Updated: 01/28/2025
i went to THE season 2 BTS in the soop house in Pyeongchang and i still have not processed the experience to this day.
if you don’t know what the season 2 BTS: In the soop house is, it’s the filming location of season 2 of K-Pop boy group BTS’s show, BTS: In the SOOP. the show is a reality tv show that follows BTS taking a break from their daily work lives and going into a forest in a city called Pyeongchang to spend relaxing time together. the Korean word for forest is 숲 (sup/soop) hence the name BTS: In the SOOP. if you did not know already, BTS is one of my favorite groups and i never thought i would see this filming location so i was tweaking out. shoutout to Russell for going broke with me for this!
i booked the experience through the Korail website which is the main site for the Korail train AKA: the train that travels long distances in Korea AKA: train to Busan train… i saw an advertisement for it on a poster at SK Global (my dorm) but if you want more info on the booking website pls feel free to reach out to me.
the whole experience included a round-trip train ride from Seoul Station to Pyeongchang Station, a tour of the BTS season 2 in the soop house (1 hr), an early vegetarian dinner at a famous restaurant in Pyeongchang (1.5 hours), and a tour of Woljeongsa Temple (1 hr).
this experience was definitely one of my top 10 favs in Korea. it seemed a bit sketchy at first because Russell and i were super early and the first lady who introduced herself to us didn’t arrive at the meetup spot until about 1 minute before the meet-up time. her name was Minji and she was nice. we were also concerned because we were sleepy since it was so early (around 7:00 AM) and she told us not to miss our stop. before we left she also brought us to the wrong train platform and didn’t realize we were at the wrong one until about 3 minutes before our train arrived so we had to run to the right one before we missed the train lol…. before we boarded the train she briefed us on our day’s activities.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
Minji explained to us that the company would typically cancel the experience and refund customers if fewer than 5 people made bookings/reservations but that they decided not to cancel it that day. i am not sure why they allowed us to go, but we were grateful nonetheless. Russell and i read a warning/policy on the website that said the same thing when we made our reservations. we never received a cancellation or refund notice either so we were nervous about last-minute cancellations when we showed up to the meeting point. i just wanted to put this out there in case someone runs into a similar situation. i made a friend in Korea who booked the same tour with her sister and had the same guides and experience.
anyway…..
the train ride was so fun even though i slept a lot of the time. it was exciting riding the Korail for the first time and thinking about taking it multiple times during my stay in Korea. i was especially looking forward to taking it to Busan… wink i was glad i was taking it with Russell and that our first time was guided because even though i know i could do it myself, i think i would have been stressed. it felt good knowing what to do and where to go for future instances. the train ride was about 1.5 hours long.
when we arrived in Pyeongchang a kind tour guide was there to pick us up. her name was Lenol and she was talking story with us the whole time. she was the sweetest and made all the difference in our experience. she told us that she would usually drive a tour bus to the location but since it was just the 2 of us that day we basically had a mini private tour in a regular car.
it was our first time in Pyeongchang and it was really cold. although it became warmer later on, it was the coldest weather i had felt in Korea up to that point. Lenol informed us that Pyeongchang is known to be the coldest place in South Korea and that people go there to snowboard and ski during the winter. it’s a rural part of Korea and we went there right before the fall foliage began so it was still very green. driving to the house was a little nerve-wracking because of the small, narrow roads. Russell and i were still a bit sketched out even up to this point because of this.
when we arrived to the house i felt like i was watching a movie. it felt surreal to see it in person even though it’s just a house. my 2020-2021 ARMY self was screaming. our tour guide listed some ground rules to follow when exploring once we arrived. when we entered there were slippers ready to wear around the house.
first Lenol took us to the gym room where a cute photobooth was set up. Russell and i had the chance to take a picture with the BTS member of our choice. by the way the BTS members weren’t there in-person in case you were wondering. they’re in the military right now. it was just a digital version of them lol.
fun fact: i have had this type of photobooth experience with the same digital versions of the members at the BTS concert i attended in Las Vegas 3 years ago. it was nice to try it again with a different design on the back of the card
insert picture of card here block out face
anyway, i don’t remember if i retook my photo but Russell did. Lenol said that tourists would usually be allowed one photo with no retakes but she was kind enough to allow Russell to retake his photo because it was just the two of us at that moment.
after we took the photos she told us we were free to look around the place as we pleased. it was big and just Russell and i at the time so we were overwhelmed but excited. more tourists eventually came later, but we had the entire place to ourselves for about 20-30 minutes before they arrived. we explored the whole house, took pictures, and videos, and went outside to play basketball on the court for a bit before leaving. we also had the chance to say hi to the owner of the house before we left.
we left the house around 1pm and headed to the famous restaurant in Pyeongchang. unfortunately, i don’t remember its name and i can’t find it anywhere, but it was a really good vegetarian-style restaurant. they had meat options but it was recommended to eat the main dish without meat.
after we ate we left for the temple, which was beautiful but sadly cut short because it started pouring rain out of nowhere. we didn’t have umbrellas either so we ran inside the nearby cafe where Lenol was waiting for us and waited for about 30 minutes until it was time to leave. Lenol bought yummy hot citrus tea for us that i still think about to this day.
at the end, we arrived at the train station and went home safely. overall, this experience was definitely one of the most memorable ones i’ve had during my time in Korea and i would 100% do it again if given the chance later on. if you’re visiting and stumble upon the flyer, please go. you’ll love it if you’re a BTS fan and have watched in the soop.
unfortunately, the tour does not show up on the link i used to make the reservations anymore, but i will provide it in case it becomes available in the future:
https://www.korailtravel.com/eng/
there are also other ways to book this tour on sites like Klook and KoreaTravelEasy, where most tourists book.
feel free to watch some clips from this tour on my mini-vlog
