My family and I were lucky enough to visit Seoul, South Korea at the end of May/beginning of June for 10 days (12 including travel). It was a lifetime dream of mine as an adoptee from Seoul, and a celebration for my 40th birthday (coming up in October). We enjoyed the culture, food, temples, palaces, cafes, and shopping. I'm still dreaming of the Korean BBQ, The Ramen Library, and the cute shops.
FAVORITE SEOUL THINGS
Visiting the agency I was adopted from (still in operation today). This is a picture of me as a baby with my foster mother.
Banpo Bridge Moonlight Rainbow Fountain
Street Markets
Full Itinerary (with commentary)
Day 1 in Seoul
Gyeonbukgung Palace w/ rented hanboks- If you rent a hanbok, you can gain entrance into palaces for free. It was a great experience, and everyone was dressed up in them so you didn't feel like a total tourist doing it. There are many places to rent hanboks near palaces. The only thing I would say is that it was low 80's, sun was shining, and HOT. Those layers are no joke, so make sure to bring a fan (old school or electric) or umbrella if you're going when it's warmer.
- We got to see the changing of the guard which was a cool ceremony to witness.
- It was very crowded there for the changing of the guard, but did end up thinning out once that was over as you walked further into the palace.
- There is very little greenery or shade in the entire palace.
- This palace was gorgeous as well - loved the architecture. We paid extra to do the Secret Garden tour, which was worth the money in our opinion. It was very green, lush, and shady.
Jogyesa Temple
- We visited this temple several times as it was across the street from our hotel in Insadong. I can honestly say that these temples are so gorgeous during the daytime and nighttime (lit up). It is a serene place to walk around.
Day 2 in Seoul
Dongdaemun- There's tons of shopping here in the Jongno District which was fun exploring.
- This was a fun, futuristic landmark to see in person.
- This street market is one of the oldest and largest traditional markets in South Korea, and it was massive! We had just eaten a huge meal before and decided to walk around here, which I kind of regret. I wished that we could have sampled more foods here as we walked through. The options are endless and overwhelming in the best way possible.
- We tried tteokboki (I'll be honest, I've tried it in the states and didn't love it and didn't love it here either...but lots of people LOVE it, so I encourage you to try it!), bungeoppang (red bean + walnut fish-shaped pastry), and bindaetteok (mungbean pancakes). The bindaetteok was our favorite - it was fried, savory, and served with delicious pickled onions that helped cut the richness.
Day 3 in Seoul
Gangnam- We mainly came to the area for the destinations below, but there is also a lot of shopping here (higher end).
- We occasionally listen to PSY and our daughter loves Gangnam Style, so of course we had to go see the huge statue. It was a fun, quick landmark to visit.
- This massive library is located inside COEX mall!
- This was another thing I saw on Tiktok and knew it would be a perfect place to take photos. We didn't spend a ton of time in the library but it was really impressive. It was pretty crowded, but were able to find pockets to take photos with minimal/no other people.
- This was another very pretty, serene temple. They had chanting while we were there which was so relaxing and made this place extra special.
- We had our 8.5 year old daughter with us, and wanted to break up some of the cultural things and this was perfect. This was also located in the mall and a lot larger than I thought it would be.
Day 4 in Seoul
Myeongdong- There's lots of shopping in this area as well, especially high end.
- This was the main reason we came to Myeongdong. Korean performers mix cooking, drumming, and comedy to make a memorable, funny show. They don't speak a lot of Korean during the show, so everyone can enjoy it no matter what language they speak. Our entire family loved the show and were laughing/smiling the whole time.
- This is exactly what it sounds like. Everything here is toilet shaped and it's hilarious and quirky. Our daughter knew she wanted to visit it - I mean what kid wouldn't!? It was too hot for hot coffee so we didn't get the cool toilet shaped mugs, but our daughter got the waffle with chocolate chunk (lol) ice cream served in a squatting toilet.
- This was definitely worth seeing! It was so pretty, and the fountains are synced with music. The energy is fun - there's couples, old, young, families and everyone in between. A lot of people bring food and make it into a picnic.
Day 5 in Seoul
Namsan Seoul Tower/ N. Seoul Tower- I saw this on Tiktok as a tourist attraction, and we didn't have much planned for this day so it just worked nicely into our schedule.
- We took the elevator up (a little fee) which I think was worth paying for.
- What I loved most about the top (not the heights because I am definitely afraid of heights) is you can really see how MASSIVE Seoul really is. It stretches on for miles in every direction. It really put things into perspective for us.
- This is a picture of the toilets at the top - I was shocked and also felt very weird going to the bathroom in here. It's just an open window out. You've been warned lol.
- This was a recreated village of historical Korean buildings containing several houses called hanok. It was interesting to see what the insides of their houses looked like.
- The main reason we came here was for the Taekwondo performance. Both my husband and daughter take Taekwondo and it was really impressive and cool to see them perform height-defining kicks.
Day 6 in Seoul
Korean Folk Village- This reminds me of a sort of reenactment tourist attraction with live performances. Some of the shows are exclusively in Korean (like a comedy show that we didn't end up staying for), but others can be enjoyed by anyone (dancing, etc.).
- There is a weird amusement park inside that was completely dead when we went...probably because it was a weekday. We didn't end up going on any rides.
- We did more souvenir shopping this day.
Day 7 in Seoul
Adoption agency- I had planned to visit the adoption agency I was adopted from in Seoul and had contacted them prior to our departure. Although it didn't provide me with the answers I was looking for (mainly medical records), it was an experience I will never forget. I'll go more into detail about it in another blog post.
- They gave our daughter some traditional Korean folk story books in English, and she instantly started reading them which felt really special to me.
- This is in Hongdae and the moment I saw this on Tiktok I knew we had to visit. Our entire family loves ramen.
- You choose which ramen you want from the huge selection on the wall, pay for it, and then cook it right there. You put your ingredients in the bowl, scan the barcode, and it dispenses the correct amount of water and boils it all in one spot. It was next level impressive.
- You can also purchase any toppings you want - fish cakes, cheese, hot dogs, seaweed, etc.
- Can I also just say that we got to the Ramyun Library a little bit before peak hours, and then went onto our cooking class. But probably an hour or so after we left Daniel Dae Kim posted a video of him eating here!!! How come he couldn't come in when we were there!!!???
- This was really fun, and I highly recommend if you like cooking or if you'd like to learn. Our daughter was able to participate as well which was a bonus, and the leader was so friendly and energetic. We had a great group that was chatty, and learned several Korean recipes.
- We had a nice walk through the market, sampled kimbap and donuts, and then proceeded to her house to cook.
Day 8 in Seoul
DMZ- This was a must for our first trip to Seoul. It was a full day thing, but you have to go with a tour group so everything was planned out for us.
- What was interesting was the political climate at the time of our tour - the balloons (filled with feces, trash, and propaganda) that North Korea were sending over to the South were actively landing in areas so there was a lot of chatter about that. We didn't see any personally but our tour guide had one land in her neighborhood.
- It's really wild to think how close North Korea is to Seoul, and how easily unrest could happen in a blink of an eye.
- We traveled down the third tunnel (a tunnel that was discovered where North Koreans were digging to South Korea). We traveled down a steep tunnel to see a tiny window's view of North Korea. We had to wear safety helmets as we went down. I'm only 5'3" and I didn't have to hunch too much, but if you are much taller it might be annoying to duck the entire walk down. We had to walk a couple hundreds of meters until we reached the window (which is about 170 meters away from North Korean limit). The walk down is totally fine, but the steep climb back up was a killer. I had to stop once about midway to catch my breath (did I mention I hate hills?). I don't know if I could recommend this steep hike to everyone, it was cool to see the bottom and all of the yellow dots on the wall where dynamite was, but I think you could easily skip it if you had health issues, bad knees, etc. You can also just walk some of the way down and back up if you don't care to go all the way down the tunnel.
- You aren't allowed to take photos in the tunnel for security reasons.
- We weren't able to do the JSA area (Joint Security Area) because our daughter is too young, and we found out that they closed that option for tourists due to an incident where someone stepped over the border line. If you visit the DMZ during your trip, I'd definitely check it out to see if you could do the JSA tour instead of the DMZ one, but the DMZ one is still worth it.
Day 9 in Seoul
Shopping in Insadong/Myeondong- Perfect for last minute souvenir shopping.
- This was something we had wanted to do because it's so popular, but we did it during the daytime so the place we chose was dead lol. The old man running the place didn't speak English but with the translation apps we were able to rent a room for 30 minutes. It was fun to sing, but the music was super loud. I could see how this would be super fun if you had a group of your friends and you had drinks, etc.
Transportation
- We didn't end up getting a T-money card until later in our trip and used one way tickets (used for all Metro and Bus). But I would recommend getting a T-money card at the airport (you just need cash to load the card, so either bringing some with you or using ATM). We had cash with us already from our bank, so we just used that.
- We almost exclusively used the Metro, and only the bus a few times. The bus goes further out of Seoul than the Metro, which is why we opted bus for some of our destinations. The Metro is so efficient, and pretty easy to navigate (especially with NAVER Map or I heard Kakao Metro is good too). What I loved most about the Metro were the people waiting to board the subway - they lined up on both sides of the door and left the middle completely clear for people getting off. They also stood in actual lines, so there's no rude cutting in front of people or pushing your way in...it's all very orderly.
Toilets
- Not all restaurants have public restrooms, so plan accordingly!
- Metro has tons of toilets, which is where we made sure to use the restrooms (even if we were just trying).
- Funny story about one of the restrooms at the Metro - I had to use the bathroom and when I opened the first door it was a squatting toilet (the first I had seen). I really had to go, so I figured it out and am proud to say it went fine, lol. After I get out, I see the symbols on the doors and the line of women made more sense. There were some toilets that were squatting and some that were normal toilets. The line was for the normal toilets...needless to say I learned my lesson. Learn from my mistake!
Apps
I had a long list of apps to download based on online searches and Tiktok videos, but here's what I used and didn't use:
- NAVER Map
- We created a NAVER account, and prior to the trip we used Google Maps for hangul translations and then looked them up in NAVER and starred places to go.
- In Korea, we could see our starred locations and easily find our planned destinations.
- Since our trip was pretty planned out with at least one activity each day, we were able to use NAVER almost exclusively for metro (we only used the bus a few times).
- Papago
- Great translation app, especially for quickly scanning an image and having it translate it. It came in clutch with menus and labels.
- CBP MPC
- Mobile Passport Control - helps coming back into the US on your phone via an expedited customs line. Not all airports participate in this, so you'd have to check your inbound US flight first. We landed in ATL so we were able to use it.
- Kakao T (didn't use)
- Kakao Map (didn't use)
- Google Translate (didn't use)
- Citymapper (didn't use)
- KakaoBus (didn't use)
- KakaoMetro (didn't use)
