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 Traveller's Tales: Places to go and see in Seoul, South Korea
Take a tour of the top places to go in Seoul, South Korea. You may read about must see places and activities in the area. Also, you might want to read our
Jeju city guide,
and Seoul city guide.
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| W Yio |
16 May 2004 |
Stayed at Lees Seoul, Hotel - Seoul, South Korea.
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Shopping malls around Dongdaemum and the street stalls are closed at 5am.
The food stalls near Dongdaemum are quite good.
Metro network has a very good coverage.
Namsam park is not worth going.
Gangnam area and Myeong dong is a good shopping area too.
Currency can be exchanged freely at almost every bank.
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| W Chai |
18 April 2004 |
Stayed at Seoul Plaza Hotel - Seoul, South Korea.
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I am writing this part, because people don’t speak much English in Seoul. I don't want others to suffer like me. Take Hop On- Hop Off Seoul City tour bus. They stop at all famous destinations in Seoul. You can catch them every 30 mintues from each stop.
Out of all palaces, I visited 2 famous ones. That's enough. Deokuson palace is on UNESCO World Heritage List. Another is nearby Gyeokuson Palace. Shopping, try Myeong Dung, where there is Miligore shopping center and alleys full of individual small shops. Real Cool place at night also. Also go to Dongdaemon market for its 3 big shopping centers. Can you believe they open until 5 am on Friday's night (that means they are open until 5 am Saturday) ? Another market is Numdaemon market, but they have lower grade materials though. I didn't like it there.
Food, I like Korean Restaurant at Seoul Train Station. Cheap and authentic taste. Others, I eat as I go around. I went to other cities such as Suwon where there is a fortress and Buson by train. Train service is efficient and affordable. In Suwon, you have to climb up to Fortress (hell tiring) and can go around the Fortress which I didn't do it because it was hot. Took taxi from Suwon station to the Fortress. There is Tourist Info center just outside of Suwon station. Went to Buson city. There is a beach, but that's all. Also took a train there and tourist info is in Buson train station.
Just one last advice, buy a Korean-English Dictionary, so when you get lost or want to ask something, show them the word. I tried speaking, but it never worked. They don't understand.
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| P Uhl |
02 April 2004 |
Stayed at Seoul Prince Hotel - Seoul, South Korea.
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The hotel is next to Myong-dong, a down-town are bustling with shops and restaurants, which really comes alive after dark. Definitely worth a stroll! Namdaemun Market, Lotte Hotel/Dept Store and the Namsangol Traditional Village are in walking distance. A very nice small coffee and breakfast place (also with internet access) called Olia around the corner and close to the underpass to the Sejong Hotel can be highly recommended (open from 8am).
If you have the time, do make a daytrip to Panmunjeom and the DMZ, the border to North Korea. This can be booked with several different organisers (info available in the hotel lobby) and is quite a sobering experience.
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| I Justo |
07 March 2004 |
Stayed at Koreana Hotel - Seoul, South Korea.
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Traditional korean food is the thing not to miss in Seoul: from walking distance from the hotel, there are plenty of good restaurants, one of them called SamDeGang located in a small road just behind the Seoul Plaza Hotel on the City Hall Plaza, that serves "black chicken" soup with assorted kimchi. Another great one is just in front of the Koreana Hotel in the lower 1st floor of the Seoul Financial Center building. It proposes high class korean food: a little expensive (about 30US$/person) but wonderful experience.
For shopping lovers, the place to go is Namdaemun market (a lot of choices; but do not hesitate to bargain to get up to 30% discount). For those who prefer department stores, Lotte Dept. Store is a great place with fantastic choices (but no discount there).
On a more touristy point of view, the 3 palaces scattered in Seoul (from walking distance from Koreana Hotel or easy access by subways) are worth the visit (all of them have internal museums inside - do not miss them). With 15 cm. snow on palaces and gardens, it was really a rare landscape.
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| G Barkus |
08 February 2004 |
Stayed at Seoul Plaza Hotel - Seoul, South Korea.
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Staying in Seoul over the weekend and always wanted to visit the DMZ? A useful piece of advice apparently unknown to the hotel booking staff is that the UN Truce Village at Panmunjom is closed to visitors on Sundays. But the tour still costs the same...but then you do still get to peer across 4km of the most heavily mined and guarded territory on earth into the serious weirdness of North Korea. And that is worth doing.
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| R Smith |
20 January 2004 |
Stayed at Sofitel Ambassador Seoul - Seoul, South Korea.
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I travel to Seoul frequently on business only. The Sofitel is a short cab ride to Itaewon for those interested in the nightlife or shopping and very close to the Communication Tower in Namsun Park.
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| P Millett |
10 November 2003 |
Stayed at Hamilton Hotel - Seoul, South Korea.
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Try Tondaemong for night shopping of clothing and fake brand goods. The department stores there (Named: Miliogne, API, etc..) are deliberately full of fakes or imitations, and the quality is very good, compared to those sold on the street. "DO" haggle on prices, and "DO" keep your smile. Try the Shilla Hotel for a BIG Duty free complex, or for the nice ambience & mountain view from their lobby coffee lounge.
Itaewon is the best place for fake rolex watches etc... Just walk into any shop that sells watches there, and ask quietly to see their fake watches. They will pull out a suitcase, and show you several examples for sale, including graded copies of the same watch. Level 1 copy, Level 2 copy etc... They have several brands. Louis Vuitton bags etc.. also abound in Itaewon. Buy your ginseng tea and capsules etc. at the supermarket, to avoid getting ripped off on prices.
Avoid entering any bar in Itaewon where girls try to call you in or drag you in. Korean locals told me that these places were just rip off girly bars that charge you 2-5times the price of the same drink had in a normal bar. Seoul's a great city, and much more organized and pretty and less noisy and dirty than Tokyo I thought. Enjoy!
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| J Gibbons |
14 October 2003 |
Stayed at Best Western New Seoul Hotel - Seoul, South Korea.
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Seoul is a fascinating city. It's the world's third largest (within city limits) at 9+ million, but is very user-friendly. We had no problem using the highly efficient metro system. Although most locals don't speak much English, we were able to function just fine. Many restaurants have English menus or have the food on display in the window. The Seoul Financial Center has a two-floor underground restaurant mall. We loved walking around the Insadong area and the palaces nearby. Prices seemed reasonable.
The transfer from Incheon Airport takes just a little over one hour in the luxury Korean Air (blue) bus. Passengers from any airline can use this service. It stops across the street from the New Seoul at the Koreana Hotel ($12 one way). From there you must walk down the block, to the pedestrian subway in order to cross the street. The view from Seoul Tower is worth seeing. New Seoul is within walking distance of the enormous Namdaemun Market area.
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| J Naess |
05 October 2003 |
Stayed at Crown Insadong, Hotel - Seoul, South Korea.
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Visited a couple of palaces pretty close to the hotel (Changdeokgung with Secret Garden and Gyeongbokgung), the National Folk Museum, the Namdaemun-market and spent some time in Insadong cultural district with lots of small shops of arts and crafts and several places to eat. We can recommend all these attractions and areas, and we certainly liked Seoul a lot.
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| R Azran |
23 September 2003 |
Stayed at Crown Insadong, Hotel - Seoul, South Korea.
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Do not miss the 1 hour excursion out of Seoul to the Hoam Art Museum, the gardens are the most beautiful in Asia. A good idea for first timers in Seoul is to hop on the City Tour bus, for $US 10, you see all of Seoul and then can decide where to spend time. For me, just seeing Itaewon from a bus window was enough - who needs all those Western restaurants anyway.
Check out a new veggie resto at the entrance to Insadong, just near the police station and tourist info booth - Sin Sim - great ambiance and food.
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