Seoul for couples
Day 1 is Jongno on foot — Gyeongbokgung at 9am, Bukchon Hanok Village, Changdeokgung's Secret Garden, dinner at Gwangjang Market. Day 2 moves south: National Museum of Korea, the Namsan Tower hike, Itaewon and Haebangchon for dinner. Day 3 heads west to Mangwon Market and Hongdae, ending with fried chicken and beer by the Han River at sunset. About 35 kilometres total, subway included.
Questions couples ask about Seoul
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3-day itinerary
Day 1 is Jongno on foot — Gyeongbokgung at 9am, Bukchon Hanok Village, Changdeokgung's Secret Garden, dinner at Gwangjang Market. Day 2 moves south: National Museum of Korea, the Namsan Tower hike, Itaewon and Haebangchon for dinner. Day 3 heads west to Mangwon Market and Hongdae, ending with fried chicken and beer by the Han River at sunset. About 35 kilometres total, subway included.
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Must-see
Gyeongbokgung Palace, first thing in the morning. The 3,000-won admission — roughly two dollars — gets you into the largest Joseon-era royal complex, with Bugaksan mountain filling the frame behind the throne hall. The changing of the guard at 10am is worth timing your arrival around. Get there by 9am to walk the grounds in relative quiet first.
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Food culture
Seoul eats on a schedule built around shared tables and banchan that never stop coming. Breakfast is a bowl of sullungtang from a counter open since 4am. Lunch is fast — office workers clear kimchi-jjigae in twelve minutes. Dinner stretches past midnight, wrapped around soju and grilled pork belly where exhaust fans roar overhead.
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Where locals go
Seoul's locals scatter by neighborhood identity, not tourist corridors. Mangwon-dong's market streets and independent cafes run on a rhythm foreign to Hongdae two stops away. Euljiro's printing-district speakeasies fill after 10pm on weeknights. Seongsu-dong's converted shoe factories hold the coffee-and-laptop crowd. Yeonnam-dong's residential grid is where the under-35 creative class lives and eats.
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Where to stay
Myeongdong for your first Seoul trip — Line 4 puts you one stop from the Euljiro subway junction, ten minutes' walk from Namdaemun Market, and fifteen from Deoksugung Palace. Budget ₩80,000–150,000 per night ($54–101) for a clean mid-range hotel. Repeat visitors should look at Euljiro's converted print-shop blocks at ₩50,000–90,000 ($34–61).
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