SEOUL · SOUTH KOREA
Palaces, street food, and a border up north.
Gyeongbokgung in hanbok, the DMZ day trip, Gwangjang market food and the long neon nights of Hongdae. Nami Island, Suwon, the Han River and the trips beyond the city.
Only here
Three things you can only really do in Seoul.
Shopping and street food you'll find in any big Asian city. The border, the palace in hanbok and the machinery of K-pop belong to this one.
The last border
The DMZ
The Demilitarized Zone is the most heavily armed border on earth, and the only place you can stand and look straight into North Korea. Tours run to the Third Infiltration Tunnel dug under the line, the Dora Observatory and, on the days it opens, the blue huts of the Joint Security Area where the two Koreas still meet face to face.
- 1 Best DMZ Tour Korea from Seoul (Red Suspension Bridge Optional)
- 2 DMZ Tour: 3rd Tunnel, Option(Suspension Bridge, Boat) from Seoul
- 3 DMZ tour south Korea from Seoul (NK experience hall, defector)
Dress the part
Hanbok at the Palace
Rent a hanbok near Gyeongbokgung and the palace gates open for free. Wander the Joseon courtyards in colour, catch the changing of the royal guard at Gwanghwamun, then carry the look into the hanok lanes of Bukchon next door. The whole quarter was built for the photo.
- 1 Seoul: Hanbok Rental with Gyeongbokgung Palace Entry
- 2 Small Group Seoul Highlight Tour opt. Hanbok & Tea Ceremony
- 3 Seoul: Gyeongbok Palace with Gigibebe Hanbok Rental
The Korean wave
K-Pop, At The Source
Seoul is the home of the Korean wave. This is where the idols train, the music shows film and the big labels keep their doors. Tours run the BTS landmarks, the K-Star Road in Gangnam and the broadcast studios, and put you in the audience for a live music-show taping.
- 1 Full Day Tour In The Soop BTS Ver in PyeongChang Filming Location
- 2 Seoul: MBC Insider Live K-Drama Rehearsal & VIP Studio Tour
- 3 Seoul: Kpop Dance Class Including Video Shooting & Editing
The first day
Where most Seoul trips start.
More travellers build their first day in Seoul around this one than anything else on the list.
The classics
Seoul's Most Popular Tours
The palaces and the DMZ, Nami Island and the night markets. The days most people come to Seoul for.
Where to begin
The days a Seoul trip is built around.
The palaces, the DMZ, the day trips north, the food markets and the music. The handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
The big day trip
How to do the DMZ.
It is the world's tensest border, and there are three quite different ways to see it. Which one comes down to your passport, your timing and how close to the line you want to stand.
After dark, on a stool
Where Seoul actually eats.
The real meal is at a plastic stool under a market tarp. Gwangjang for mung-bean pancakes and raw beef, Myeongdong for the street-stall crawl, Tongin for a brass-coin lunchbox, and a hundred pojangmacha tents where the soju comes out and the night gets long. A local leads, you just keep eating.
Read the guide: the best food tours in Seoul →Five hundred years of Joseon
The palaces at the centre of it all.
Five grand palaces still stand in the middle of the city. Gyeongbokgung for the scale and the guard change under Bukaksan, Changdeokgung for the Secret Garden behind it, and the hanok lanes of Bukchon threading between them. Rent a hanbok and you walk straight in, free.
See the palace tours →The river
The whole city turns out by the water.
The Han runs a kilometre wide through the middle of Seoul, and its parks are the city's back garden: chicken and beer on the grass at Yeouido, the bridges lit and the rainbow fountain falling off Banpo. Take it slow on a dinner cruise, or paddle out for the night picnic when the towers light up on both banks.
Han River cruises & nights →Nami Island
The half-moon island that K-drama built.
An hour and a bit northeast of Seoul, Nami is a tiny half-moon island of metasequoia and ginkgo avenues that the hit drama Winter Sonata made a pilgrimage site. Most trips pair it with the Garden of Morning Calm or the Gangchon rail bike, and the colour is unreal in autumn.
- 1 Mt. Seorak+Nami Island+Garden of Morning Calm Day Trip from Seoul
- 2 Seoul: Nami Island and Garden of Morning Calm opt Railbike
- 3 From Seoul: Nami Island, K-drama Garden & Rail Bike Day Tour
By season
Seoul keeps changing on you.
The city runs four hard seasons and leans into each one. Blossom in spring, fire on the hills in autumn, snow and ice festivals in winter. Time the trip and the trip changes.
Spring
Blossom over the palace walls.Cherry blossom along the palace moats and the Seokchon lake, hanbok in the courtyards, the whole city out walking for a fortnight in April.
Autumn
The hills turn to fire.Maples blazing on Seoraksan, the Nami Island avenue gone gold, day trips north to catch the colour before the cold sets in.
Winter
Snow within reach of the city.Day trips to the Gangwon ski fields, frozen-river fishing festivals, and street stalls steaming with hotteok and fish-cake broth.
After dark
Soju, fried chicken and the long Seoul night.
Seoul drinks late and moves in rounds: cold green-bottle soju and grilled pork, then makgeolli from a kettle, then a tented pojangmacha for the third stop. Hongdae for the indie bars and the buskers, Euljiro for the back-alley breweries, and a noraebang singing room to finish whenever the trains stop running.
See all 19 pub crawls & drinking tours →By place
Seoul, and the day trips around it.
Old Seoul for the palaces and the hanok lanes. The DMZ for the border. Nami Island for the autumn colour. Suwon for the fortress wall. Seoraksan for the peaks. The Han River for the skyline.
By experience
Or pick how to spend the day.
A palace tour if you want the history. The DMZ if you want the border. A market crawl if you want the food. Cooking, K-pop, hanbok, walking, a river cruise, or a long night out.
Plan it
Three perfect days.
First time in Seoul? Here is a long weekend that covers the essentials without a wasted hour.
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