The Seoul edit

The Seoul address book

Culture, green space and places to hear the last track of the night. Use each address as the start of a plan: see its neighbourhood, practical information and any linked events before setting off.

PlaceActivities

Gyeongbokgung Palace

Go through Gwanghwamun and let the courtyards set the pace. The palace is a different experience in daylight and after dark.

A closer look
PlaceActivities

MMCA Seoul

A contemporary art stop beside the palace, with enough space to make one exhibition the centre of your afternoon.

A closer look
Free entry
PlaceActivities

Leeum Museum of Art

Korean antiquities and contemporary ideas share a hillside address. Make the collection or a special exhibition your starting point.

A closer look
Free entry
PlaceActivities

Seoul Museum of Craft Art

Textiles, objects and the decisions behind them. A free museum that rewards looking closely, just off Anguk.

A closer look
Free entry
PlaceActivities

National Museum of Korea

Give a few galleries your full attention, then step outside. A free permanent collection and a generous setting beside Yongsan.

A closer look
Free entry
PlaceActivities

Dongdaemun Design Plaza

Follow the building’s curves, then see what is on inside. DDP turns a walk through Dongdaemun into an architectural detour.

A closer look
Free entry
PlaceActivities

Seoul Forest

Take a breather between Seongsu addresses. Trees, open paths and an easy reason to spend part of the day outside.

A closer look
Free entry
PlaceActivities

Cheonggyecheon Stream

Step below street level and follow the water. A free central-city walk that can be as short or as long as the afternoon allows.

A closer look
Free entry
PlaceActivities

Gwangjang Market

A food-alley stop with room to improvise. Look at what is cooking before deciding where to sit.

A closer look
PlaceActivities

Cakeshop

A basement address for an Itaewon night built around the music. Pick the actual party before picking your arrival time.

A closer look
PlaceActivities

Faust

A late-night Itaewon address with Faust and Tanzbar programmes. Let the lineup decide which evening belongs here.

A closer look
PlaceActivities

Bar Cham

A small hanok bar where Korean ingredients and spirits shape the cocktail list. An intimate finish to a Seochon day.

A closer look
PlaceConcerts

MODECi

A fifth-floor Hongdae dance floor for selectors, visiting crews and nights that move between different electronic sounds.

A closer look
PlaceFood & drink

Charles H.

A hidden-door cocktail room beneath Four Seasons Seoul, for a seated evening around drinks inspired by travel and Korean ingredients.

A closer look
PlaceConcerts

All That Jazz

An Itaewon live-jazz address where the band, the table and the set time shape an evening away from the club circuit.

A closer look
PlaceConcerts

Boogie Woogie

A Gyeongnidan-gil jazz room with a proper performance calendar, cocktails and reservations in English as well as Korean.

A closer look
PlaceConcerts

Volnost

An Itaewon electronic address with a first-floor listening bar and upstairs club sessions, shifting pace between weekday selectors and weekend parties.

A closer look
PlaceConcerts

RING

A second-floor Itaewon club for following guest selectors and record-led electronic nights at a more intimate scale.

A closer look
Free entry
PlaceActivities

Seoul Museum of Art, Seosomun

Slip off Deoksugung’s stone-wall road into a museum afternoon. Seosomun makes a compact cultural pairing with the palace next door.

A closer look
PlaceActivities

Deoksugung Palace

Palace courtyards with downtown Seoul just beyond the wall. Keep time for the contrast between timber halls and stone façades.

A closer look
Free entry
PlaceActivities

Oil Tank Culture Park

Former oil tanks become rooms for culture at the edge of Maebongsan. A good change of scale from Seoul’s central museum circuit.

A closer look
Free entry
PlaceActivities

Namsangol Hanok Village

Traditional houses below Namsan, close enough to fold into a central Seoul afternoon. Walk the courtyards before heading back to Chungmuro.

A closer look
PlaceCulture

Jongmyo Shrine

A royal ritual landscape of long wooden halls and carefully ordered courtyards.

A closer look
Free entry
PlaceCulture

Jeongdok Library

A reading stop in Bukchon, with garden paths around the library buildings.

A closer look
The Seoul address book · POPROAM