How We Planned a Unique “MT” in a Korean Countryside Village

When university clubs in Korea go on an MT (short for “Membership Training,” a group retreat), most people immediately think of the usual places like Gapyeong or Daeseong-ri. But we at KOPLE wanted something different; something more special and true to our community spirit.

The challenge? We didn’t know where to start. Searching online brought up the same predictable spots, and the lack of useful information was frustrating 😩. So we decided to take matters into our own hands and planned a countryside village MT from scratch. Along the way, we learned a lot—and we’d like to share those insights here.

Step 1. Before You Start Searching

Instead of randomly googling places, we found it much easier once we clarified four key things first:

1. Group size
   Many countryside guesthouses can’t host large groups. Have at least a rough headcount in mind.
2. Budget
   This is the most practical part: transportation, accommodation, meals, drinks. Decide how much you can spend per person.
3. Dates
   Have at least one or two possible weekends in mind. It makes phone inquiries much smoother: “Is it available on this date?”
4. Purpose
   Define what your group wants. Our goal was for international friends to experience Korean rural culture, so we looked for villages with cultural activities. But if your group just wants to relax and hang out, a simple pension (holiday house) might be better.

For us, we chartered a bus (capacity ~80 people) and built our budget around that.

Step 2. Where Do You Even Find Villages?

Once we had the basics, the real challenge began: finding a reliable countryside village. Typing “rural village” into search engines wasn’t enough.

That’s when we discovered Euddeumchon (으뜸촌).

What is Euddeumchon?
It’s a certification system run by Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs together with the Korea Rural Community Corporation. Villages are evaluated across four areas: tourism/service quality, food, accommodation, and cultural experiences. Only those meeting strict standards are designated as “Euddeumchon.” As of late 2024, 74 villages across Korea have this certification.
(More info: Korean open data portal)

This gave us a reliable starting list since certified villages have at least a baseline of facilities and programs.

Step 3. Other Useful Sites

Because some villages had few reviews online, we also checked:

• Welchon (www.welchon.com)
  The official rural tourism portal. You can search by region, see detailed activity and accommodation info, and sometimes find photos.
• Korea Tourism Organization’s “Visit Korea” site
  The national travel portal, which lists countryside experiences alongside mainstream destinations.

Step 4. Organize Your Candidates

As our list grew, things got confusing. To stay organized, we made a table in Notion with criteria like:

• Does it have a BBQ area?
• Is there a river or valley nearby?
• What activities are offered?

Seeing everything in one table made follow-up calls and comparisons much easier.

Step 5. Call and Confirm

We then called each village directly. The first questions we always asked were:

• Is the date available?
• How many people can you host?
• What cultural programs are included?

Direct calls gave us clarity that websites couldn’t.

Step 6. If Possible, Do a Site Visit

The most important step before booking is an on-site inspection. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time. That meant we had to rely on phone calls—which wasn’t always smooth.

If you can’t visit, make sure to:

• Confirm details about dining, facilities, fire safety, cooking areas, and nearby stores.
• Get everything in writing, especially financial terms, before sending deposits.

What’s Next?

In our next post, we’ll share how our KOPLE team actually spent the MT—what worked, what surprised us, and what we’d do differently.

Thanks for reading this long guide!