20 Things to do in Seoul
- Next Stage Travel
- Oct 3
- 11 min read
Note that Google does not really work in Korea. You can use it to find locations, but navigation is difficult/impossible. Apparently this is because Google doesn't have (or isn't permitted to have) servers in Korea. So, to actually navigate public transit or walking, you will need either Kakao Maps (link to web version; look on App Store for mobile version) or Naver Map (also the web version). Both work well, though Naver uses a bit more English in the navigation.
This museum was quite good and as a bonus, it's free to enter. It gives a chronological overview of the Korean peninsula from the Paleolithic age to the early 20th century. Displays are well sign-posted in English and the exhibits themselves are a mix of history, culture, art and anthropology. While there were a lot of kingdoms that arose over the last 2000 years, the museum did a good job highlighting the kingdoms and customs that live on today or affected modern history.
One odd note: the museum entirely skips the brutal Japanese occupation of the early 20th century and focuses only on the independence movement. I actually doubled back twice because I thought I had missed the period of 1850-1925 history, but it just wasn't covered here. A few days after visiting this museum, we discovered that this history is covered by the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History (see below).
We had a pretty good Korean lunch at one of the museum restaurants (Pagoda, Restaurant by Doore).
National Museum of Korea. 137 Seobinggo-ro, Yongsan District, Seoul, South Korea. Open daily 10 AM - 6 PM. Wednesdays and Saturdays until 9 PM. Free.
This market covers a large area in Jongno with food and other vendors. Like many other markets of this type, it's geared towards tourists, with mostly fried food, a few beef, lamb and chicken skewer vendors and many dessert and fruit vendors.
Myeongdong Night Market. Myeong-dong 2(i)-ga, Jung District, Seoul, South Korea (this address is in the middle of the market). Open 4 PM - 12 midnight every day.
3) Insadong
This is a large area of shops and restaurants mostly along Insadong street. In particular, there are a number of antique shops selling an interesting variety of Korean, Chinese and Japanese antiques.
One shop in particular we liked was a bespoke glasses frame shop. The owner makes unique glasses frames out of natural materials like leather, wood and mother-of-pearl.
Insadong Street. Insa-dong, Jongno District, Seoul, South Korea.
4) Insadong Culture Street
This refers to a specific back alley part of Insadong Street with traditional buildings housing temporary art exhibits and some cafes. It's at least 5-10 degrees cooler here with large trees growing overhead and the art is pleasant to browse.
Insadong Culture Street. 11-4 Insadong 10-gil, Jongno District, Seoul, South Korea. Can map to Kyungin Museum of Fine Art also.
This enormous complex was first built in 1395. The whole complex burned down in 1592 and was derelict until the late 19th century. With the Japanese occupation in the early 1900s, the complex was again decimated with any remaining buiildings dismantled and shipped to Japan. Since the 1980s, various restoration projects have been carried out; if you visit today, there are still various restorations ongoing and planned through 2045.
The existing restored buildings and garden grounds are pretty spectacular. While you can't enter any of the buildings (except for certain reserved tours), the exteriors have vibrant colors and exceptional details. The mountains nearby provide a beautiful framing to many scenes within the palace grounds. Definitely set aside a few hours to explore and wander the grounds here.
Gyeongbokgung Palace. 161 Sajik-ro, Jongno District, Seoul, South Korea. Open daily 9 AM - 6 PM except closed Tuesdays. 3,000 won pp.
This free museum charts the history of Korea from the late 1800s to today. In particular, it covers the Japanese occupation from 1910 to 1945, and describes the many ways Koreans were brutalized. Then the museum covers the fairly unilateral separation of North and South Korea by the United States and Soviet Union, the war that followed (in the US, called the Korean War), the series of dictatorships thereafter (the last dictatorship ended in 1987), and the economic and social progression that occurred, and ends with cautiously optimistic outlook for the 21st century with a democratic government and robust economy.
National Museum of Korean Contemporary History. 198 Sejong-daero, Jongno District, Seoul, South Korea. Open daily 10 AM - 6 PM (Wednesdays and Saturdays until 9 PM). Free
7) Seoullo 7017
This is Seoul's version of the Highline in NYC. This elevated section started as the Seoul Station auto overpass, built in 1970. In 2017, it was transformed into a pedestrian walkway with plants, air-conditioned rest areas, a small cafe at the halfway point and several restaurants at the ends. Thus the name 7017 (70 for the year the overpass was built and 17 for the year it was re-invented.). It's about a kilometer long and has esalators, stairs and elevators allowing you to reach it. We entered from Seoul Station subway, which is about the halfway point of the walkway.
Seoullo 7017. 432 Cheongpa-ro, Jung District, Seoul (this address is approx the halfway point for the walkway). Open 24 hours/day. Free.
8) The area around Seochon Hanok Village
Seochon Hanok Village is a relatively small area of preserved hanok houses. From there we walked up Jahamun-ro 7-gil street, which had a variety of interesting cafes and shops.
We visited this area because we were seeking a bottle of specific Korean traditional liquor that we had had at Flower Blossom on the Rice (LINK), called yakju (It's basically clarified, unpasteurized makgeolli with herbs added for flavor). Swallow Liquor Shop not only had our yakju but also about 8 others. The shop is set up for sampling so we ended up trying three of them. When we mentioned that our son had made makgeolli, the owner gave us a cup of makgeolli slushy (amazing and refreshing on a hot summer day) and then a cup of the original liquid makgeolli. We agreed we need to try making makgeolli slushy at home.
Then we had some wonderful mochi, fruit and nut bites at a cafe (LINK needed) across the street from Swallow Liquor Shop.
Walking a bit up the street leads to the entrance to Tongin Market, a covered, local market with fruit and vegetable vendors, small snack vendors and many lunchbox vendors.
Swallow Liquor Shop. 152 Tongin-dong, Jongno District, Seoul. Open 11 AM - 9 PM.
Cafe with sweets
Tongin Market. 18 Jahamun-ro 15-gil, Jongno District, Seoul. Open 10 AM - 5 PM weekdays, 10 AM - 8 PM weekends.
9) Jogyesa Temple
Jogyesa Temple is ....
Korea's first post office, built in the early 1880s, is next door to the temple and can be visited for free. It makes for a nice 15 minute visit where you can learn about the Joseon dynasty's early efforts at developing a postal service.
10) Hiking in Seoul
Hiking and walking is popular in Seoul. In every large market area, there are hiking equipment and clothing stores. There are many hiking trails around Seoul, particularly at sections of the Seoul City Wall trail (this link opens up a map of the trail) and around and up the 4 major mountains in Seoul: Bugaksan, Naksan, Namsan and Inwangsan. The Seoul City Wall was originally built in 1396 and served as an effective protection for the city until the mid-1800s.
a) Naksan is the shortest of the mountains, rising 124 meters above Seoul. We took a pleasant 2.5 km hike to the top of the hill and then back down. You pass through Naksan Park on the way. There are spectacular views all the way up and down the mountain.
We started directly across the street from the Hyehwamun Gate, where a stairway quickly takes you up to the Seoul City Wall.
There are frequent signposts pointing out various directions to go (in both English and Korean) as well as cafes on both sides of the mountain. There were two or three cafes on the uphill side and perhaps a dozen or more on the downhill side.
Our walk ended at Heunginjimun Gate, where we then walked over the Dongdaemun Market (see below)
Hyehwamun Gate. 1-1 Seongbuk-dong 1(il)-ga, Seongbuk District, Seoul.
Heunginjimun Gate. 288 Jong-ro, Jongno District, Seoul.
11) Dongdaemun Market
This huge market complex consists of 4 large, multistory buildings plus all the alleys in and around these buildings. It's easy (and fun) to get lost in these buildings. The aisles are relatively wide, so even with crowds, you don't feel too claustrophobic. Vendors here focus on fabric in all its incarnations - clothing, from suits to customs hanboks, to rugs to curtains to clothing accessories (e.g., buttons).
Many of the alleys are filled with food vendors. We ended up at yummy black goat restaurant for lunch when we were at Dongdaemun [[LINK]].
Pyoungwha Market, dedicated to clothing and used books, is a slightly smaller market across the street from the Dongdaemun Market.
Dongdaemun Market. 272 Jong-ro, Jongno District, Seoul. Open 9 AM - 7 PM every day except Sunday. Free
Pyoungwha Market. 274 Cheonggyecheon-ro, Jung District, Seoul. Open M-F 10 PM - 6 PM (yes, closed only from 6 PM - 10 PM M-F), Sat Midnight - 6 PM, closed Sunday. Free.
This is a fun and interactive way to learn more about the culture and architecture of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910). After entering the gates, you first go through a short gauntlet of shops and snack kiosks. Ignore those and continue on to the actual village about 200 meters further. Over a 245 acre area, you can explore various replicas and real houses of farmers, scholars, nobles and regional governors. There are also a number of demonstrations such as fabric dying, straw weaving, metal working, wood carving, etc. Finally, there are also frequent demonstrations of music, dance, singing and other performance types of the Joseon era. These demonstrations were fun to watch - all of them under 30 minutes in length and actually entertaining.
At the back of the village is another market area with various sit-down restaurants and snack kiosks. We purchased our food through a meal ticket vending machine; there was a reasonable selection of Korean food, including skewers, jeon (pancakes), bibimbap (with either vegetables or bulgogi) and tofu with kimchi. They also offer several Korean rice wines, including regular white rice makgeolli, black rice makgeolli (which we got; tastes like regular makgeolli) and dongdongju (similar to makgeolli, but with rice bits). Makgeolli cost 7,000 won/liter while the other dishes ranged in price from about 7,000-12,000 won. Good, not great, food but certainly reasonable and easy to eat while there.
On our way out, we noticed there was a photo opportunity for hanbok outfits (in the souvenir and snack kiosk area at the front of the village (which we ignored on the way in...). The shop is set up specifically for photos (a little like those Wild West photo shops in the United States) and was fun to do - the owner and his wife dressed us, took some photos with their camera and our camera, and we came away with a neat souvenir of us wearing Joseon dynasty clothing (see photo of us in the slideshow below).
This is more of a day trip from Seoul, since it's about an hour and a half trip on public transit. We took the 4101 bus which can be picked up throughout most of denser parts of the city north of the Han river, and a few stops south of the river.
Korean Folk Village. 90 Minsokchon-ro, Giheung-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do. Open M-Thurs 10 AM - 7 PM; Fri/Sat/Sun 10 AM - 10 PM. 37,000 won pp on weekends; 19,000 won on weekdays.
This beautiful museum has a permanent exhibition in old Korean ceramics, calligraphy and metallic objects, as well as two temporary exhibits that are usually modern art. The building itself is a work of art, and the displays are well-curated and artistic. Even the museum store feels like an art exhibition. There are also several modern art installations on the stairs and lowest floor of the permanent exhibition. One particular interesting permanent exhibit was on the history of the tiger and magpie in illustrations, known as hojak-do.
Leeum Museum of Art. 60-16 Itaewon-ro 55-gil, Yongsan District, Seoul. Open 10 AM - 6 PM every day except Monday. Permanent exhibit - free. Temporary exhibits - 8,000-12,000 won.
This warren of alleys encompasses the largest market in Seoul. There are a variety of food sellers - primarily butchers and seafood vendors, but also some vegetable and fruit vendors, many houseware shops and a large number of kitchen/restaurant supply shops, as well as hardware and furniture. The market is bisected by a large, covered lane that is filled with restaurants and snack vendors. We got some very good Korean fried chicken as a snack here (
Seoul Central Market. 36 Toegye-ro 85-gil, Jung District, Seoul. Open daily 7 AM - 12 midnight.
15) Namsan Mountain and N Seoul Tower
Reach the mountain top by taking the Namsan Ropeway (and the Namsan Ormi Elevator if you don't feel like climbing the stairs to the ropeway) or hike up (about 1 km).
These palace grounds are not quite as large as those at Gyeongbokgung Palace but they are still pretty substantial. Like Gyeongbokgung, all the buildings are reconstructions, and in most cases you can't go inside them. But the palace grounds are nice to stroll around.
The so-called 'secret garden' is absolutely worth visiting, and you can include a timed appointment ticket add-on in your entry ticket. We were lucky enough to show up at the garden when there were a few tickets available to walk in, but I wouldn't rely on that.
Changdeokgung Palace. 99 Yulgok-ro, Jongno District, Seoul. Open every day except Monday 9 AM - 5:30 PM. 3,000 won for entry; an additional 2,000 won for the secret garden.
17) Dapsimni Antique Shopping Mall
This incredible indoor market is filled with over 100 antique vendors. Most focus on Korean antiques of various types - furniture, clothing/accessories (such as hair pins and clips), ceramics, statues, lacquerware, etc.
Also, relative to the antique stores in/around Insadong, the prices are lower.
Dapsimni Antique Shopping Mall. 39, Gomisul-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul (the mall is spread over several buildings; this address is at about the mid-point). Most stores are open 9 AM - 7 PM except closed Sundays. Free to enter.
This is either a hoarder's dream or nightmare...
Hundreds of vendors and their wares are packed into this building. There are so many vendors that many are set up on the streets and alleys leading up to the building. What can you find here? Just about anything - new and used clothes, new and used shoes, antiques, toys, electronics from the 70s, 80s and 90s, furniture, statues, souvenir items.
There are also food courts on each of the two floors. We didn't eat there but the vendors had a variety of cheap and decent-looking food.
Seoul Folk Flea Market. 21 Cheonho-daero 4-gil, Sinseol-dong, Dongdaemun District, Seoul. Open every day except 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month from 10 AM - 7 PM.
This ultra futuristic building complex is fun just to see and wander through. There are several exhibits within the buildings, including a museum which winds up and up like the Guggenheim Museum with exhibits all the way up to the top of the building. There are various temporary exhibits, indoor and outdoor, many with interactive components and also some shops/exhibition spaces.
Dongdaemun Design Plaza. 281 Eulji-ro, Jung District, Seoul. Open 10 AM - 8 PM every day. Free.
This interesting museum describes the history of various crafts in Korea - ceramics, metal and wood-working, lacquer, clothing, etc. In addition, there are exhibits showing modern day craftwork, modern interpretations of craft and a really interesting exhibit on how four lacquer craftsmen were able to reverse engineer some lacquer artistry from the early Joseon dynasty (15th century).
Seoul Musem of Craft Art. 4 Yulgok-ro 3-gil, Jongno District, Seoul. Open daily except Mondays 10 AM - 6 PM (Fridays until 9 PM). Free
Comments