Seoul folds five-century-old royal palaces into a hyper-modern skyline of 24-hour markets, skincare shops and neighbourhoods that each feel like a different city. It's easy to navigate, endlessly walkable, and just as good for street food at 1am as it is for a palace stroll at dawn.
Good to know
- Get a T-money card for subway, bus and even taxi payments.
- Tipping isn't expected anywhere, including restaurants and taxis.
- Renting a hanbok near a palace gets you free admission and great photos.
Eat this
Places the planner can use
Mark places as a must or something to skip. The itinerary is built only from this list; ★ marks the destination’s highlights.
Joseon dynasty's main palace, with a changing-of-the-guard ceremony and hanbok rental that gets you in free.
Century-old covered market famous for bindaetteok mung-bean pancakes and raw beef yukhoe at communal benches.
Hillside maze of restored traditional hanok houses between two palaces — please keep voices down, people live here.
Skewers of tteokbokki and cheese-filled hotteok sold from carts between K-beauty flagship stores.
University-area streets of live-music clubs, noraebang (karaoke) and street performers going till dawn on weekends.
Cable car up Namsan hill to a tower with a 360-degree view, its fence hung with thousands of lovers' padlocks.
Traditional-craft shopping street of tea houses, calligraphy shops and antique dealers.
Guided tour to the world's most fortified border, including a tunnel dug by the North and the truce village of Panmunjom.
Extensive museum on the Korean War with outdoor aircraft and tank displays and a moving memorial hall of the fallen.
Riverside lawns for a sunset picnic with delivery-app fried chicken — a Seoul rite of passage.
The city's most international district, with global street food, craft-beer bars and a lively nightlife scene.
24-hour bathhouse of hot and cold pools, saunas shaped like kilns, and a communal sleeping room.