Korea has always been very interesting for me. I love Korean food and I’ve always been very fascinated with Korean fashion and culture. Last time I was in Korea, it was only for a 4-hour layover so that doesn’t really count. This would essentially be my first time so I was quite excited what Seoul has to offer.

Travel Requirements:

1. Pocket Wifi – there are a lot of options for pocket Wifi’s that you can pickup in Incheon airport when you arrive and just drop off before you leave. I personally used Pocket Wifi Korea and got their LTE one which was US$ 5.25 per day for 1GB per day up to 100mbps. No complains. Pretty straightforward and decent price.
2. Download KakaoMetro (iPhone)(Android) – it’s their subway app that’s going to save you time and confusion. It’s also efficient since it even tells you what train car to board for the nearest transfer if you’re transferring to another metro line. Pair this with Google Maps and you’re golden. You can even sideline as a tour guide for local Koreans haha.
3. Jacket – depending on the season that you visit, this is going to be either super obvious or you’ll completely forget to bring one. I went closer to summer time so it was pretty warm in the day time but quite cold at night time. So make sure to bring one especially if you’re going to be out all day until night time. Plus, it just looks cool for your OOTD photos.
4. Sunblock – Korea is one of those countries that can be deceptive since it’s a bit cooler so you might not feel the heat but you can get toasted quite easily being that you’ll be exploring all day and will most likely be under the sun most of the time.

So my flight arrived in the afternoon in Incheon international airport. You can easily take the train to where ever you’re headed in Seoul. I took mine to Itaewon where I checked into my Airbnb.

Gangnam District

Pros: Great for shopping. Great bustling night life.
Cons: Expensive. Far from central Seoul.
Fee: Free
Verdict: Good but skippable unless you like making it rain in cold hard ca$h.

My first stop after checking into my Airbnb was Gangnam. This place is quite famous and is usually referred to as the Beverly Hills of Seoul. Lots of high end fashion stores both international and local brands.

This place also made international headlines when the song Gangnam style by the Korean singer Psy went viral. I’m not really a fan and don’t quite understand the Kpop culture but the song is quite interesting in that it’s a parody making fun of the high end lifestyle of Gangnam.

This place is nice to roam around at night. There’s a lot of bars and restaurants to try and quite bustling at night. There’s also an underground shopping center right under the main Gangnam station.

Pro tip: You can go up the rooftop for an aerial view of Gangnam if you go up the MovieBox building located right at the main intersection of Gangnam station. It’s easily accessible since it’s the same entrance to the movie theater so you can just take the elevator up to the penthouse.

Gangnam is also known for a very bustling nightlife and clubbing scene if you’re into that. Just be prepared to shell out a lot since this is the “Beverly Hills” of Seoul so it’s going to cost you.

Bukchon Hanok Village

Pros: Unique. Very picturesque overlooking Seoul. Traditional.
Cons: Lots of walking and narrow streets.
Fee: Free
Verdict: Highly recommended. Must visit.

This was one of my favorite places in Seoul. It’s a small district that has maintained it’s very traditional architecture with small narrow streets and because this small village is elevated, you also have a nice view of Seoul in the background.

Pro Tip: This place is very walkable from the main Gyeongbokgung Palace so most of the tours start from the palace (which opens at 9AM) and then proceeds to go here after so to avoid the crowd, so I suggest doing it the other way around. Start from here early in the morning so there’s less crowd and proceed to the palace after.

Great place to take your travel photos and OOTD photos for the day. You can explore this place and there are nice places to shoot around. Just bear in mind that because of the time and because the streets are narrow, there are going to be harsh shadows so look for an angle that minimizes shadows on your face.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Pros: Main landmark. Very picturesque. Traditional.
Cons: Crowded. Touristy.
Fee: 3,000 Korean Won (US$2.70)
Verdict: Highly recommended. Must visit.

So after Bukchon Hanok Village, I just explored and made my way down to Gyeongbokgung Palace. This is essentially their main palace out of the 5 grand palaces. The name “Gyeongbokgung” means “Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven” and this thing is massive. It was the first palace to be built and also the largest.

Pro tip: Your biggest issue here would be the hoards of tourists that might ruin your “perfect shot”. So just embrace it haha. What you can do is go to the walls surrounding the main palace. I found that most people are so busy taking photos in the main palace that they ignored the walls so it’s less crowded and very picturesque where you can take your souvenir travel photo in peace 🙂

Dongdaemun Design Plaza

Pros: Unique. Amazing architecture. Very picturesque. Modern.
Cons: None
Fee: Free (with optional paid exhibits)
Verdict: Highly recommended. Must visit!!!

This place is just simply amazing and is literally breathtaking. I really enjoyed this place because it’s something out of this world. The modern architecture was so impressive and combine it with the unique interior made my visit quite memorable. From the outside, it looks like a space shuttle or UFO while the interior made me feel like I was walking inside the Death Star.

There’s also a lot of ways you can creatively shoot here because their architecture is so unique and has nice modern and chic aesthetics.

Seoul City Wall

Pros: Historical. Unique. Picturesque.
Cons: Lots of walking.
Fee: Free
Verdict: Highly recommended.

This is considered to be an architectural treasure in Seoul and a contender for Unesco World Heritage status so I highly recommend this place. Plus, its literally about 10 minutes walk from Dongdaemun Design Plaza and it’s on the way to Ihwa Mural Village so it’s a no-brainer to visit this place. Kind of a smaller version of the Great Wall of China.

I met Saana who is an exchange student and backpacker from Finland so we both hiked the Wall up to Ihwa mural village. The hike itself wasn’t that long. Maybe 30mins to 1 hour depending on how fast you go up. We were stopping here and there taking photos so it might have taken us maybe 45mins.

Ihwa Mural Village

Pros: Unique. Picturesque. Artsy vibe.
Cons: Lots of walking
Fee: Free
Verdict: Highly recommended. Must visit.

After the hike, it takes you to Ihwa Mural Village. This is a beautiful small village that is well known for it’s artistic murals. I really liked it here because it has a small hometown hipster artistic vibe and it wasn’t a lot of tourists. I’m not sure if it was the time that we went (about 3-4pm) but I enjoyed our walk because it was like just us getting lost in this beautiful and artsy neighborhood.

There are also maps available there that shows you where the different murals are and makes your exploration a bit easier. But it’s really not that big, maybe it took us about 2 hours just walking around to be able to explore the whole place?

There’s this really cool cat cafe there that we visited and I enjoyed it very much. Had a really nice vibe and homey feel to it. They had these really cute handmade wooden cards painted with different cats. Although we did wonder why they had a Pikachu card. Isn’t he technically a mouse? haha

Hongdae District

Pros: Great food. Great shopping. Bustling energy.
Cons: Can get a bit crowded
Fee: Free
Verdict: Highly recommended. Must visit.

If you love Korean BBQ and shopping then you’ll feel right at home. Hongdae has a very nice location because it’s near three different universities and colleges so this place is a central hub for students and millennials. There’s actually a street there that is literally all Korean BBQ restaurants.

One of my good friends Jonathan recommended Piggy Bank (Stone grilled Korean BBQ). He said this was one of his favorite Korean BBQ experiences. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to try that one since Sanaa couldn’t eat red meat. So we opted to get seafood instead.

Gwangjang Market

Pros: Lots of local food. Cheap prices. Local shopping.
Cons: None
Fee: Free
Verdict: Highly recommended. Must visit.

Food and more food. Gwangjang Market is Seoul’s main “wet market” and offers all the local food that your heart is longing for. They have meat, seafood, noodles, mung bean pancakes and a lot of other options that I didn’t even know haha.

Pro tip: Make sure you don’t eat anything before going here. And that you buy in smaller quantities as you buy and try the food. There are so many food that you can try that I kind of regretted eating a bit more as I quickly got full even though I wanted to try more food haha. 😀

Namsangol Hanok Village

Pros: Unique. Traditional architecture. Very picturesque. Peaceful.
Cons: None (but closed on Mondays)
Fee: Free
Verdict: Highly recommended. Must visit!!!

Namsangol Hanok Village was one of my favorite places to visit in Seoul. If you have to choose one “traditional temple” visit then this would be my top choice. It’s also quite unique because this is a free park. They were able to preserve the traditional architecture within this park and I truly enjoyed just walking around here because it was quiet. Not a lot of tourist so it was more relaxing.

I would suggest going a bit later towards the day so you can capture the golden hour and even do some night photography. I did a bit of long exposure shots and they came out quite nicely.

I’m sure there are other great places you can visit in Seoul but these are so far my own recommendations based from my own experience in Korea. Overall, I really enjoyed my visit in Seoul. They offer great food, very organized and clean city and a good mix of both modern and traditional offerings.

I hope that you enjoyed reading and following along and that my post can help you in your own trips to Seoul.

I would love to hear from you on what you think about this article and if you have more questions or recommendations!

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Thanks a lot! My Japan trip recommendation is coming up 🙂