What's happening in Seoul this week?

Plan the palaces around two closing days: Gyeongbokgung and Jongmyo close on Tuesday, and Changdeokgung, Deoksugung and Changgyeonggung close on Monday, which makes Monday your Gyeongbokgung day and Tuesday the one for Changdeokgung. Changdeokgung's Secret Garden tour usually sells out by mid-morning during foliage season, so book it first. Gyeongbokgung entry costs 3,000 won, about $2.25 at 1,335 won to the dollar, and anyone wearing hanbok gets in free, which is why you hear rented silk skirts rustling on the gravel inside Heungnyemun by 9am. The guard-changing ceremony at Gwanghwamun runs at 10am and 2pm on every day the palace is open, and you can hear the drums from the Sejong-daero crosswalk. Jongmyo is the one that catches people out: on most weekdays, entry is by timed guided tour. Saturday is currently the day you can walk in on your own. Go Saturday morning, when the stone courtyard in front of Jeongjeon is cold underfoot and almost silent.

Markets keep their own calendar. Namdaemun Market sits beside the old gate of the same name, and most of it is shuttered on Sunday, so go Monday through Saturday before noon, when the alley of galchi-jorim restaurants smells of braised hairtail and red chili. Gwangjang Market in Jongno opens daily, but its bindaetteok griddles are busiest on Friday and Saturday evenings, and the mayak gimbap counters have long queues after 6pm. On a Tuesday or Wednesday at 5pm you will likely find a free stool and a hot mung-bean pancake for around 6,000 won. Dongdaemun's wholesale fashion towers open around 8pm and trade until dawn, mostly for shop buyers. The National Museum of Korea in Yongsan is one to know if you're fighting jet lag: it stays open until 9pm on Wednesday and Saturday, and its permanent galleries are free.

Weeknights and weekends feel like different cities. Tuesday through Thursday, office workers fill Euljiro's printing-shop alleys with plastic stools, fried chicken and green soju bottles, and you can usually walk into a pocha without waiting. From Friday at 10pm, the streets around Hongik University Station and the Itaewon hill get crowded enough that police manage the subway exits, and taxis grow scarce once the last trains stop around midnight, so book a Kakao T ride before 11:30pm or use the N-numbered night buses. Samcheong-dong-gil and the Deoksugung stone-wall road run to a different schedule: Saturday afternoons feel like a slow queue, and more so in ginkgo season, when the trees turn from green to mustard yellow. Walk them on a Thursday before 10am, while street sweepers are still working along the Deoksugung wall.