I was lucky enough to spend a few days in Seoul recently. My husband had some business meetings there for a few days, so we decided to stay on for the weekend. Seoul is often give a bad rap as unattractive and boring and with bad traffic, but we did not find that to be true at all. In fact, we found it to be clean, efficient, buzzy and very friendly. The people are uber-fashionable and there are quite a few different districts to explore, bursting with palaces, art galleries, shopping malls, boutiques, cafes, restaurants and bars. It has a healthy contemporary art scene, not to mention its pop and youth culture dominance throughout the region.
I love to draw parallels to my past destinations, so here goes: for me, Seoul is more like Japan than China, and more like Taipei than Hong Kong; and the surrounding mountains give it a sense of drama like in Taipei or Kyoto. That said, it’s got its own flavour entirely. It’s a big city, home to 10 million-plus people, so we hardly scratched the surface. But we did manage to fit a fair bit in, and I'd love to return in the future as it's only a 90-minute flight from Shanghai and a perfect city break.
As always, we came armed with some travel guides (Wallapaper and Luxe being our favourites) and my buddy Ross, who lived in Seoul for a couple of years, gave me his list of must-sees. So here's what we did:
 |
| Changing of the guard at Deoksu-gong |
The Bus Tour
I’m a big fan of hop-on, hop-off double-decker tourist buses, particularly on short breaks. On the first day in a new city, it’s a time-efficient and cost-effective way of getting to grips with new surroundings. I like to get my bearings and a handle on the “vibe” of the city and its neighbourhoods and attractions before committing to spending too long in one area. I never hop off, I like to sit on with map in hand and figure out what I’d like to go back and see in more detail. I can highly recommend the Seoul tourist bus. It’s not a double-decker but its daytime route covers a large amount of ground in two hours -- more than I could ever do on foot or by train or taxi. The Food
Dumplings, Korean BBQ, Japanese izakayas, European fine-dining, great cafes. Seoul has it all. A few years back, my office in Sydney had a Korean restaurant down the road which I adored (chilli chicken baby!) and my Singapore office also had plentiful Korean eateries in the surrounding streets. As a result, I absolutely LOVE Korean food. We didn’t make any bookings or do much research on specific places (a bit of a first for us) but found the dining scene to be pretty accessible: we managed to eat some pretty great stuff by simply strolling the streets and popping in wherever we fancied.
The Hotel
We stayed at the Plaza Hotel located directly opposite City Hall (due to be completed next year). It was an ideal spot to be based for a short stay. Tourist bus at door, shopping districts all around, the Deoksu-gung palace within walking distance.
 |
| The view from the Plaza Hotel |
Samcheong-dong
If you only have a short time in Seoul, head here. This was one of our favorite places and perfect for an afternoon of strolling. Sitting in between the two palaces of Gyeongbok-gung (to its west) and Changdeok-gung (to its east) is this really charming area full of winding streets packed full of contemporary art galleries, cafes, restaurants, boutiques and more.
We picked up a walking map from the tourist centre and wandered the nearby backstreets and alleys of Bukchon village, a cluster of traditional Korean wooden homes, called hanok, with a spectacular backdrop of the nearby Bukhansan mountain peak that overlooks the president's house and National Folk Museum.
Garoso-gil
We headed to this tree-lined street in Sinsa-dong for an afternoon of shopping with a massive side serve of people-watching. There are copious amounts of boutiques, coffee shops and restaurants and when night fell, the bars were packed. We particularly liked sitting one level up with wine in hand and people-watching all the fashionable folk (and their cars). It felt like a condensed version of Tokyo's Harajuku with a splash of Ginza.
Namsan
This mountain is the centerpiece of the city. The views from the top are pretty spectacular and you can really understand the size of the city that stretches out underfoot in all directions. This time, we caught the bus up (and unfortunately missed taking any good pics), but next time I'd like to try the cable car.
 |
| The view from Namsan facing south |
Located in downtown Seoul, is this pretty remarkable public walkway. It used to be a natural stream that ran through the heart of the city, but then an elevated freeway was built over the top of it. In 2005, a restoration project was undertaken to restore it to its former glory, resulting in a 5.8km walkway below street level. When I visited, it was full of strolling couples, workers on their lunch break, old locals sitting atop rocks and contemplating life, school kids on excursions and fascinated tourists.
Chongno
Nearby is Chongno, filled with laneways full of eateries -- Korean barbecue places, Japanese izakayas, donkatsu and ramen joints, Western-style pizza places, etc. At night it becomes a neon-lit paradise filled with office workers, teenagers and tourists. Kinda like Tokyo's Shinjuku or Taipei's Ximending.
We stopped in at a Korean barbecue place and were pretty amused by our nearest neighbors, a trio of mates catching up after work over beers and bbq meat, and each watching the baseball live on their handheld TVs!
Insadong
A block north of Chongno, is Insadong, a pedestrian mall packed with tourists, coffee shops, souvenir shops, boutiques, street food sellers, museums, galleries and traditional tea shops. On a weekday night it was relatively calm. On Sunday afternoon, it was absolutely heaving!
This is a pretty busy shopping district, packed with posh department stores like Lotte and Shinsegae and flagship shops for the likes of Zara, H&M, Muji, etc. As Ross told me, "If you’ve ever seen those bits on CNN where they show huge crowds filing down a semi-narrow street in Korea, you’ve seen Myongdong."
 |
| The food hall at Shineagae department store |
With the US military base in the adjoining neighborhood, this area is clearly an expat enclave - Western-style sports bars, restaurants, furniture shops, clothes shops. It had some red light beginnings (not so apparent now), and it doesn't have anything authentically Korean about it at all, but we enjoyed wandering around the area, kinda like a grittier version of Hong Kong's Lan Kwai Fong. And most importantly, we found a bar playing the rugby!
On my list for our next visit:
- Stay south of the river and explore more of the areas of Cheongdam-dong and Apgujeong (known as the "Beverly Hills of Seoul"), particularly the high-end dining scene
- Take a side trip to the North Korean border and check out the DMZ
- Head back to Garusogil and Samcheong-dong for the people-watching and boutique shopping
- Catch the cable car up Namsan mountain
- Explore the palaces in more detail, particularly Gyeongbok-gung and Changdeok-gung
- Hit up some tourist spots - the War Museum, National Museum, Dandaenum markets
- Depending on the season, go hiking or skiing
No comments:
Post a Comment