Hello. Today, I am going to introduce the Korean Highway Rest Stops. What kind of place do you think of when you hear ‘Highway Rest Stop’?
Usually, you probably think of a brief rest or using the bathroom.
However, Korea’s Highway Rest Stops are a little different. They offer diverse convenience facilities beyond simple bathroom use.
Based on the Rest Stop I visited directly, I will introduce Korea’s Rest Stops.
How to Enter a Korean Highway Rest Stop
This is the typical appearance of a Korean highway. It was nighttime at this time. Despite that, you can see that the road is very bright, right?
Korean highways have streetlights installed throughout the road even on dark nights, so you can drive safely!
When driving on the highway, there is a road like this where you can exit to the Rest Stop.
As Korea is a right-hand drive country, you must drive in the far right lane to go to the Rest Stop.
Usually, several signposts guide you from 5km before the exit to the Rest Stop, so there is no need to worry much.
Even at night, the Rest Stop signpost will be clearly visible like this!
If you use navigation, you can receive detailed guidance on where the Rest Stop is located, like this.
The navigation I used is Naver Map, which is Korea’s representative map application.
Very Wide Parking Lot
If you have successfully entered the Rest Stop via the far right lane, you will be able to see a parking lot this wide. Parking is entirely free, so you can park anywhere!
However, be careful not to park in the disabled parking zone or the electric vehicle exclusive parking zone.
Since guidance is usually provided through signposts, differentiating them will not be difficult. The parking spaces are also quite large, so parking will be convenient.
I was lucky enough to successfully park right in front of the Rest Stop entrance.
Even though it is late at night, there are quite a lot of cars, right?
Highway Rest Stop Exterior
The exterior of a Korean Highway Rest Stop looks like this. It is a very typical appearance of a Korean Rest Stop.
However, since each Rest Stop has different concepts, you will have fun looking around various Rest Stops if you drive on the highway!
The Rest Stop I visited was ‘Mungyeong Rest Stop’. It is on the highway heading from Seoul down to Busan. On Korean highways, there are quite a few Rest Stops.
On average, a Rest Stop is located every 30–40km!
The bathroom signpost is visible, and various goods are being sold at small stalls.
Since there are many charming goods with Korean sensibility, it would not be bad to look around at least once!
Claw machines are also located on one side of the Rest Stop, like this. It is quite cute, right?
I am not good at claw machines, so I did not use it, but pulling out a doll at the Rest Stop can be quite a cool experience, so I recommend trying it at least once!
Bathroom
The bathroom should of course be there, right?
The bathrooms at Korean Highway Rest Stops are quite large and nice.
The bathroom signpost is also marked in English, so you will not have difficulty finding it even if you do not know Korean!
When I visited, there was no one. so I took a photo of the inside of the bathroom. You can see how very clean it looks at a glance, right?
It is truly terrible to use a dirty bathroom at a Rest Stop when you are already tired from driving.
Korean Highway Rest Stop bathrooms are truly clean because there are management staff present!
Restaurant & Convenience Store
Now it is time to properly get to know the Korean Rest Stops.
What makes Korean Rest Stops special is the food court area and various convenience facilities.
The Rest Stop I visited that day was actually one where the scale of the food court and convenience facilities was not very large.
However, after seeing it, the thought “Even a small Rest Stop is this good?” will naturally come to you.
This is what it looks like when you enter the area with the food court and convenience store.
Since the time I visited was in the late night, it looks a little quiet.
Still, it looks really wide and pleasant, right?
There were many closed stores, but despite that, there was enough available to use.
A Korean souvenir shop was also located on one side, like this!
Typically, there are many cases where a Rest Stop has traditional local specialties from the region where the Rest Stop is located.
There is also the fun of looking at local specialties while visiting various Rest Stops.
There is something that cannot be left out when talking about Korean Rest Stops.
That is, the convenience store. Convenience stores are not missing from any of the Korean Highway Rest Stops.
There was a ‘Seven-Eleven’ convenience store here. Convenience stores usually operate 24 hours, so they will be open whenever you visit.
There are also a wide variety of items! Even if you do not use the restaurant, there are a bunch of various snacks available for when you are bored, so I recommend buying them at least once.
Can you see the items displayed? They are perfectly organized. I was also amazed. It was a point where the efforts of the staff managing the Rest Stop were visible.
Let us go to the food court area. The sections are determined like this, according to the type of food.
This Rest Stop was divided into about 5 types of sections.
As expected from the Republic of the Korea, high technology, ordering was also done unmanned through a kiosk.
After selecting the food at the kiosk and completing the payment like this, you will be able to receive an order ticket.
Like this! The ordered food name and the turn number are listed with numbers.
You should remember the turn number, and when the number appears on the display board, you go to the food section to pick up the item.
What did I order? Guess!
Here is a hint! This is the photo of waiting in front of the section where my food will come out.
The answer was, ‘Ramen’! the soul food of Koreans.
Although it is food that very simply and quickly, there is truly no better food than this at a Rest Stop.
If you take a sip of the spicy ramen broth after a long drive, it is truly paradise itself.
Besides ramen, there is truly a lot of other food.
but I specifically craved ramen that day, so I ordered ramen.
After you finish all the food, you can place the dishes in the dish return area, which is located next to the food sections!
There was a fascinating machine at the Rest Stop, so I tried using it.
It was an automatic tumbler cleaner. I put my tumbler in and used it, and it came out very clean and well-washed.
In Summary: The Korean Rest stop Experience
What did ‘Rest Stop’ mean to you?
As we found out today, ‘Rest Stop’ in Korea is a complex convenience facility that offers something more beyond simple rest.
If you travel in Korea using a car, I strongly recommend that you definitely use a Rest Stop on the highway!