After spending 4 days in Jeju, we've been 4 days in Seoul before heading back to the warm weather of Thailand.
I was 10 days in Seoul at the end of August 2016 and it has changed soooo much in these 7 years that I couldn't believe it. First of all, 7 years ago there were almost no tourists outside from Asia... At the metro and at the street I felt pretty looked at. So much that 3 times I was asked if I could speak English with the locals and at the end of the conversation they gave me something as a present such as a cookie or a chewing gum. Also, the restaurants were mostly in Korean and most of the restaurants had Korean food. 2023 is so different, there are many tourists, even in November :/ and it's not so easy as it was to find normal Korean food, with soups and really tasty bibimbaps... now it's full of fast food chains and sweet food (egg breads, garlic bread) and sweet Korean fried chicken. In this post we focus more on our feelings of Korea but for now let's focus on our highlights of 4 days in Seoul.
Seoul is huge and you can spend weeks there discovering the different districts, streets, food, temples and much more!
Highlights after 5 days in Seoul
15. Try some traditional Korean tea and sweets at Yetchatjip
1. Visiting the temples and palaces
There are 5 palaces in Seoul that you can visit. In fact, you can just get a bundle for 10000 Won (~7€) to visit all of them within 3 months. I would really recommend that since it includes all the palaces as well as the beautiful secret gardens of the palaces.
This time we went at a slow pace and we visited only one palace but all of them are nice to see as I remember from 7 years ago.
2. Learn about Asia at the War Memorial of Korea
It's a free museum and it's really interesting! The perfect thing to do if it rains. This time we didn't visit the museum but I visited it 7 year ago and I've learned so much about Asian history! It is really great if you're European since we usually don't get so much Asian history taught at our schools unfortunately.
3. Learn about the history of Korean language (Hangul) and write your name in Korean
This hasn't changed after 7 years. You can still write your names in Hangul for free under the statue of the person who had the idea to change the language to make the alphabet much easier to use. We happened to be at the same time as the final of League of Legends was happening, which happened to be a statue that was even bigger than the one of the emperor haha.
4. Do the DMZ tour to visit the border with North Korea
This was a very impressive tour! You get so close to North Korea that in clear days you can even see north Korea and some north Korean people walking or cycling. The tension is felt a lot at the border between both countries and it's also impressive that some people live in between these borders, in the so called demilitarized zone (DMZ) where no military are supposed to be because of the current truce that is present between North and South Korea. Moreover, you get the chance to visit one of the infiltration tunnels that North Korea was building with the plans to invade South Korea. And within this tunnel you get really close to the border to North Korea as well, even if underground...
The following shot shows how the bridge between South Korea and the demilitarized zone was demolished. Moreover, the walls of the bridge have still many gun shots from the Korean war...
at the end of the picture you can see the first city of North Korea visible from South Korea. You can also see the border between South Korea and the DMZ being separated by a fence.
5. Assist to a cooking class to integrate with the Korean cuisine
This cooking class is really cool and fun and we would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about South Korean culture and cuisine! Check our dedicated post about the class.
6. Enjoy the views of the canal of Korea and the contrast with the modern buildings
This was very similar 7 years ago, although when Èric was there it was summer and in summer you can see many people that are using the canal cold water to refresh themselves, especially putting the feet inside the water ^^ it's a nice oasis in the middle of this mega city.
7. Visit a Hanok village
This is a classical place of Seoul that has a traditional architecture with Japanese style buildings. Moreover, from the top of the Hanok village you can observe Seoul and see the Seoul Tower very clearly.
8. Visit the new trendy district Ttukseom and the forest park
This is a district that is getting more and more trendy in Seoul. It has a beautiful park by the river side and it has some pieces of art at the street directly. Many young people are there and several nice restaurants that you can also try out ^^
9. Visit Gangnam district, especially at night
Gangnam is the district of Seoul that is modern, upscale and home to huge glass skyscrapers with many designer brands and stylish nightclubs. Moreover, they've built the gangnam style hand movement sculpture!
10. Walk around the university district and sing some Karaoke
The university district is full of young people and you can do many activities that are also typical in Japan like playing the claw games or doing Karaoke.
It was a really fun experience to do a Luxury Karaoke night at this university district where people can see you on the street while you sing as bad as possible
11. Try some street food and buy some souvenirs at Myeong Dong
We were staying at a hotel directly by Myeong Dong, which is a very central area of Seoul and luckily we were there during the weekend, where there is a huge variety of food that is sold on the street, including the egg bread that our friend Meri recommended us ^^
12. Walk around Myeong Dong
Myeong Dong not only offers a huge variety of things to eat but it's also nice to walk around this district, with the Myeong Dong cathedral and the park going towards the famous Seoul Tower.
13. Visit some of the food markets (Namdaemun, Mangwon, etc.)
Food markets in Seoul are pretty diverse and usually you get the chance to eat as well as to buy fresh vegetables. Interestingly, they have some big spring onions that are just like the Catalan calçots, which are a big thing in Catalunya, especially in February.
14. Explore the artistic district shopping center Ssamzigil, handcraft
The artistic shopping center is the perfect place for souvenirs since you can handcraft it and personalize your souvenir! They have all sorts of handcraft shops such as painting, water coloring, pottery, wool, etc. And there's also a very funny cafè where the motto is poop!
Of course we used this opportunity to get a caricature of ourselves be made by one of the artists!
15. Try some traditional Korean tea and sweets at Yetchatjip
The traditional Korean tea is quite special with a mix of species that make it taste a bit like a Chai. They also have other classical Korean tea such as corn or barely tea and you can find these sorts of teas as well as nice pasteries at Yetchatjip cafè
16. Go to the river side, especially at night to see the waterfall
You can walk or bike at the river side in the afternoon and finish the ride by sunset close to the river Banpodaegyo bridge where there is a light show with a rainbow fountain going down from the bridge to the river!
17. Go up the N Seoul Tower
We hoped you liked this post and you will be motivated to visiting Seoul as well in your next visit to South Korea. Have a nice day ^^ and if you want you can subscribe to our mailing list at the bottom of this page by inserting your email.