South Korea on your own, in a small group

There are few countries where a first-time solo traveller in Asia can feel so quickly at ease as in South Korea. Its cities are generally regarded as very safe, by day and by night. The public transport is fast, clean, frequent and well signposted in English as well as Korean. A single rechargeable card pays for buses and underground trains alike, and the high-speed railway links the main cities in a few hours. Convenience stores on every corner are open around the clock, and the mobile data is among the fastest anywhere. As a place to be on your own, it asks very little of you.

The one difficulty: eating

The exception is food, and it is a real one. Korean eating is profoundly social. The classic meals, barbecue grilled at the table and big stews bubbling in the middle, are designed to be shared. Many barbecue restaurants will serve a minimum of two portions, and some simply will not seat a single diner at a grill table, especially at busy times. The array of side dishes that comes with a meal assumes several people around the table. Eating alone has traditionally been seen as slightly sad, or at least unusual.

That is changing. With more Koreans living alone, solo dining, honbap, has become common, and plenty of places now cater for one: noodle shops, kimbap counters, soup restaurants, food courts and market stalls, where eating alone is entirely normal. But the great communal meals of Korea are hard to enjoy fully on your own, and that is one of the strongest arguments for travelling in a small group. Several people round a barbecue makes the whole thing work.

The evenings are where the country is most fun in company. Noraebang, karaoke rooms rented by the hour, are a Korean institution and much better with a group than alone. Chimaek, fried chicken with cold beer, is a national passion, eaten in small bars or delivered to picnic mats on the banks of the Han River in Seoul on summer evenings. And Korea has one of the most developed café cultures in the world, with coffee shops on every street, many of them elaborately designed, which makes a pleasant place to spend an hour alone between group activities.

Language and manners

Few Koreans outside the tourist trade speak much English, though younger people often speak some, and signs, menus and transport announcements in the cities increasingly include it. Hangul, the Korean alphabet, is logical and relatively quick to learn, and learning to sound it out before you go makes menus and signs far less daunting. Korean manners are warm but structured around age and status. Small courtesies, such as receiving things with both hands, a slight bow on greeting, and not pouring your own drink when others are present, are noticed and appreciated.

One practical tip is worth knowing before you go. International map apps give only limited walking and driving directions in South Korea, and most Koreans use local apps such as Naver Map or KakaoMap instead, which have English versions. Taxis are plentiful, and many are hailed by app as often as on the street. With those set up on your phone, getting about alone is simple.

The tour that does it in company

G Adventures' Solo-ish South Korea, eight nights, is, as the name suggests, aimed at people travelling on their own. It runs in March and December. In Seoul it includes the hanok lanes of Bukchon, the Jongmyo royal shrine and the food stalls of Gwangjang Market, a good place to try the dishes that are better shared. In Gyeongju it covers the royal burial mounds of Daereungwon, the National Museum, the temple of Bulguksa and the Seokguram grotto, and the hanok village of Gyochon. In Busan it includes the painted hillside of Gamcheon Culture Village.

G Adventures' Best of South Korea, seven nights in October and November, covers a similar route, from Seoul and the DMZ through Gyeongju and Yangdong to Busan.

The pattern that suits most people is to spend the days with the group and some of the evenings on their own: a bowl of noodles at a counter, a walk through a lit-up market, a quiet hour in a café. Korea is easy to explore alone. The meals, though, are better shared.