July 2011 ~ LeX Paradise

There are many types of travel, Business Travel, Vacation Travel, Honeymoon Travel, Conference Travel, world travel and Full time Travel. Somehow, not all types of travel have very much time to visit every single corner of the city or town. So, today I am going to share with you that " 10 Places Must-Visit in Seoul, South Korea " where you can to pack this 10 places to your desired time as you wish. 10 places that you must-visit in the ‘Soul of Asia’ with limited period. These 10 places cover sightseeing, shopping, enjoy nightlife, learn the cultures and history of Korean and try different kinds of delectable dishes and drinks. Make out of this information and plan a short trip to Korea!

1. Seoul Tower

Seoul tower / Namsan Tower

Seoul Tower is the best place to enjoy night view. You can either take bus, cable car or by walking to get to the bottom of Seoul Tower. Among three of them, I recommend the cable car since you can take a lot of cool photos while sitting in the cable car and enjoy the night scene of Seoul city. There are usually a lot of couples who visit Seoul Tower during night time to enjoy a romantic and peaceful night. In order to avoid the crowd of people, you can visit at daytime, but the night view at the Seoul Tower is the best. At the top of the tower, there is a Digital Observatory, a high-powered telescope, which provide you a 360° of view of Seoul by just putting 500won one time. Besides, you can take a glance of mesmerizing Seoul city by looking out through the windows.

Love Lockers

Have you heard “Locks of Love”? Locks of love in Seoul Tower symbolize the everlasting love between the lover’s promise that they will never separate. Besides locks, there is another attraction for couples at Seoul Tower are “Love Message Tile” corner for you to write the message or stick a photo with your lover on the tile and then stick it in the provided corner which located on the first floor of the tower.

Recommended stay near Seoul Tower: Agrina Guesthouse & Vestin Residence

2. Hongdae

The Street of Art, Hongdae, Seoul

The streets of Hongik University are the place where you can experience the energy of the Korea youthful nightlife. It’s a perfect place for those who love dancing and the arts. At there, you can watch rock concerts, drink in the live music bars, and immerse yourself in jazz and dance clubs until dawn. This area is also full of arty boutiques, galleries, studios, craft shops and accessories shops.

HongDae Clubs, Seoul

Every last Friday of each month is “Club Day”. So, high-spirited clubbers can visit many different clubs in the area with just a single purchased ticket. Hongik streets not only the places for young people to express their passion in the rhythm of music and dance, but it also famous for its artwork. They call this area as “Streets of Art” and this has made the Hongdae area as Seoul’s No.1 art district. Moreover, you must not miss Hongdae shopping, hunting for the latest trend of Korean style if you love Korean fashion.

Recommended stay near Hongdae: Closest Hostel & Family and Friends House

3. Gyeongbok Palace

GyeongBok Palace, Seoul, Korea

There are five main palaces mainly located in Seoul: Gyeongbok Palace, Changgyeong Palace, Changdeok Palace, Doksu Palace, and Kyonghi Palace. These palaces are also known as “Five Grand Palaces” built by the Joseon Dynasty. Among Five Grand Palaces in Seoul, Gyeongbok Palace is the largest and the most well-known royal palace which have been undergoing reconstructed to return to its original number of the palaces due to the destruction by the Japanese government in the early 20th century. The name of the Gyeongbok palace is believed to have the meaning “Palace of Shining Happiness.” in English.

Hexagonal Pavilion, Gyeongbok palace, Seoul

In the northern part of the Gyeongbok Palace, you can see Hyangwonjeong, an attractive hexagonal pavilion surrounded by a lotus pond, trees, and flowers. The name of the Hyangwonjeong has the meaning the “Pavilion of Far-Reaching Fragrance” while the bridge across the pond was named as Chwihyanggyo, means "Bridge intoxicated with the fragrance." It’s a stunning place where you can enjoy the serene and the beauty of nature at the same time.

Recommended stay near Gyeongbok Palace: Insa Hostel

4. CoeX Mall

CoeX Mall, Seoul

COEX Mall is known as the biggest underground shopping mall in Asia. COEX Mall not only offers you various local brands of Korean fashion, but also includes national brands such as ZARA and NIKE as well. COEX itself is also renowned for its restaurants, Megabox, Aquarium, Kimchi Museum, Millennium Plaza, Event Court and so forth. Besides shopping, you can watch movies in the Megabox, which consists of the 16 movie theatres with the outstanding interior designs.

CoeX Aquarium, Seoul

And for those people who like marine life, you can visit the “Ocean Theme Park” in the COEX Mall with 40,000 creatures of marine wildlife. You can spend your peaceful time with your friends or families at the aquarium after a rush shopping.

Recommended stay near CoeX Mall: 24 Guesthouse

5. Namdaemun, Dongdaemun, Insadong

NamDaemun Market, Seoul

Are you looking for some souvenirs for your families, friends and cousins? You are on the right place! At Namdaemun market, a Korean style traditional market where you can shop for your favorite fashion items from head to toe with low prices. Namdaemum market is always crowded with tourists and regular customers who follow the latest trend of Korean fashion.

Dongdaemun Market,Seoul

Most of the tourists come to Dongdaemun to find some Korean food to bring back to their home countries or as a present for elder such as Kimchi, different tastes of Korean seaweeds, ginseng and Soju.

Insadong Complex, Seoul

At Insadong, you can find everything related to the culture of Korean such as Hanbok (Korean Traditional Wear), hand-made ceramics, and antique shops. And for tea-lovers, you can visit a Korean traditional tea houses along the streets of Insadong and enjoy the taste of different Korean teas as much as you wish.

Recommended stay near Insadong: Fortune Jongno

6. Daehangno- Seoul's Lively Theater District

Daehangno, The Theater District, Seoul

Daehangno is a street for youths and theatres. In this area, there are medium-small theaters like Hakjeon Blue Theater, Dongsoong Art Center, Comedy Art Hall, Batangol Art Center, and large theaters like Munye Theatre. Besides, it is also an exciting place where you can enjoy exclusive performances all year round. Many people call this area ‘College Street’ since many universities are located in this area that includes Korea National Open University, Sungkyunkwan University, Catholic University of Korea, and Seoul National University College of Medicine. And later, Seoul National University moved its campus to other area in 1975. Nevertheless, you can still see many young college students hang out in this area after their classes or during their spare time. There are also many stunning restaurants for you to savor the taste of yummy food throughout the Daehangno area (Marronier). You can choose any kind dishes such as Korean, Chinese, Western or even fusion-style food as you wish. For those who would like to try American food, TGI Fridays and Bennigan's are just the prefect famous restaurants for you.

Recommended stay near Daehangno: Fully Guesthouse & Backparker Mr. Sea

7. Cheonggyecheon

Cheonggyecheon River

Cheonggyecheon is a small stream which flowing through the downtown of Seoul and then connecting to the Hangang River. A series of unique bridges, stepping stone crossings, and waterfalls have been built which made the whole stream looks spectacular at night. It’s an ideal place for you to have a walk to forget everything about work and completely relax yourself after a tiring work day. You can sit by the stream and enjoy the melody of waterfalls with your feet inside the water. The water of the stream is clean and sparkling under the shinning of sunlight and you could see many fishes in the water in the daytime. At night, many couples choose this place as their dating venue because of its beautiful scenery.

Recommended stay near Cheonggyecheon River: Mmmio House

8. Jjimjilbang

Entrance of Dragon Hill Spa

Tired of finding a hotel or motel when travel? Instead of luxurious 5 star hotels, there is an ideal place for you to stay overnight with a more affordable price that is called Jjimjilbang (Korean Spa). You may wonder where and which Jjimjilbang should you go. I would like to recommend the Dragon Hill Spa. This Jjimjilbang also been recommended by CNN Go, The New York Times, as the best place to experience full Korean style spa. It’s a seven floor building consists of various facilities such as restaurants, hot tubes and internet room, cinema and so on. The fee is around 10,000won to 12,000won.

Best Jimjilbang in Seoul, Dragon hill spa

Foreigners might find it hard to communicate with Korean native speaker, but if you go to Dragon Hill Spa, you may have chances to receive a warm greeting by the manager who likes to speak English with foreigners. Don’t feel shy as you have to be naked as its Korean style spa. Try to enjoy the feeling of being naked. There are different temperatures of heated rooms where you can feel the steaming hot air surrounded you and make friends with Koreans while you are unwinding yourself.

9. Theme Park

Everland T-Express

If your kids feel monotonous or disobedient during the travel, you can bring them to Everland and Lotte World. Both Everland and Lotte World are well-known theme parks which can be found in South Korea. Your kids would definitely be amazed by the Four Seasons Garden of Everland and fabulous fairy-tale castle in Lotte World. The night view of Lottle World’s castle is extremely beautiful as all the buildings are decorated with colorful lights. When you go inside the castle, you feel yourself like a princess or prince living in the luxurious castle. Besides the stunning view of both theme parks, it also offers varieties of heart-pounding rides include Everland T-Express with 360-degree rotations and Gyro Drop in Lotte World are able to make you feel like flying in the sky without any limitation. It is worth to give a try! Moreover, the landscape of both Everland and Lotte World become more eye-catching as many festival themes such as the Halloween festival with scary or funny pumpkin appearance’s designs can be seen here.

Lotte World, Seoul

Due to different seasons and events available in Lotte World, there are people who claim “Even you go to Lotte World for more than 10 times, you won’t feel bored!” since there are numerous exciting performances are being held around the year. During winter season, you usually see many families and couples enjoy their lovely time by skating together in the indoor Lotte World and outdoor Everland. So, you must not miss the chances to skate with the ones you love. Don’t forget that you can also buy some souvenirs in both theme parks as a memorable memory or presents for your friends before leaving. You can easily express your love by simply bringing them to Seoul theme parks! Let’s have fun together!

Recommended stay near Lotte World: Phil Guesthouse

10. Itaewon Street- Shopping & Food Paradise

Shopping street in Itaewon

Itaewon Street gains most popularity among the foreigners. Most foreigners choose Itaewon Street as their shopping location, hunting for high-quality goods and super large sizes of items which hardly find in anywhere else in Korea. You not only can shop, but also can go to the bars, clubs, and restaurants for relaxing located along the street after shopping for hours.

Korea Foreign Restaurant

Don’t you think that living without eating delicious food is meaningless? Feel headache and hesitate about what to eat? Don’t worry. By going to Itaewon Street, you will be able to satisfy your appetite wholly but trying any kind of food you like from all around the world. From Korean food to international restaurants such as Japanese, Chinese, Mexican, Indian, and Pakistani restaurants can be found on this street. There are also a few restaurants which prepare ‘Halal’ dishes for Muslims as well. Even though you don’t know how to speak Korean, that’s alright since many workers of the restaurants are English speaking. Therefore, you are carefree to order anything you want and they are happy to serve you too!

Recommended stay near Itaewon: Jin's Paradise & IS@K Guesthouse

The Map of the 10 places must-visit in Seoul, South Korea

10 Places Must-Visit In Seoul

Feel excited about travelling now? Go ahead and visit Seoul now. You have my 10 places must-visit in Seoul on your hands now. Make out of this 10 places with on schedule and make our life more memorable by visiting Seoul, the Soul of Asia. If you have any question, don’t feel hesitate to leave a comment.

Thank you!