Wandering 4 Days In Seoul, South Korea, Lanterns And Hand-Cut Noodles

I went to Seoul in late spring with a small bag, comfortable shoes and a rough plan. I am a former travel agent, so I plot routes the way other people plot novels. Four days is enough to get a feel for the city if you cluster things by district and let the subway do the long jumps.

This itinerary is what actually worked. Day 1 stays in Jongno around the palace. Day 2 walks south through Myeongdong to Namsan. Day 3 is the west side, Hongdae and Yeonnam and the Han River. Day 4 crosses the bridge into Gangnam and loops back to Dongdaemun at night. I ate well, I walked too much, and I would do it again the same way.

One soft piece of advice. Get a T-money card at any convenience store on arrival. The bus and the subway both take it, and you will use both.

Day 1, Jongno and the Old City

Day one starts where Seoul started, in Jongno. The plan is a palace, a museum, a serious bowl of soup, a wander through a hanok village, a stream walk and a market for dinner. Everything except the last stop is walkable. I wore my softest sneakers and still felt my calves by 9 pm.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Around 9 in the morning, before the heat and the crowds settle in. I went straight to Gwanghwamun gate and watched the changing of the guard around 11. The costumes are loud blues and reds and the drumming carries across the courtyard. Tickets are only 3,000 won and free if you rent a hanbok beforehand. I did not. Plenty of people did, and the photos are worth the fuss.

Plan two hours minimum, three if you want to see the back gardens properly. The grounds are vast, and the second gate is where the crowds thin. I bought the audio guide for 3,000 won, which was the best small decision of the morning. There is not much English signage on the buildings themselves, so the audio guide carries the visit.

The Folk Museum is on the same grounds, so it is a five minute walk over, no metro or taxi needed.

The National Folk Museum of Korea

By 11.30, on the same palace grounds. The Folk Museum is free, which still surprises me given how thoughtfully it is laid out. I caught the tail end of an English tour and stayed for the rest. The guide walked us through farming tools, household objects, a section on the four seasons and another tracing a Korean life from birth to grave.

Give it 90 minutes to two hours. The outdoor section is a small recreated village from the seventies and eighties and it felt strangely emotional, like walking through someone’s actual memory. There is a tiny cafe inside if you need coffee. Bathrooms are easy to find, water dispensers too.

From the museum it is a short ten minute walk west toward Jahamun-ro for lunch.

Tosokchon Samgyetang

I aimed for just past 1 pm to dodge the worst of the queue. It worked. Twenty minutes of waiting outside, then they sat me in one of the small traditional rooms with the wooden beams. I ordered the standard samgyetang and the seafood pancake. They poured me a small glass of ginseng wine on the side, which is strong, so I tipped it into the broth like everyone else seemed to do.

The chicken comes whole, stuffed with sticky rice, jujubes and ginseng. The broth is rich and thick rather than herbal-sharp, which I preferred. Plan an hour. The turnover here is fast and you do not linger.

From the restaurant it is a twenty minute walk east, mostly flat, over to Bukchon.

Bukchon Hanok Village

Just past 3 pm, when the light gets soft on the tile roofs. Bukchon is a real neighbourhood, not a museum, and the signs at every corner ask you to keep your voice down because people actually live behind these wooden gates. I walked the upper alleys first, where the view down toward the city is cinematic, then drifted into the side streets full of little artisan shops.

Give it an hour, maybe ninety minutes if you stop for tea. Some of the alleys have designated quiet hours after 5 pm, so going mid-afternoon is the polite window. Skip the tacky souvenir places near the entrance and keep walking, the better shops are deeper in.

From Bukchon I walked twenty minutes south, mostly downhill, to the start of the Cheonggyecheon stream.

Cheonggyecheon

Around 6, when the sun was going. Cheonggyecheon is an eleven kilometre stream that runs below street level through the centre of the city, and the upper section near Gwanghwamun is the prettiest part. There were small stepping stones across the water, lanterns starting to come on, and a temporary outdoor library set up with chairs, baskets of books and tiny reading lamps clipped to the side tables.

I sat for thirty minutes and read someone else’s book. Free, no booking needed. It is the kind of public space that makes you wonder why your home city does not bother. Give it an hour if you walk a longer stretch.

From Cheonggyecheon it is a fifteen minute walk south, past City Hall, over to Namdaemun for dinner.

Namdaemun Market

By 7.30, when the food stalls are at their busiest. Namdaemun is enormous, ten thousand stalls is the number locals throw around, and it is cash only in most places. I made for the kalguksu alley, sat on a small plastic stool and ate hand cut noodles in broth so hot it fogged my glasses.

I bought a hotteok from the famous stand near the entrance, queue and all. Worth it. The cinnamon sugar burned my tongue. Toilets are tricky to find, so use one before you go in. Some stalls close in the evening, but the food side stays lively until late.

I walked back to my hotel in Myeongdong, ten minutes, and called it a night around 9.

Day 2, Insadong to Namsan

Today is a slow southern drift. Tea and crafts in Insadong, then dumplings, then the city’s most famous shopping street, then up the mountain for the view. We finish in Itaewon for dinner. It sounds like a lot. It is. But everything strings together neatly on Line 4 and the bus up Namsan.

Insa-dong

I started day 2 around 9.30, with coffee in my hand. Insa-dong is the antiques and crafts quarter of Jongno, just south of the palace, and it is calmer in the morning before the tour buses arrive. The main street is lined with small galleries, brush and paper shops, ceramic studios and the kind of tea houses where you take your shoes off at the door.

I bought a hand-thrown teacup from a tiny studio whose owner did not speak English and did not need to. Plan an hour, maybe ninety minutes if you stop for tea. The signage here is bilingual and the side alleys are where the better workshops hide.

From Insadong it is a fifteen minute walk south toward Myeongdong for an early lunch.

Myeongdong Kyoja

I got there at 11.20, ten minutes before opening. By 11.40 the line down the stairs had doubled. The menu is four items. I ordered the kalguksu and a plate of mandu and waited maybe fifteen minutes total. The noodles are hand cut, the broth is thick and garlicky and the kimchi on the table is the most aggressive garlic kimchi I have eaten anywhere.

The mandu were the surprise. Thin skin, juicy pork and chive filling, properly seasoned. You share a table with strangers, you do not linger, the whole meal takes thirty minutes. It is the kind of place where confidence in tradition does the work. Give it forty five minutes including the wait.

The shopping street starts at the door, no transit needed.

Myeongdong Shopping Street

Right after lunch, around 12.30. Myeongdong is honestly overrated for actual shopping. The same K-beauty chains repeat three or four times on the same block, and the street food vendors charge tourist prices. I went anyway because the energy is fun and the vibe in the middle of the day is genuinely lively.

I bought sheet masks, ate a tornado potato I did not finish, and ducked into Myeongdong Cathedral for ten quiet minutes. The Gothic red brick is a lovely interruption from the noise outside. Plan an hour. Carry cash for the street stalls, prices range 3,000 to 15,000 won.

From here it is a five minute walk to Myeongdong Station, then two stops to Myeongdong Namsan, then the orange bus up the mountain. Twenty minutes door to door.

N Seoul Tower

I went up around 4, deliberately, to catch sunset from the deck. You can hike it from the base, almost a thousand steps, or take the cable car for an easier ride. I took the bus halfway and walked the rest. The observation deck ticket was 29,000 won and the queue moved faster than the crowds suggested.

The 360 view is the point. Han River to the south, mountains everywhere else, the city lights flickering on as the sky shifts. The love locks fence is sweet and a little kitsch. There are cafes at the base if you want to wait for full dark before riding back down.

Plan two hours including the climb. From the base of Namsan it is a fifteen minute walk down to Namsangol.

Namsangol Hanok Village

By 6.30, when the light was nearly gone. Namsangol gets less attention than Bukchon, and I preferred it. It is a small assembled village of relocated Joseon-era houses, free to enter, and you can actually walk inside the buildings rather than just past them.

The view of N Seoul Tower from the back of the village is unexpectedly good, framed between the hanok roofs. There were maybe ten other people around. Give it forty five minutes. The whole site is small and manageable, which I needed after the climb.

From here a quick ten minute taxi over to Itaewon for dinner, around 8,000 won.

Itaewon-dong

I got to Itaewon around 8, in time for dinner. This is the international quarter, the foreign embassies sit nearby and the food gets eclectic fast. Turkish kebab, Lebanese mezze, Mexican tacos, a stack of small Korean barbecue joints up the side streets, and the cocktail bars get more interesting the further you climb the hill.

I ate at a small Korean barbecue place on a side alley, grilled my own pork belly, and walked back down for a nightcap. The crowd is mixed, the language on the street rotates English, Korean, Arabic, French. Plan two hours minimum.

I took Line 6 back to my hotel from Itaewon Station, twenty minutes. End of day 2.

Day 3, Hongdae, Yeonnam and the Han River

Day three is the west side of town. Younger, louder, more cafes per square metre than I have seen anywhere outside Tokyo. I start in Hongdae, drift into Yeonnam, swing through Ewha, then take a long lunch detour to Gwangjang and end with a picnic on the Han River at sunset.

Hongdae Shopping Street

Day 3 began around 10.30, coffee already in hand. Hongdae in the morning is half asleep, which I liked. The street performers and the K-pop dance crews come out later. I drifted through the boutiques, the trendy fashion, the little cosmetics shops and the famously chaotic Artbox stationery store.

The Hongdae I had been promised by every guidebook only really shows up after dark. In the morning it is a quieter shopping street with very good coffee. Plan an hour, more if you shop. Wear shoes you can walk in. The pavement runs uphill in places and the side alleys are worth the detour.

From Hongdae it is a ten minute walk north into Yeonnam.

Yeonnam-dong

Around noon, when the cafes start to fill. Yeonnam is the neighbourhood just north of Hongdae, built along an old railway line that has been converted into a long thin park called Gyeongui Line Forest. Locals call it Yeontral Park, which made me laugh.

This is where I had the best coffee of the trip. Tiny independent roasters, plant filled windows, almost all of them with sourdough or pastries on the counter. I lingered for an hour with a flat white and watched the dog walkers pass. Give it an hour to ninety minutes.

From Yeonnam it is a quick five stop ride on Line 2 over to Ewha Womans University, about fifteen minutes including the walk to the station.

Ewha Womans University

Just past 2 pm. Ewha is one of the oldest women’s universities in Korea, founded in the 1880s, and the campus is genuinely beautiful. The signature building is a sunken plaza cut deep into the hillside, lined on both sides with glass and steel walls. You walk down the long pathway between them like you are entering something serious.

Some areas were closed to non-students when I visited, but the main entrance and the sunken campus were open. The shopping street outside the gate is full of cheap fashion and inexpensive cafes aimed at students. Plan thirty minutes for the campus, longer if you browse the shops.

From Ewha take Line 2 four stops east, change to Line 1, and a ten minute ride drops you at Jongno 5-ga for Gwangjang Market.

Gwangjang Market

I aimed for 4 pm, the awkward window between lunch and dinner crowds. Gwangjang is the oldest traditional market in Korea, over a hundred years old, and it is the food side that draws the visitors. The famous Netflix kalguksu auntie is here. So is the twisted donut stall near the entrance, the bindaetteok mung bean pancakes and the yukhoe raw beef counters that look terrifying and taste extraordinary.

I ate a bindaetteok at a counter, then a small plate of yukhoe at another, and finished with the cinnamon twist. The aunties pull you onto their stools as you walk past. It works. Plan an hour minimum, ninety minutes if you eat your way through it.

From Gwangjang take Line 5 from Jongno 3-ga six stops west to Yeouinaru, about twenty minutes door to door.

Yeouido Hangang Park

Around 6 when the sun was going. Yeouido sits on the Han River, and the picnic culture here is real. You rent a mat for a few thousand won, you order ramyeon from the CU convenience store window, you eat it cross legged on the grass while the bridges light up. Couples everywhere. Groups of friends with cans of beer. Cyclists hammering past on the river path.

I stayed about ninety minutes and could have stayed three hours. There is a floating Starbucks if you want a real coffee, and several food vendors set up tents along the bank. The sunset over the river is the kind of moment Seoul does very well.

I took the subway back to my hotel from Yeouinaru, twenty minutes. End of day 3.

Day 4, Gangnam and Dongdaemun

The last day is for the river’s south bank. Cafes and boutiques in Apgujeong, a Buddhist temple wedged between skyscrapers, the library everyone has seen on Instagram, and a long taxi ride back north to end the night under Zaha Hadid’s spaceship at Dongdaemun. It is the most contrast you can pack into one day in this city.

Garosu-gil

Day 4 started around 10, in Gangnam. Garosu-gil means tree-lined street, and that is exactly what it is, a long avenue of gingko trees with cafes and boutiques on either side. South of the river the energy shifts. Cleaner, quieter, more expensive, more design-led.

I drifted through a few shops, bought nothing, and stopped at a small bakery for a salted butter roll that cost as much as my breakfast back home. Worth it. The side streets off the main strip are where the better independent stores hide. Give it an hour, longer if you stop for coffee.

From Garosu-gil it is a fifteen minute taxi ride east to Bongeunsa, around 7,000 won.

Bongeunsa Temple

Just past 11.30. Bongeunsa is a working Buddhist temple wedged directly across the road from the COEX mall, which is the contrast that makes it work. You step through the gate and the city noise drops. Monks chanting somewhere in the main hall, the smell of incense, paper lanterns strung between the buildings in cheerful rows.

The large standing Buddha at the back of the complex is the showpiece, surrounded by hundreds of small figures. The temple grounds are bigger than they look from the road, and free to enter. Plan an hour. There is a small tea house if you want to sit.

From Bongeunsa it is a ten minute taxi north to Apgujeong Rodeo, around 5,000 won.

Apgujeong Rodeo Street

Around 1 pm. Apgujeong is the luxury end of Gangnam. Designer flagships, valet parked cars I have only seen in magazines, well-dressed locals who clearly live around here. During the day on a weekday it is quiet enough to walk easily. The cafes are stylish without being precious.

I had lunch at a small Jeju barbecue place on a side street, then wandered through the boutiques without buying. The area genuinely comes alive at night with the clubs and bars, but the day version suits a quick stop. Plan an hour. It is overrated for the long subway ride from north of the river, but easy enough to fold into a south-bank day.

From here it is a five minute taxi back to the COEX complex, around 4,000 won.

Starfield Library

Around 3 pm. The library sits in the basement of the enormous COEX mall, and yes it is as photogenic as the Instagram shots suggest. Two storey shelves of books climbing the walls, an open atrium, soft yellow light, and a cluster of cafes around the edges. I got a flat white at the % Arabica counter and sat for forty minutes.

It is a working public library and a tourist photo stop at the same time, which mostly works. Weekday afternoons are calmer than weekends. Give it forty five minutes to an hour, plus extra time to find your way out of COEX, which is enormous and slightly confusing the first time.

From COEX take a taxi north over the river to Dongdaemun, about twenty five minutes in traffic, around 12,000 won.

Dongdaemun Design Plaza

I got there around 7, when the building was already lit up. DDP was designed by Zaha Hadid and it looks like a silver spaceship landed in the middle of the old garment district. The curves do not photograph properly. You have to walk around the outside to really see them.

Inside there are rotating exhibitions, a design store full of clever Korean stationery and homewares that make better souvenirs than anything in Myeongdong, and a small skincare concept store called B the B that I lost forty minutes in. The LED rose garden outside is quietly beautiful at night.

I walked back through Dongdaemun market on the way to the subway, ate one last bowl of street noodles, and took Line 4 back to my hotel. Four days, done. My feet hurt. I was already planning the next trip.

Four days is not enough for Seoul, no city this layered ever is. But it is enough to leave with a strong sense of the rhythm here, the way the old palaces sit a block from glass towers, the way a bowl of kalguksu costs less than a coffee back home.

If you have done this trip already, tell me what you would swap in. I am always looking for the next place to point friends toward.