Pick by situation

The summer rains in Korea last for weeks and arrive more often than the forecast suggests. These are not courses you survive with an umbrella — they are mostly indoors from the start. Some are entirely under a roof, others have enough indoor space that rain does not end the day.

With children the problem is rarely what there is to see — it is getting there. Transfers and long walks use up the day before you arrive. These courses either keep the stops close together or let you stay in one place for a long time.

Seoul reads better at night. The bridges over the river, the lit city wall, the view down from a tower — all of it is a different picture after dark. Every course here can be started once the sun has gone.

Spend several days inside Seoul and the city starts to look like itself everywhere. Gyeonggi is 40 minutes to two hours away by public transport; Gangneung, Andong and Gyeongju are about two hours by KTX. They have what Seoul does not — a fortress wall, the sea, royal tombs.

Five Joseon palaces still sit in the middle of the modern city, with lived-in hanok neighbourhoods in the gaps between them. What makes Seoul unusual is not that they exist but that you walk to them from a subway exit.

Most of the national museums open their permanent galleries free. They are large enough that trying to see everything eats the day — pick a floor or a theme instead. They are also the strongest option in rain and in deep winter.

The Han River cuts a kilometre-wide line through the city, and both banks are park the whole way. Outside Seoul there are lakes and gardens. These are walking and cycling courses, so the weather decides a lot.