5 Days in Seoul

Gwanghwamun is the main south gate of Gyeongbokgung, standing at the top of the wide boulevard that runs to City Hall. Sejong the Great gave it its current name in 1426, and the gate has been destroyed and rebuilt more than once. The latest restoration was finished in 2010, so what you're looking at is a very good, very new reconstruction.

Come early for the Changing of the Royal Guard, held in front of the gate at 10:00 and 14:00 every day except Tuesday. It's a costumed show with dozens of guards and a traditional marching band, around 20 minutes long, staged for visitors but well done, and the setting is hard to beat. Get there 15 minutes ahead for a spot near the front.

Gyeongbokgung was the first palace of the Joseon dynasty, built in 1395 and meant to be its showpiece. Sejong the Great led the creation of Hangul here, the Korean alphabet that ordinary people could learn in days. In 1592 it burned to the ground during the Japanese invasions and stayed in ruins for nearly three centuries, until the late 19th century under King Gojong. Then came the worst part: after 1910 the Japanese colonial government sold off most of its roughly 500 buildings, and by 1945 only about 40 of the old structures were left. It even put its own Government-General headquarters in front of the throne hall, a building that wasn't demolished until 1995-96.

Most of what you see is reconstruction, done well and still ongoing. Walk straight through to Geunjeongjeon, the throne hall, then to Gyeonghoeru, the pavilion over a lotus pond that is the best photo in the palace and once appeared on the 10,000 won note. The museums inside are free, but the quiet back gardens are the better use of an hour. Rent a hanbok (traditional dress) nearby for free entry; it's touristy, and everyone does it.

Walk out of the west gate toward Gyeongbokgung station and you get to Tosokchon, one of the best-known places in Seoul for samgyetang, a whole young chicken stuffed with sticky rice, ginseng, garlic and jujubes and simmered in a small clay pot until the meat falls off the bone. It's a classic summer dish, but it's just as good in autumn.

Expect a queue at peak lunch hours and on weekends, so go a little before or after the rush. If the line is long, other samgyetang restaurants are close by.

Bukchon sits on the slope between Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung, and it's where Seoul's old officials once lived. The area has hundreds of restored hanok, the traditional wooden houses with tiled roofs, built mostly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and saved from redevelopment. It has more visitors than it knows what to do with: around 6.4 million came in 2024, in a neighborhood of roughly 6,100 residents. It's a real residential area, not a theme park, and that's the problem.

The authorities now limit access. Since March 2025, tourists can enter the most crowded lanes (the red zone around Bukchon-ro 11-gil) only between 10:00 and 17:00, with a fine of 100,000 KRW (about 67 EUR) outside those hours. Be quiet, don't peer into windows and then walk downhill to Insadong.

Insadong was once the largest market for antiques and art in Korea, and its main street, Insadong-gil, still has the galleries, brush and paper shops, ceramics and tea houses to prove it. It's equally full of souvenir stalls now, which is fine if you want a gift.

Jogyesa, the chief temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, is at the north end. Its temple was first established in 1395, and its courtyard has a protected ancient white pine. Dress modestly, remove your shoes where signed and speak quietly.

Finish the day sitting down. The side lanes of Insadong are packed with traditional tea houses serving omija (five-flavor berry), jujube and ginger teas with rice cakes, and with restaurants serving hanjeongsik and bibimbap. A set meal is the right choice for a first dinner: a main, a soup, rice and a dozen small side dishes on the table at once, which is the way Koreans eat. Eat slowly, share the sides and ask for refills; they're free.

Changdeokgung is the palace the Joseon kings actually liked living in. It was built in 1405 as a secondary residence and, after every palace burned during the Japanese invasion of 1592, it was repaired first, while Gyeongbokgung stayed in ruins. That made Changdeokgung the royal home for centuries. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and among the best preserved palaces in Korea.

The reason to book is Huwon, the Secret Garden behind the palace, and in autumn a top spot for foliage. You can only enter on a guided tour. English tours run at 10:30, 11:30, 14:30 and 15:30 from February to November (no 15:30 from December), each admitting about 100 people, half by online booking (opens six days ahead) and half on the spot. Reserve through royal.khs.go.kr, buy the palace ticket as well, and do the 10:30 tour. Changgyeonggung, the neighboring palace, is also closed on Mondays; it's a quiet add-on if you have energy.

Ten minutes from the palace is Ikseon-dong, a knot of narrow lanes lined with small hanok built from the 1920s onward, one of the oldest concentrations of them in Seoul. The old courtyard houses are now cafés, tea rooms, bakeries and small restaurants, squeezed into spaces so tight that two people can't pass.

It's busy and photographed to death, and honestly a bit commercial, but it makes a good lunch break. Eat a bowl of kalguksu (hand-cut noodle soup) or bibimbap, then have coffee in a courtyard café. Weekdays are far better than weekends, when the most-posted places have long waits.

Jongmyo is the royal ancestral shrine of the Joseon kings, the oldest preserved royal Confucian shrine in the world and a UNESCO site since 1995. The whole complex is deliberately plain: long roofs, stone courtyards and old trees, built for ritual rather than comfort. The main hall was begun in 1394, burned in the Japanese invasions and was rebuilt in the early 1600s. A busy road cut the shrine off from Changdeokgung until it was put into a tunnel in 2019.

The ritual ceremony, the Jongmyo Jerye, is held on the first Sunday of May. Otherwise visit for the quiet. Entry is by guided tour on most days, and visitors can reportedly walk freely on Saturdays. English tours normally run at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00. Take the 14:00 one after Changdeokgung.

Gwangjang is one of the oldest and biggest traditional markets in the country, with more than 5,000 shops and roughly 65,000 visitors a day. The association that runs it was founded in 1911. You're here for the food alley, which stays open late (generally until around 23:00; the general shops close earlier and are closed on Sundays).

Perch on a stool at a counter and order bindaetteok, a thick, crispy mung bean pancake fried on the spot, plus mayak gimbap, tiny rice rolls and one of the market's signature snacks, and tteokbokki (rice cakes in chili sauce). Brave people try the yukhoe, raw beef tartare. Pick stalls with a short queue of locals.

Cheonggyecheon is a stream running 10.9 km through downtown, and its story is the story of modern Seoul. It was a natural creek, then a dirty open drain, then, in the years of rapid growth after the Korean War, it was filled with concrete and buried under an elevated expressway. In 2003 the city began tearing the highway down; the restored stream opened in 2005 at a cost of more than 386 billion won. Critics hated the idea at first. It's now one of the places locals walk after work.

Start at the western end near Cheonggye Plaza, walk down to the water and follow the stream east under the bridges while the traffic noise drops away above you. A winter lantern festival uses the stream, usually from mid-November or December into January; check stolantern.com for the year's dates.

At the east end of the stream sits the Dongdaemun Design Plaza, or DDP, a huge curving silver-white building designed by Zaha Hadid and opened in 2014. It's a spaceship that landed in the middle of Seoul's fashion district and still looks like the future, especially after dark. There are exhibition halls and shops inside, a walkable park on the roof and restored parts of the old city fortress wall on the site.

You don't have to go in. The point is the shape, and the contrast with the old market streets around it. The station under it is on Lines 2, 4 and 5, so getting home is easy.

Tours leave central Seoul around 7-8 am and take about an hour north to Imjingak, a park on the Imjin River built in 1972 to console people who couldn't return to hometowns on the other side. It's full of statues and monuments about the Korean War, and it also has a restaurant, an observation deck and even a small amusement park, which sits oddly with the subject.

The best-known part is Freedom Bridge, a former railroad bridge over the Imjin River that was used by returning prisoners of war and soldiers. Walk out along it and look at the barriers on the far side.

The Third Tunnel was discovered in October 1978. It runs about 1,600 meters and 73 meters underground, and was dug by North Korea under the border toward the south. It was the third of four such tunnels found since the 1970s, and the one foreign visitors on DMZ tours are taken into.

Visitors go down a long, steep sloping shaft on foot (a small rail car is also available) and walk toward the concrete barricades that block the border line, which is as far as you can go. The floor is damp and the air is cold, and photography is not allowed inside. It's not for anyone with serious claustrophobia, heart or breathing problems, and walking down isn't required.

Tours break for a Korean lunch, usually around Imjingak, where there's a restaurant, or somewhere nearby. Some tour prices include it, some don't, so check when you book. Expect bibimbap or bulgogi with rice: filling and cheap, not a highlight.

Dora Observatory sits on top of Mount Dora in Paju, just south of the Military Demarcation Line. On a clear day you can see across the DMZ into North Korea with binoculars (some free, some coin-operated), including the North Korean propaganda village in the DMZ and the city of Kaesong. A new three-storey observatory building opened in 2024, with an indoor amphitheater and a café.

What you see depends on the weather: in haze, rain or low cloud the view can be almost empty. Your guide will tell you where you can and can't point a camera. It's a strange feeling, looking at a country you can't visit.

Dorasan Station is the northernmost stop on South Korea's rail network, around 650 meters from the southern edge of the DMZ. It was opened in 2002 as a hopeful gesture, a gleaming, empty station built to connect the two Koreas by rail. The old Gyeongui Line continues north from here into North Korea, but that connection isn't in regular service.

It is a symbol rather than a transport hub. Tours stop for about half an hour, and the whole day takes seven to nine hours door to door.

Namdaemun, also called Sungnyemun, is the old south gate of the Seoul city wall, built in 1398 and designated South Korea's first National Treasure. For centuries it was the oldest wooden structure in Seoul, until an arsonist burned the pagoda-style roof in 2008. Restoration began in 2010 and the gate reopened in May 2013, and you'll see the new paint and fresh wood on the upper level.

Right next to it is Namdaemun Market, which has been trading since 1414, making it one of the oldest in the country. It's a maze of alleys selling clothes, kitchenware and food, with street snacks and small restaurants in between. Wander without a plan and bargain politely. It's a morning market in spirit, and it's at its best before the lunch crowds.

Ten minutes east is Myeongdong, one of the main shopping districts of Seoul and in 2023 the ninth most expensive shopping street in the world. It's wall-to-wall skincare and cosmetics shops, street food stalls and tourists from everywhere. It's loud and commercial, but see it once.

The calm spot is Myeongdong Cathedral, one of the two historic landmarks of the district. If you want a palace in between, Deoksugung is a short walk west: it was the main palace of the Korean Empire and mixes Korean and Western architecture.

Myeongdong has two lunch institutions. Myeongdong Kyoja is a Michelin Bib Gourmand place with a four-item menu: hand-cut kalguksu noodles in chicken broth, mandu dumplings, spicy cold bibim-guksu and, from spring to autumn, cold soybean-broth kongguksu. Order the noodles and the dumplings.

Hadongkwan, open since 1939, is built around one dish: gomtang, a clear, savory beef soup with brisket and rice, with kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi) on the side. Simple, filling and very Korean. It opens at 7:00, closes at 16:00 and is shut on Sundays, and it can close earlier when the soup runs out. Both draw queues at peak lunch hours, so go a little early or late.

Namsan is the 270-meter hill in the middle of the city, topped by the 236-meter N Seoul Tower, the symbol of Seoul since the 1970s. It's a park first, with paths from several sides and a lot of locals walking on the weekend. Walk up from Myeongdong, or take the cable car (check the fare on the day), and aim to be at the top before sunset.

Here's the honest verdict: the hilltop itself already gives a big view, so only buy the 29,000 KRW observatory ticket if the air is clear and you want the extra height. The observatory is open 365 days a year, 10:00 to 22:30 on weekdays and to 23:00 at weekends. Watch the city turn from gold to blue as the lights come on, then head down.

Take the subway west to Hongdae, the area around Hongik University, known for its art students, indie music and clubs. This is the right place and night for Korean barbecue: samgyeopsal, thick slices of unmarinated pork belly grilled at the table, wrapped in lettuce with garlic, ssamjang paste and kimchi, with a bottle of soju on the side.

Hongdae has hundreds of grill rooms and no single famous one, so choose by sight. Walk the side streets off Hongik-ro and pick a room full of locals, with a vent hood over each table, a menu on the wall and pork belly priced per portion. Barbecue is a group meal, so go with a friend or two.

After dinner, walk the Gyeongui Line Forest Park, a long linear park built on a former rail line, nicknamed Yeontral Park after the Yeonnam-dong neighborhood and New York's Central Park. It's where young Seoul takes a walk, and in November it's cold enough for a hot drink.

Then head back to Hongdae's main streets, known for indie music, clubs, cafés and late nights. Check current bars and clubs on a map app, because they change fast.

COEX is a huge underground mall and convention complex in Samseong-dong, and Starfield Library is its showpiece: a double-height space in the middle with shelves reaching up to the ceiling, 50,000 books and hundreds of magazines. Not all of the books on the high shelves are real. Honestly, it's a photo stop more than a place to read, and weekends get busy, so go early. It shows what the new Gangnam is about: huge, polished, commercial spaces. Walk through the mall, then leave: the temple across the road is the real reason to be here.

Across the road from the mall, on the slope of a small hill, is Bongeunsa, a Buddhist temple founded in 794. It's older than the city around it by several centuries, and it sits in the middle of the glass towers of Gangnam. Walk in under the gate and the noise drops: wooden halls, lanterns and monks going about the day.

Dress modestly, don't walk in front of people praying and be careful about photographing the monks.

Gangnam is the business district, so lunch is fast and cheap, and it's the best moment for bibimbap: a bowl of rice topped with sautéed vegetables, a fried egg, chili paste and often beef, mixed together vigorously before eating. In a stone pot (dolsot bibimbap) the rice crisps on the hot bowl. Look for a restaurant on the side streets off Teheran-ro or in the COEX mall; a room full of office workers is a good sign.

Lotte World Tower is 123 floors and 555 meters tall, the sixth-tallest building in the world, and opened in April 2017. Seoul Sky, the observation deck on the top floors, is the highest viewpoint in the country, with the Han River, the whole city and, on a clear day, the mountains beyond.

It's a different view from Namsan: you look down on the city from above rather than across it from a hill. Go in the late afternoon, on a clear day, because it's pointless in haze. Expect it to open at 10:30 and close at 22:00 from Sunday to Thursday and at 23:00 on Fridays, Saturdays and public holidays.

Right below the tower is Seokchon Lake, with a path around the water and the Lotte World theme park and mall nearby. It's a calm stretch after the elevator ride. Skip the theme park and the mall, which are crowded on a Sunday.

End the trip the way Seoul does on a good night: on the grass beside the Han River. Ttukseom Hangang Park, a short subway ride from Gangnam, is one of the parks with a delivery zone, where you can order fried chicken straight to your picnic mat and drink a beer: chimaek, chicken and maekju (beer). Convenience stores in the parks have ramyeon cooking machines: buy a packet, put it in, and the machine does the rest.

In late autumn it's cold, so bring layers and a hot drink, or sit in the convenience store with the locals. It's about the cheapest good evening in Seoul, and a fitting end: a picnic on the river where half the city does the same thing.