Seoul
This is where the journey often begins. Seoul offers a full spectrum of experiences from royal palaces and design-forward districts to vibrant street markets and award-winning cuisine. It’s where you get a sense of Korea’s identity, both traditional and modern.
Things to do here
50 experiences our team has visited
Seoul · Hannam-dong
Leeum Museum of Art
Spend the morning at Leeum — Goryeo celadon and Joseon painting in one wing, Korean and international contemporary art in the other, in a building trio by Botta, Nouvel and Koolhaas.
Seoul · Jeong-dong
MMCA Deoksugung: Art Inside a Palace
See modern Korean art where it began — MMCA's Deoksugung branch shows the early masters inside a 1938 building on the palace grounds, stone wall walk included.
Seoul · Insadong
Ssamziegil: Make Yours in Insadong
After looking all morning, make something: Ssamziegil's spiral of craft studios in Insadong runs drop-in workshops — rings, leather, ceramics painting — surrounded by four floors of young makers' shops.
Seoul · Insadong
Insadong Gallery Walk & Calligraphy
Walk Insadong's gallery lane with our guide — antique dealers, brush shops and small galleries — then sit down with brush and ink for an hour of Korean calligraphy basics.
Seoul
Walk Through Time
Walk Korea's history in order — palaeolithic to modern — linking museums, monuments and neighbourhoods into one continuous timeline instead of a list of separate sights.
Seoul · Hannam-dong
Seoul, Built by Masters: A Starchitecture Route
Pick two to four from Leeum (Botta, Nouvel, Koolhaas), the Chipperfield-designed Amorepacific headquarters, and Tadao Ando's JCC and LG Arts Center, reading each architect's language against the city around it.
Seoul · Bukchon
Bukchon Through an Architect's Eyes
Walk the alleys with an architect born and raised in Bukchon — hanok structure, how the lanes formed, old houses beside new buildings, and what living here has actually meant.
Seoul
Temple, Read Through Architecture
Walk a temple with a specialist in traditional architecture or Buddhist art — layout, timber structure, eaves and dancheong, statues and paintings, latticework and gardens — closing over tea.
Seoul · Jongno
HiKR Ground: K-Culture Playground
Start at HiKR Ground, the Korea Tourism Organization's four-floor K-culture space — media art, K-pop video sets you can film yourself in, and rotating exhibitions on what Korea exports to your screen.
Seoul · Dongdaemun
DDP: Korea in Its Future Tense
Visit Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Zaha Hadid's silver spaceship — K-fashion launches, design exhibitions and the LED rose garden after dark, in the district that never closes.
Seoul · Seongsu-dong
Seoul in Motion
Join a local running crew for an evening run through their favourite routes — Hangang River sunsets, the Gyeongbokgung–Cheonggyecheon old-city loop, or hot-spot Seongsu — then wind down the Korean way, over coffee or chimaek.
Seoul · Jamsil
Cheer Like Korea: Pro Baseball Night
Take a seat at Jamsil Stadium for an LG or Doosan game and learn the fight songs with the cheer squad, fried chicken and beer in hand — Korean baseball is watched with the whole body.
Seoul · Jongno
E-Sports Is Culture: LCK Live
Catch a live LCK match at LoL Park's arena in Jongno — or on non-match days, tour the arena lounge, Riot Store and PC café to see how gaming became Korean pop culture.
Seoul · Gwanghwamun
Dress the Part: A Hanbok Day at Gyeongbokgung
Rent a hanbok near the palace — hair styling included — then walk Gwanghwamun, Geunjeongjeon and Gyeonghoeru for photographs, timed to catch the royal guard changing ceremony.
Seoul · Myeongdong
Myeongdong Cathedral
Attend or simply sit in Myeongdong Cathedral, the Gothic-revival mother church of Korean Catholicism — daily masses, the martyrs' crypt below, and a courtyard that has sheltered more than one national conscience.
Seoul · Hapjeong
Jeoldusan Martyrs' Shrine
Visit Jeoldusan above the Hangang River — the "beheading hill" where hundreds of Catholics were executed in 1866 — with its museum of relics and the riverside terrace for prayer.
Seoul · Jung-gu
Seosomun Shrine History Museum
Descend into the Seosomun shrine museum, built underground beneath a city park on the execution ground where the largest number of Korean martyrs died — a modern space of concrete, light shafts and silence.
Seoul · Changdeokgung
Walk by Lantern Light: Changdeokgung Moonlight Tour
Carry a cheongsachorong lantern through Changdeokgung after dark with a guide — Injeongjeon, Nakseonjae, Buyongji pond and Yeongyeongdang, with traditional performance woven in.
Seoul · Namsan
The Classic Seoul Night
Namsan's viewpoints for N Seoul Tower and the light-field of the city, then down along the Han for a riverside walk or night drive — Seoul's definitive night panorama.
Seoul · Naksan
Old Wall, New Lights: The Naksan Night Walk
From Heunginjimun up along the lit fortress wall of Naksan — 600-year-old stonework on one side, Dongdaemun's glass and neon below — an hour's night walk.
Seoul · Dongdaemun
Beauty, Translated: B the B at DDP
AI skin and scalp readings, product matching, virtual makeup and photo play — beauty-tech showcased as an interactive exhibition inside DDP.
Seoul · Hongdae
Beauty Lab: Beauty Play
A publicly run K-beauty space gathering many brands under one roof — AI skin checks, personal-colour readings, product testing and seasonal pop-ups.
Seoul · Jongno
A Monk's Kitchen: Temple Food with the Nuns
A 90-minute class led by a Buddhist nun at the Korean Temple Food Center — cooking seasonal monastery dishes such as mulkimchi, tangpyeongchae, stuffed summer squash or tofu, eating together, closing with tea talk.
Seoul · Anguk
What Your Body Needs: Tea Therapy
At a 'herbalist's tearoom', check your constitution 1:1 with a tea therapist, drink the herbal blend matched to it, and warm your feet in a herbal foot bath.
Seoul · Gyeongdong Market
The Medicine Market: A Hanbang Half-Day
In Korea's largest medicinal-herb market, tour the Seoul K-Medi Center's museum, take an herbal foot bath and Bojewon hanbang massage, then wander the herb alleys and hanbang cafés of Yangnyeongsi.
Seoul · Jongno
Changdeokgung Palace & the Secret Garden
Tour Changdeokgung, the palace the Joseon kings actually preferred, and take the timed Huwon walk — the Secret Garden of pavilions, lotus ponds and three-hundred-year-old trees behind the palace wall.
Seoul · Jongno
Jongmyo Shrine
Walk the raised spirit path of Jongmyo, the royal ancestral shrine — long, low, almost empty halls holding the tablets of the Joseon kings, in the deliberate silence the site was designed for.
Seoul · Changdeokgung
The Joseon Way 01: Palace & Ritual
At Changdeokgung, read a palace laid out to follow its terrain; at Jongmyo, stand before the long ritual hall where the dynasty's kings and queens are enshrined.
Seoul · Seonjeongneung
The Joseon Way 02: Where Kings Rest
Walk an easily reached royal tomb like Seonjeongneung — red spirit gate, ritual hall, grassed mound on its wooded axis — the afterlife architecture of the dynasty.
Seoul · Jongno
Gwangjang Market Grazing Walk
Eat your way down Gwangjang Market's food aisles — mung-bean pancakes off the griddle, mayak gimbap, raw beef tartare for the brave — standing shoulder to shoulder with the lunch crowd.
Seoul · Seochon
Tongin Market Coin Lunchbox
Trade won for brass yeopjeon coins at Tongin Market and build your own lunchbox stall by stall — a scoop of this, a skewer of that — then eat it in the market's communal hall.
Seoul · Jongno
Temple Food at Balwoo Gongyang
Sit down to a full temple-cuisine course at Balwoo Gongyang, the Jogye Order's own restaurant — vegetable cooking built on fermentation and restraint, each course explained.
Seoul · Insadong
Kimchi-Making at Museum Kimchikan
Make kimchi with your own hands at Museum Kimchikan in Insadong — salt, rub, taste and pack a jar to take away, with the museum's story of Korea's fermentation culture around you.
Seoul · Seongsu-dong
Seongsu: Warehouses Turned Workshops
Spend an afternoon in Seongsu-dong, the old shoe-factory district that young Seoul rebuilt on its own terms — red-brick warehouses turned into roasteries, brand pop-ups and studios, with Seoul Forest a short walk away for the picnic crowd.
Seoul · Ikseon-dong
Ikseon-dong Hanok Alleys
Wander the tight hanok alleys of Ikseon-dong, where 1920s courtyard houses hold single-room cafés, tailors and dessert bars — then pick one and stay a while.
Seoul · Banpo
An Evening at Banpo Hangang Park
Join Seoul's favourite ritual: convenience-store ramyeon cooked riverside at Banpo Hangang Park, a picnic mat on the grass, and the Banpo Bridge Rainbow Fountain arcing over the river after dark.
Seoul · Gyeongdong Market
Gyeongdong 1960: The Market Reborn
See how young Seoul recycles its own past at Gyeongdong Market — a working herbal-medicine market whose shuttered 1960s theatre is now a café and record shop, retro signage intact, herb stalls still trading downstairs.
Seoul · Bukchon
Maedeup — Korean Decorative Knotting
In a hanok in Bukchon, learn maedeup — Korean decorative knotting — from the family who has kept the Dong-Lim Knot Museum for decades. You braid and tighten silk cords into a traditional knot pendant you keep.
Seoul · Seocho
Ceramic Wheel Class at a Working Studio
Sit at the potter's wheel in a working Seoul studio and throw your own bowl under a ceramicist's hands-on guidance — centring the clay, opening the form, trimming the rim. Your piece is glazed and fired after you leave.
Seoul · Anguk
Seoul Museum of Craft Art (SeMoCA)
Walk the Seoul Museum of Craft Art with our guide — a former school campus turned into Korea's first museum dedicated to craft, covering bojagi wrapping cloths, lacquer, metalwork and ceramics, with masterworks by living artisans.
Seoul · Bukchon
The Master's Workshop: Traditional Window-Frame Joinery
A private visit to the hanok workshop of a changho master — the craftsman behind traditional Korean doors and windows — watching the timber, tools and joinery up close before sharing tea and conversation.
Seoul · Bukhansan
A Mountain Pause in Seoul: Geumseonsa
Slip from downtown to a Bukhansan hillside temple for a day or overnight templestay — meditation, temple tour, tea — and be back in the city by evening.
Seoul · Inwangsan
City at Your Feet: Inwangsan
Climb Inwangsan's ridge from Seochon — about two hours along the fortress wall with Gyeongbokgung, Namsan and the whole downtown below — then descend to makgeolli and jeon in the village.
Seoul · Bukhansan
Seoul Hikes for Real: Bukhansan
Enter Bukhansan from Ui-dong and take Baegundae or a mid-level viewpoint course to match your legs — then close it properly: pajeon, tofu and makgeolli at the trailhead restaurants.
Seoul · Mangwon
Morning Market Run at Mangwon
Shop Mangwon Market the way the neighbourhood does — greens, tofu, a rotisserie chicken for later — tasting as you go, with our guide translating the banter between stalls.
Seoul · Jamsil
Baseball Night at Jamsil
Join a KBO baseball night at Jamsil Stadium — fried chicken and beer in the stands, cheer squads and trumpet chants, the whole crowd singing each batter's song.
Seoul · Bukchon
Bukchon: Tea with the Neighbourhood
Walk Bukchon's hanok lanes early, before the crowds, and sit down for tea in a courtyard house with the owner — the kind of hour where the conversation matters more than the itinerary.
Seoul · Insadong
Alive Museum: Optical Illusion Play
Turn the children loose in Alive Museum Insadong — trick-art rooms built for climbing into the picture, ninety minutes of poses, illusions and laughing at each other's photos.
Seoul
Bukhansan Dulle Trail
Walk a section of the Bukhansan Dulle-gil, the loop trail that circles the granite national park inside Seoul's city limits — pine forest, temple gates and city views, without needing to summit anything.
Seoul · Bukchon
My Scene of Seoul
Walk Bukchon or Eunpyeong Hanok Village, taste traditional tea or sool along the way, then distil what you felt into a candle or perfume blended to your own memory of the day.
Places to see
The landmarks worth the stop
Changdeokgung Palace
Joseon's most intact palace, built in 1405 and laid out to follow the slope of the hill rather than a grid. Behind the throne halls lies the Secret Garden, where pavilions and lotus ponds sit among old trees — a UNESCO site best seen on the guided garden walk.
Deoksugung Stone Wall Path
A gently curving lane along the stone wall of Deoksugung Palace, lined with ginkgo trees that turn gold in autumn. Cafés, small museums and the old Jeong-dong legation quarter make it Seoul's favourite slow walk, by day or under the lamps at night.
Naksan Park
A low hill on Seoul's old city wall with one of the easiest skyline views in the capital. Follow the restored fortress wall past the Ihwa mural village at dusk, when the lights come on across Dongdaemun and Namsan.
N Seoul Tower
The observation tower on Namsan that anchors the Seoul skyline, reached by cable car or a wooded walk. The deck gives a 360-degree view of the city; the padlock terraces and the evening light show are the crowd-pleasers.
COEX Aquarium
A large city-centre aquarium beneath the COEX complex in Gangnam, with sixteen themed zones and a walk-through shark tunnel. An easy half-day for families, and a rainy-day fallback that sits beside the Starfield Library and the shopping mall.
Bukchon Hanok Village
A hillside neighbourhood of hundreds of traditional hanok houses tucked between Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung palaces. Its narrow lanes are still lived in today, which gives every alley view of tiled roofs and the city skyline an authentic, everyday charm.
Lotte World
Korea's best-known theme park, with an indoor adventure hall under a glass dome and the outdoor Magic Island on Seokchon Lake. Rides, parades and an ice rink make it a reliable full day for families in any weather.
Insadong Cultural Street
Seoul's traditional arts district, where antique dealers, calligraphy brush shops, galleries, and tea houses line a single walkable street. It is the easiest place in the city to browse Korean crafts and pick up a meaningful souvenir.
Gwangjang Market
Korea's first permanent market, trading for over a century and now famous for its street food alley — mung-bean pancakes sizzling on griddles, mayak gimbap, and raw beef tartare eaten shoulder-to-shoulder with locals.
Dongdaemun Design Plaza
Zaha Hadid's silver, curving landmark anchors Seoul's 24-hour fashion district. Design exhibitions, night markets, and the LED rose garden make it the city's signature stop for contemporary architecture lovers.
Gyeongbokgung Palace
The grandest of Seoul's five royal palaces, built in 1395 as the seat of the Joseon dynasty. Watch the royal guard changing ceremony at Gwanghwamun Gate, then wander past throne halls and lotus-pond pavilions with Bugaksan Mountain rising behind the rooflines.
Bukchon Cultural Center
A restored hanok that serves as the gateway to Bukchon, offering exhibitions and hands-on programmes on traditional Korean living. A good first stop to understand the village before exploring its lanes.
Journeys through Seoul
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Sample journey
Korea Highlights Tour (7D 6N)
Seoul (2N), Gyeongju (1N), Busan (2N), Seoul (1N)
Sample journey
Grand Korea Discovery (14D 13N)
Seoul (4N), Andong (1N), Gyeongju (day visit), Busan (3N), Jeju (3N), Seoul (2N)
Sample journey
All About Korea (11D 10N)
Seoul (3N), Suwon (1N), Wonju (1N), Andong (1N), Gyeongju (1N), Busan (2N), Seoul (1N)
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