Three days in Seoul intended as a wind-down to finish off the Asia trip. Ended up being one of the highlights, and the place I most want to see more of.
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The hotel we stayed at. Great location, walking distance to many attractions and restaurants, and very close to the subway.
Visit ↗Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung Palaces
We dedicated one of our days in Seoul to going to see the palaces. Gyeongbokgung Palace was our starting point. I would say this complex was quite comparable to the Forbidden City in Beijing - perhaps not quite as old or grand, since most of Gyeongbokgung was reconstructed, but far less crowded, and just as interesting to explore. Of the palaces we went to, this is the one we explored most thoroughly.
The walk between Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung, our next target, was quite nice: the area is scenic and there are lots of interesting shops and places to eat. We went to the National Folk Museum immediately adjacent to Gyeongbokgung - although we didn't actually explore the museum, we were in desperate need of food and air conditioning and this was the first place we saw that supplied both.
Changdeokgung was just as interesting as Gyeongbokgung, with the bonus of the Secret Garden. The Secret Garden requires a timed entry slot, and we hadn't booked in advance - we got lucky that there were still tickets available. The timed entry comes with a tour guide, but you are allowed to ditch the tour and just wander around by yourself, as we did.
There are plenty of palaces in Seoul to choose from. We went to two. Gyeongbokgung is the largest and most iconic. If you can get tickets for the Secret Garden in Changdeokgung, that is also worth going to see.
Exploring Seoul - Food & Nightlife
Most of our time in Seoul was spent just wandering around and exploring, rather than going to specific attractions (except for the palaces). Directly across from our hotel was Jogyesa Temple, which was worth a look around. The streets behind the hotel had all sorts of interesting shops and a wide variety of places to eat that also caught our eye. One of our days we went for a wander through some of the markets to Dongdaemun Design Plaza, discovering many little spots and hidden gems along the way just by walking through the side streets.
Although we planned to, we actually didn't even make it to any clubs, but we had a great time at the pubs we went to in Euljiro. The atmosphere was great and we spent the whole night chatting with locals. Definitely somewhere I would go back to, even though I only saw a small portion of the area.
Of all the places we went to on this trip, Seoul impressed us the most in terms of food. One place we went back to (and would go back to again) served almost nothing but fried chicken and beer (and soju), which suited us just fine.
Bagel purists may disagree, but this beats any bagel I've ever had. Honestly one of my favourite parts of visiting Seoul was discovering this place.
Getting Around
Most of the time we were in Seoul we walked, but we used the metro and the airport express train to get us to and from the airport, and for the one day when we walked too far and didn't want to walk back.
We only really saw a small part of Seoul around our hotel, but I would have felt very comfortable using the metro to go anywhere within the city.
Even better than the Beijing metro, which we thought was great.
Gallery
Reflections
What would I do differently?
Would I go again?