Seoul, South Korea, December 2024

Recommended itinerary for a few days in Seoul:

Day 1: Myeongdong: A bustling city center, this is close to the palace/statue combo as well as near more traditional neighborhoods like Jongno-gu and the Hanok villages where people can rent traditional Korean clothes and take photoshoots. There’s also a ton of flagship shopping here like Skin1004, Blue Elephant, among many others. I think this is a great introduction to the city of Seoul.

Day 2: Hannamdong / Itaewon: This is where we stayed, and it’s been characterized to me as the “Brooklyn of Seoul”. It has so many cafes, shops, and medium sized restaurants, I’d definitely recommend making a visit to these two neighborhoods. Itaewon is also well known for its night life if you’re interested in saving this for an evening instead of an afternoon. We sat at cafes for coffee/tea, whiskey bars to relax afterward, late-night pochas, and restaurants. Hannam-dong really had it all!

Day 3: Seongsu: A bit further out of the way, Seongsu was primarily shopping between the Ttukseom subway station and the Seongsu subway station. It made for a fun half-day of getting out there and walking the major shopping streets to the end then taking the subway to return.

Day 4: Hongdae: Hongik University and the surrounding Hongdae area are well known. Early-20s young adults will be around, and you can watch kpop aspirants busking in the streets, along with extremely dense restaurant and bar scenes. I’d recommend if you’re looking for a fun night out or looking for souvenirs to bring home, as there’s many streetside vendors selling trinkets and goodies.

Special mentions, Apgujeong / Gangnam: We went out at night in Apgujeong and it was the wildest night of the trip for me. It was fun to see the drinking culture in Korea. During the daytime, we also stopped by some great designer shops and there was no line at the Apgujeong salt bread bakery (amazing).

Practical tips on how to navigate Seoul:

1. Getting a “T-money card” + topping up with cash only: This is the basic form of payment for subways and buses. You can pay for one at every convenience store like G25, CU, or 7-11. They’re behind the counter so you can say “T money?” and pay for the card itself with your credit card. Note that you have to use cash to add to your t-money card balance. This was one of our biggest constraints, having to top up using cash!
2. Using Naver Maps: For whatever reason, Google Maps does not have access to the proper bus or subway routes. I’ve also found that internationally, Google Maps locations and reviews are tourist/english-centric (makes sense), so downloading Naver Maps, the local Korean standard to navigate places, was a must. It’s still somewhat hard to search for things since some places have english text in the name while others are purely Korean language. I used a combo of Naver Maps + Google Maps when looking for places around me.
3. Getting around Seoul: Equipped with both t-money card and Naver maps, I found it straightforward to take public transit (both subways and buses) in Seoul. There are a variety of subway lines and numbered bus lines that take you across the city, and Naver can show you the speed-optimal or number-of-transfers-optimal route to take to get to your destination. You tap the card to get on, and tap the card to get out. Trips cost us 1400KRW (about $1 USD) each time. Also, the Uber app works with an option to pay in-app if you’re strapped for cash, or pay in-person if you want to pay with card or cash at the end of your trip. They call taxis thru a KakaoTaxi collaboration so it’s very easy. If you do call cars, make sure to call it in a place that’s easy for them to pick you up. You can call for pickup in a heavily dense pedestrian area which may not be convenient for them, you, or surrounding people.

Recommendations around Hannam-dong

Eating

1. Woldang Pocha: a nearby pocha from our Airbnb, it served the classic seafood/kimchi pancakes, soondubu, and soju/beer combos. At around 9pm at night it was almost all couples that looked like they were on dates. Cute!
2. ⭐Nari’s house: A specialty nengsam (KBBQ frozen pork belly) place, this place was POPULAR. Most hostesses didn’t speak English which made it hard to understand our place in line, but we kept watch of which numbers were being called. The numbers wrapped from 1-60 for us so when they were calling #54 and we were #4 we weren’t sure if we had to wait for 1-100 or something else.. but luckily we got in shortly afterward. This place was affordably priced and absolutely delicious, Meesh and I shared 3 servings between the two of us. Would recommend as a dinner spot after a day of activity.
3. ⭐Solsot: Known for their steak rice bowl, you finish with soup in your rice, Chazuke style. This was also a short wait but we queued right before they opened so it was pretty fast. Would recommend this if you’re shopping in Hannam-dong and want a bite.

Cafes

1. oneinamillion: We bopped in here after some drinks and the nighttime vibes are immaculate. This cafe/bar is on the quieter side if you’re trying to just catch up with a friend, but there’s so many plants in here that it feels like a small oasis. Really enjoyed having a beer here.
2. Milestone Coffee Roasters: Our friend’s favorite cafe in the neighborhood, they have little pastries to serve as well.
3. ⭐mtl cafe and bakery: Michelle and I ended up coming here for a pitstop on the last day and I really enjoyed it. There’s a small space in the back for pop-up stores to sell some merchandise, and their cortado/espresso drinks were the best I had in Seoul (most cafes I encountered seemed to favor heavier milk)
4. Hannam Berg: Just the cafe right near our Airbnb, we passed it every time we went in. For a cafe it’s open quite late, and people come in for tea and just to sit. I’d recommend it if you need a break from a day around Hannam-dong.

Bars

1. Carbonic Bar: A cocktail bar we visited, they specialize in champagne highballs. Wouldn’t go back personally.
2. ⭐Tent: A whiskey bar with really knowledgeable bartenders! We had JW Blue Label + a funny Lagavulin-Nick Offerman collab. Would recommend if you like whiskey.

Shopping

1. Monday Edition: I purchased a ring here which I really enjoyed. Honestly I’d just recommend looking at Jasmine’s recs here for Hannam-dong shopping.

Recommendations around Myeong-dong (Christmas edition)

Activity

1. Line Esthe was the spa we went, to, and our faces were absolutely glowing afterward. They spoke english well, and were really attentive and the facial felt great!

Food

1. ⭐Hadongkwan for seoullangtang: A Michelin bib-gourmand restaurant, this place had a line out the door but was extremely efficient in getting people in and out. We got the classic seoullangtang and it was delicious. Would recommend if you’re in the area.

Shopping

1. ⭐Skin 1004 flagship store: The hyalu-cica water-fit sun serum is popping off on Reddit as a highly recommended sunscreen. I have to agree actually. At this point I’ve tried Round Lab, Biore, Anessa, and Skin1004, and Skin1004 is probably my favorite. It’s extremely lightweight and no-fragrance so I very quickly forgotten that there’s anything on my face. While the sun serum is sometimes available in Olive Youngs across Seoul, there is a distinct lack of other Skin1004 products, so would recommend a visit to this flagship store if you’re interested in specialty skincare.
2. ⭐Blue Elephant flagship: The Gentle Monster group made a more affordable brand Blue Elephant, and the sunglasses here are pretty similar and almost 1/10th the price. Would recommend. Many neighborhoods have “exclusives” like the Hannam-dong exclusive Blue Elephant, but Myeongdong probably has a larger stock on average. If you find a pair you like, I’d recommend just buying them in whatever branch you’re in.

Recommendations on the way to and in Seongsu-dong

Food

1. ⭐ Gebangsikdang (raw marinated crab): Another Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant and probably our favorite meal of the trip. Every item in the banchan seemed meticulously added, and the crab itself was so flavorful. Luckily we made a reservation as many people tried to walk in and were turned away.
2. ⭐Jayeondo Sogeumppang (Salt Bread): Phenomenal bread. So soft. Highly recommend if you go to Seoul, as there’s multiple locations. I recommend going early in the morning (Seoul is a kind of late-starter city IMO) to reduce the chance of a line. They only sell in minimum packs of 4 but you’ll finish in no time, they’re pretty bite-sized. Extremely delicious. Must-get.

Cafes

1. Bido coffee - a somewhat hidden second floor cafe, this was a nice place to sit as we were waiting for our friends. Just a nice place to take a break around Ttukseom station.
2. Aurora Bakery - a fairly large cafe, just a good place to rest, buy some snacks, and use the restroom. A nice place to take a break around Seongsu station.
3. ⭐Daelim Changgo - a cafe/art gallery with a warehouse size and charming interior. We stumbled on this place right by one of the Musinsa stores because I needed to use the bathroom, but I’d recommend stopping by for a coffee or a snack to take it in!

Shopping

1. Musinsa - I actually cannot tell what Musinsa is, lol. Musinsa Standard is like a basics store similar to Uniqlo, but there are many Musinsa stores like Musinsa EMPTY (more independent Korean designers) and others (bigger name Korean brands and collabs). I ended up buying three pairs of pants from Musinsa Standard, so if you’re in the market for basics, there’s a shop in Seongsu as well as many other parts of Seoul.
2. Market in U - thrift shopping with really good value TBH! The racks were filled with tons of North Face and National Geographic (a trend in Korea apparently) for $10-$30. For a jacket that you can use in nearly snowing weather, I’d say that’s a good deal.

Going out in Apgujeong

Bars

1. We started off the night going to sixnight.bar which was really interesting to people watch in (IYKYK). We ordered a bottle (hilarious) and it was a great vibe to start the night. You REALLY need a way to communicate what you want though, as the majority of servers and hosts do not speak English. Our waiter literally gave up on us and told us he’d put an order in and ghosted us. We had to find someone else to put in a second order.
2. Then we went to a dancey bar times which had a fun dance floor.
3. We ended the night at orgasm valley (no idea why its named this..) but there seemed to be a lot of Asian Americans here, interestingly enough.

Recommendations in and around Hongdae

Food:

1. we were actually paralyzed by choice because we couldn’t decide where to eat. Eventually we settled on a rice bowl place that had creamy pasta and chicken karaage as a combo. Here! But it’s not acclaimed or anything. I’d recommend picking a cuisine and finding anything nearby, its so dense.

Shopping:

1. The Musinsa Standard I purchased stuff at, good for basics.
2. ⭐Meesh really liked a lot of the items available at lune, would recommend for women’s clothing. In fact, the whole street of stores along this Wausan-ro 27-gil street were very cute.
3. Souvenirs and trinkets across Hongdae Shopping Street. Lots of little stores to bop in to!