We asked those who live in Korea to share their favorite things to do, eat and see! Here are a few ideas to help make your time in Korea the most fun:
Hongdae
Hongdae is the neighborhood surrounding a university that hosts a very artsy crowd.
Favorite places to eat
Something to see/do- Escape Rooms (in English): Seoul Escape Room
- Busking - Hongdae in the late afternoon/evening has a really large population of really talented street performers. Much of the area is recently re-designed to better suit them, and give proper public performance spaces. It usually doesn't really get going until dark, but young musicians do street performances hoping to be discovered.
- Trick Eye Museum: optical illusions
- Love Museum: "eroticism art collaboration"
- Street Food/Outdoor Clothing Markets
- The whole area around the subway station is booming with great places to hang out. Walk around the park and see wanna be k pop stars doing street performances. Hang out and drink at the park.
- Lots of bars are available to hang out, dance, play darts. Very up and coming area with lots of young people and great cultural experience in Korea.
- Animal Cafes: Thanks Nature (sheep), Cat Cafe, Bau House (dogs)
- Club Evans: jazz
Great shopping- Korean Beauty Products: Hongdae has shops on the main road with SkinFood, Innsfree, Tony Molly, etc...
- Kakao Friends store
- The shopping is mostly geared toward the college aged, but shops are everywhere and packed with items and customers.
- University Flea Market
- Hongdae Shopping Street
Fun souvenir to take back- Goofy/Trendy Cell Phone Cases: main roads in Hongdae have a lot of outdoor shopping and there are at least 20+ ones just selling phone cases
- Kakao Friends store (anything from here)
- Sa Ju-Taro - Face Fortune Telling and Name Analysis
A Must Do- Insadong, Namdaemun, Dongdaemun
ItaewonFavorite places to eatThe restaurant scene in Itaewon has really improved in the last decade. You can find any type of food. The question isn't so much where do you want to eat, but rather -- what type of food do you want?Something to see/do- Escape Rooms (in English): Seoul Escape Room
- This area is teaming with culture from all over the world. You can find African food, Turkish, Korean, American, western etc.
- The main drag outside Itaewon Station, the neighborhoods north of it and on up into Noksapyeong (where the above Moroccan restaurants are) has tons of restaurants, shops, and people-watching
- Southside Parlor: live music
- Pet Sounds: live music
Great shopping- There are stores all along Itaewon, but the night market vendors are really good to check out. They will be lined up along the street on the sidewalk.
- Street Venders (inexpensive knock-offs)
Fun souvenir to take backA Must Do- drink soju, head to Namdaemun market, Insa-dong souvenir street, Gyeongbokgung Palace
- Seoul Tower or Lotte Tower (farther away)
For those who are interested in gambling, there's also the
Paradise City casino and hotel about three minutes drive from the Incheon International Airport (you can take a train to the airport and a free shuttle bus from there to the casino). It's a really fancy place. A bit unusual in that they don't bring drinks to the gaming tables, and drinks must either be purchased outright or paid for with points earned while gambling.
Paradise City is an "art-tainment resort" with some good dining and art that's worth wandering around to look at. Their Radio Bay restaurant has a burger that knocks me out.