialty from Korea, but now there are a lot of Lingzhi mushrooms from China are sold in stores nationwide, if not careful you will in the situation that travel to Korea but bring the Chinese goods to home. Therefore, if you travel by the tour, you should follow the instructions of the guiders, if traveling self-sufficiency, ask your friends carefully before deciding where to buy Lingzhi mushrooms.

Korean-Lingzhi-Mushroom-capsule — Korean Lingzhi Mushroom Tea. Picture: Must buy in South Korea blog.

Electronics

Korea is famous for many world leading electronics brands such as Samsung, LG … This is a place where you can buy electronic products at affordable prices. Some of the electronic markets you can visit are: Yongsan Electronic Market (Seoul) – Korea’s largest electronics market, where you can assemble a computer, buy a game console or electronic devices to use at home at relatively cheap prices or at Namdaemun Market (Seoul) – where you can easily buy cameras, lenses and other accessories (both new and old).

Summary, the list of gifts you have to buy from Korea, in fact, in supermarkets, every item can have many different types of many different brands and it will also match your taste and hobby.

seoul shopping street — Credit: best best things to buy in Korea blog.

Read more:

night-street-seoul-south-korea seoul travel blog seoul blog — Hongdae night street.

Some best day tours, trips, activities and transfer services, tickets in and from Seoul you can refer to

Are you finding more top things to do in Seoul: Tours, activities, attractions and other things? Let’s check it out here.