Seoul

On my “Far East is my specialty” tour of 2015, after visiting Beijing I went to Seoul. I entered from one airport of South Korea’s capitol Seoul (Gimpo Airport) and left from the other newer and bigger one (Incheon Airport). In the meantime as you can imagine I had quite the tour of the city so I’m ready to give you a great Seoul Guide!

I was familiar with South Korea from the dramas and Tv shows I watched and after arriving there from Beijing, my first impression was it’s more clean, more modern and more rich. Of course these are subjective opinions highly dependent on where I have been on these trips but that is my general opinion.

Seoul guide summary version is below but as usual check out my detailed version below…

 

Travel:  Well depending on where you are, visiting South Korea can be very expensive and long journey, but Korean Airlines does promotions so watch out for that.

Visa:  They don’t require visa for most of the countries but make sure your country is on that list!

Food: Bibimbap, kimchi, pancakes, street foods, Korean barbecue, ice shave desserts

Sightseeing:  Myongdong, Seoul Tower, Gyeongbokgung  Palace, Dongdaemun, Gangnam, Cheonggyengdong Stream, InsaDong, Nandeamon.

Where to Stay: I chose to stay in Dongdaemun area since it was close to central and this area is known for late night shopping. I wanted to stay in an area live at night. But rest assured as long as you are close to a subway station it’s good because Seoul’s subway system is really good.

 

I booked an apartment from  Hyundai Residense. My room was big, even included washing machine and building has two 7-11 markets which are open 24 hours. Only thing that could be better was that this place is, though close to main street and metro station, one street inside and that street is full of small industry workshops. So if it was on the main road, now that would be perfect but it wasn’t a big deal.

 

 

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So let’s get into real Seoul Guide!

On Far East travels number one concern is that you can’t even read where you are from signs and chances of a local speaking your language or English is very low. So this is kind of scary especially if you are travelling alone or without a guide. But with Seoul rest assured you are in safe hands. I found Seoul especially tourist friendly and here is solid examples why I think so.

First example is from airport, even if you land in to less international one Gimpo (which is by comparison to Incheon airport only, because it is not that small nor it is less international :)) you can easily see tourist info desks with knowledgeable people who can speak multiple languages including English and Japanese.

They have really good city maps and official Seoul guide was one of the best free city guides I have seen in my travels. And at the tourist info they can direct you to best way to go where you are staying.  In fact you can find many such tourist info areas scattered among touristy spots and streets. And it is not finished, additional to these offices you will also encounter free tourist guides in certain spots which you can ask anything! You can spot them with their red shirts that writes free tourist info on them. They even have separate phone lines dedicated to “tourist” who thinks they have been scammed or paid more than they should. Metro system, bus systems announcements are not only in Korean but also in English and most of the time also in Japanese.  On top of it people are friendly and helpful too.

Seriously, Seoul is a tourist heaven.

So my advice is if you are coming from airport, which you probably are, don’t leave without making a visit to the tourist info. Get the free Seoul guide and learn which stop you should get off to go where you are staying. Exchange some money to buy a public transport card, because otherwise you are gonna have to buy one each time you use it. And it is a really unnecessary hassle, plus you can save money with the card. Also you are most likely to use Seoul metro a lot, so just buy the card. They will give you a long info when you are buying the card. But simply it is a prepaid card. You can add additional credits in automation machines everywhere and if you have amount left in it, you can take it as cash when leaving the country. One thing though if you want to cash out your card they will cut 500 won (around 40 cents) which is like a symbolic amount for tax purposes.

For city guides, they have many options but I especially found official Seoul guide very helpful and most easy to use. (check out the picture)

I loved Seoul metro, seriously, not only it covers and connect almost all of the city but it is very easy to use and figure it out even for a complete foreigner. Because all of metro lines are coloured and stops also has a number starting with line number which makes it super easy for non-Korean speakers to follow where they are and where they are going. For example subway line 5 has very interesting stop names but you can also refer and track them as 521-522-523…. Besides like I said before at each stop after Korean name, it is also announced in English (and Japanese) so you get to hear the name 3 times. The one thing you should pay attention in subway is which exit to use. Because most stops has several exits and it can effect where you end up with. But guides are really helpful and even if you don’t have a guide to tell you which exit to go, you can check the signs inside subway to see which exits lead where. Using the right exit will make your trip more easy and less tiring. Any Seoul guide you get from tourist infos have metro map so get one asap.

 

You can use banks and classic exchange offices to convert your money to Seoul won. But in Seoul you have another option as well! I haven’t seen this in any other place before so it was interesting for me. There are people near touristic spots which exchange your money for you! When I first saw one I didn’t know what he was doing but just couple of meters from him, I asked free tourist guides where is the nearest place I can exchange some money. They told me there is a bank nearby but also the uncle in the corner can exchange it too! Though they added it is not completely legal! Well, I didn’t use it but I asked at what rate they are exchanging and they were giving a better rate then the bank, so just you know 🙂  (I mentioned exchange especially because for example in China, it is really troublesome to exchange money. You can only use banks and you have to sign and fill many papers and they took photocopy of everything, very troublesome..)

While enjoying your days in Seoul, you will see greenery is everywhere and it is nice to see a modern city combination like this. It may sound “duhh” for European travellers but it is not always the case. So I took my time to appreciate beautiful scenes like this in the middle of city.

You will see lots of good shops in and around subway stations, so don’t forget to look into couple of them and walk by only. City is good for walking and exploring on foot. I usually used metro to arrive a certain point, explored around and get in from couple of stations later to go another place. You can walk all the way too but I found this to be more efficient.

Another thing about Seoul is that you will find technology is very much into people’ daily lives. You see it in touchmatic doors of shops, lock systems of your hostel/apartment etc. also South Korean people loves shopping. You will see that high brand shopping malls are as crowded as street bazaars. They even have shopping malls that are open till 6 am in the morning! They have a “night shopping” term and they really mean it, you will find streets are full at 3 am with not drunkards but people doing sober shopping.

And ladies, this part is especially for you, Korean beauty products are so well advanced, has all of the things you need and things you didn’t even know you need! South Korea is considered 7 years ahead of the actual beauty technology in global. (You know the very popular BB creams right now, they were popular in Korea 10 years ago…) You will see couple of different brands and you will see their shops literally everywhere. Like as much as you see Starbucks or Mc Donalds in USA -which is like every corner you see one or another…It is such a huge topic it won’t fit in this general Seoul guide, but I promise I’ll write about them in detail, in another Seoul guide 😉

And one last thing, do not forget to bargain when you are shopping especially in open bazaars kind of places. (Of course it won’t work in a high brand shopping mall) but you can tell from the place and for example I bought a shirt which initial price was 80,000 won for 35, 000 won and I could have gotten it even more cheaper if I wasn’t tired 🙂

Food: Everywhere you will see food. Literally because streets are full of street food vendors which offer many variances on what you can eat. You can find meatballs to pancakes, fishcakes and other sea stuff to sweet red bean filled cookies all over. But if you manage to resist street food temptations and actually got hungry enough to sit somewhere you have lots of options.
Your meal will likely be accompanied with “kimchi” a special side dish which Korean’s enjoy very much. Kimchi is like spicy pickled cabbage, its taste can change according to its marinated sauce and it may be a bit strong taste for the first time. It is an acquired taste but it certainly goes well with many Korean dishes.

I would strongly suggest you to try Bibimbap. If you can try only one dish, this is it! It is a traditional Korean food cooked in hot stone bowls.

It usually contains various meat and vegetables on rice with eggs. You are supposed to mix them but I prefer eating a bit separately and mixing later. Of course be careful of the hot stoneware. It is a very delicious meal. In fact I will suggest just the place in Seoul, it is the Korean Restaurant in Lotte Department Store’s food court. Yes I am aware it sounds like a lame suggestion to eat in a shopping mall food court for a good Seoul guide, but this is not your usual shopping mall food court.

In Seoul like I mentioned before shopping is really part of life and some shopping malls are popular than others, Lotte’s flag store is one of the popular destinations which hosts really expensive brands. Its food court is big and you will see that you can find all of Korean food in one place and at the end there are two seperate restorants; one Japanese and one Korean. Seriously Lotte is even a tourist action in official Seoul guide!

But don’t be intimidated with Lotte’s expensive stores, food court is budget friendly and the Korean restaurant here in fact offers a really good Bibimbap with a very reasonable price for Seoul. And if you have short time in Seoul and don’t know what to do for your first meal there, it is a very good option.

They bring your bibimbap with many side dishes here (you usually get kimchi and maybe one other thing or nothing) so with side dishes like tofu, kimchi, some vegetables I don’t know, soy soup it really is a bargain. It was 9500 won in May 2015.

Also Korean barbeque is another not to miss experience though it may not be as fun if you are travelling alone. There are many other traditional dishes as well, especially sea food variations but I’m just mentioning some of the most popular ones.

Koreans love fried chicken and beer combination and you should go for this option as well. As for the desserts if you are visiting in summer I have a special suggestion for you. It’s widely popular in Korea to eat shaved iced flavored with various things in summer. Yes, you read that right. It certainly makes a different texture and you might wanna avoid trying to eat it with coffee like I tried to do because it is not a match. Portions are huge and you can see usually two or more people sharing one. You can order different flavors such as strawberry and chocolate but I choose more traditional flavor which I’m not sure what its actually made of but it tasted like powdered chickpea.

A very popular chain Korean Dessert Cafe’s different flavors are extra popular but if you are looking for a coffee and cake type of break it may not be for you. (The one I tried in the picture cost 9500 won with coffee 12000won but I could only eat this much!)

Sightseeing:

There are many things to see and do in Seoul, but the ones I picked for this Seoul guide as must do are listed below. As you have more time move to the end of it!
*There are five traditional palace in the city and you should visit at least one of them. Their tickets cost cheap like a formality and usually people go for the biggest one Gyeongbokgung Palace. Second one is very popular too, I visited biggest and smallest 🙂 

Gyeongbokgung Palace. is really big, so you would likely to wander at least around 1-2 hours just by passing through it. Its gardens, buildings inside has really good photo opportunities. There are free English and Japanese tours hourly so you might wanna join one. Entry is 3000 won (and it was 1000 for the smallest one, so its really nothing). Subway station is directly connected to its entry so just follow the signs.

*Notable streets and shopping places:

I mentioned how South Korean’s love shopping. There are especially couple of areas that also address this aspect of Korean culture in different senses. If you can go to one place make it Myeondong street. It is considered like the center of Seoul and number one place in most of any Seoul guide.

If you want similar feel but more artsy shops and cafes drop by for Insadong area. But if you want cold hard shopping till you drop, swing by Dongdaemun area where many shopping malls exist side by side and you can shop till 7 am in the morning! It really was a different experience “night shopping” they call it and you will be surprised how busy streets are at 3 am, and not only filled with drunk people or people returning but people just got out to do some shopping! I especially likes shopping malls filled with local stands here. Not the ones filled with generic chain brands shops.  Korean’s have a really unique and good fashion sense and you can find many interesting pieces here. They usually separate floors by categories like one whole floor for shoes!

 

And also this Dongdaemun area hosts virtual K-Pop concerts, so it may be quite the experience to join one!

Again for shopping, you will hear Nandeamun name a lot, this place is more like a traditional old street bazaar. Small shops side by side.

Besides this particular areas cafes and shops around university areas were also lovely but I went to those place since I had time.

 

 

 

 

Another not to miss point in every Seoul guide is of course Seoul Tower, the famous landmark of Seoul. Come here after daylight is no more so you can enjoy the breathtaking Seoul night scene. This place is extra special for Korean couples as it kind of symbolize their love last forever. There are many options on how to get here, like cable car, bus and walking. But for price based choice I opted for the bus. They took your picture before you enter the tower and when you are up you can pick your photo with different backgrounds as a souvenir but it was too expensive! Don’t worry buying is optional 😉

*Bukchon, I couldn’t visit here but this place is supposed to be looking like old Seoul with old traditional style houses which has been occupied for hundreds of years. So it is kind of a popular area for historic movie and drama shots.
*Cheonggyecheon Stream, is a famous because it took 900 million dollars to be restored to what it is now! It is a lovely walk in the middle of the city and it’s especially enjoyable if you can pick the time for Lantern festival. Day and night you can see many people taking a stroll by it.

*Gangnam, you probably heard this name 🙂 It is one of the upper sides of Seoul in sense of luxury and life style. You will notice this even just after leaving the subway station with extra huge LCD screens and looks of shops and even already stylish Koreans looking more stylish around here. There are many good places to eat around here too, but this place is mostly known for its night life as it hosts many clubs. If you are in Seoul, you might wanna see Gangnam style with your eyes 🙂 Yeah, of course I was gonna include this place in my Seoul guide 😉

*Namsangol Hanok Village is an attraction where you can see an old traditional village with its buildings and you can do stuff related to Korean culture such as trying their national costume or tea ceremony. Have a look if you are around.

*Ewha is the area where women only university exists. So naturally it is surrounded by lovely cafesand shops 🙂

*Again, one other place I didn’t visit but if you are visiting Seoul, chances are you love Korean dramas and it is one of the main reasons that you are making this trip in the first place! So the area where many TV stations and talent agencies are located is very popular for tourists as well since they may catch a glimpse of their favorite celebrity in the area. Especially fans seems to be hanging in this area, just so you know 😉