South Korea · Seoul
Plan your Seoul trip
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
01Your itinerary
02Where to stay
Jongno-gu (palace district)
Best for first-timers and culture-focused tripsThe historic heart, walkable to Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung, Bukchon and Ikseon-dong. Quieter at night than the entertainment districts, and the base that makes the most sense for a first trip.
Rakkojae Seoul
Sleeping in a restored courtyard house, even for one night, is worth the trade-off of thinner walls and floor bedding — book one with modern plumbing added.
₩₩₩A mid-range hotel near Anguk station
Anguk sits almost exactly between the two main palaces and Insadong, and the station itself has direct lines to everywhere else you'll want to go.
₩₩Myeongdong
Best for shopping trips and short stays near everythingSeoul's central shopping strip — skincare flagship stores, street food stalls that fire up after dark, and department stores — extremely central but loud and crowded until late.
Lotte Hotel Seoul
Ask for a room on a higher floor away from the main pedestrian street; the ground-level noise runs past midnight.
₩₩₩Hongdae & Itaewon
Best for nightlife-focused trips and repeat visitorsSeoul's nightlife engines, on opposite sides of the river's youth-versus-international split. Hongdae is louder, cheaper and more local; Itaewon is more cosmopolitan with better international food and cocktail bars.
A guesthouse near Hongik University station
Hongdae guesthouses run cheap and social, often with a shared kitchen and rooftop, a good fit if you're travelling solo.
₩A design hotel on Itaewon's Gyeongnidan-gil
The hillside strip above the main Itaewon drag is quieter at night and puts you closer to the neighbourhood's better independent restaurants.
₩₩₩Gangnam & Seongsu
Best for shopping trips and design-minded travellersSouth of the river, where the glossy version of Seoul lives. Gangnam is flagship shopping and nightlife; Seongsu, a short subway ride north-east, is the more textured warehouse-district alternative.
A high-rise hotel near Gangnam station
Gangnam station's underground mall and subway interchange make this a well-connected but characterless base — go for the convenience, not the charm.
₩₩₩₩A converted-warehouse stay in Seongsu-dong
Seongsu has fewer hotels but a growing handful of design-forward stays inside the same industrial buildings as its coffee roasters.
₩₩Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.
03Tickets & tours
Gyeongbokgung Palace
The largest and grandest of Seoul's five Joseon palaces, with a throne hall, a lotus pond pavilion and a hilltop backdrop of Bugaksan.
Tip Rent a hanbok from one of the shops on the approach road — wearing one gets you free palace entry, and the photos against the tiled roofs are worth the small fee.
Bukchon Hanok Village
A living hillside neighbourhood of traditional tile-roofed hanok houses wedged between Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung, with narrow lanes that frame…
Tip Go before 9am. People actually live here, and the 'quiet hours' signs asking visitors to keep voices down are not a suggestion.
Changdeokgung Secret Garden
A UNESCO World Heritage palace whose rear Huwon garden — ponds, pavilions and centuries-old trees left deliberately unmanicured — is widely…
Tip The Secret Garden only runs on timed, guided, ticketed tours with limited daily capacity — book online in advance, it sells out on weekends.
Gwangjang Market
A century-old covered market in Jongno where the food alleys, not the fabric stalls, are the draw: bindaetteok pancakes, mayak gimbap, sundae blood…
Tip Order in small rounds from several stalls rather than filling up at the first one — the point is the crawl, not one big plate.
N Seoul Tower & Namsan
A communications tower on Namsan mountain with a 360-degree observation deck over the entire city, reached by cable car or a genuinely pleasant…
Tip Skip the cable car up and hike instead; save the cable car for the descent when your legs are tired and the views are behind you anyway.
Dongdaemun Design Plaza
Zaha Hadid's neofuturist, windowless steel blob dropped into a historic market district, hosting design exhibitions and a night market on the plaza…
Tip Come at night — the building's curved steel skin is lit in shifting colours after dark and the plaza fills with food trucks and vintage-clothing stalls.
Han River parks
A chain of riverside parks on both banks — Yeouido and Banpo the most popular — where locals picnic, cycle and order fried chicken delivered straight…
Tip Banpo Bridge's Moonlight Rainbow Fountain runs choreographed light-and-water shows on summer evenings; check the schedule and grab a spot on the bank beforehand.
Bukhansan National Park
A genuine granite-peaked mountain range inside the city limits, with trails ranging from an easy forested loop to a full scramble up Baegundae Peak…
Tip Start early — trailheads get crowded on weekends, and the last cable-free scramble section uses fixed ropes that are far less fun in a bottleneck of other hikers.
Day trips from Seoul
DMZ & Joint Security Area
The fortified border with North Korea, an hour from the city, where you can stand in the shared blue conference rooms of Panmunjom.
Day tripNami Island & the Petite France
A crescent-shaped island of tree-lined avenues made famous by a Korean drama, paired on most day tours with a small French-village theme park and the…
Day tripSuwon Hwaseong Fortress
A UNESCO World Heritage fortress wall from the 1790s, still fully walkable end to end, about 40 minutes from Seoul by train.
Day tripEverything to do in Seoul
Skip-the-line tickets, guided tours and day trips, all in one place on Booking.com.
04Getting there & around
Getting around
Buy a T-money card the moment you land — every convenience store sells one, and it works on subways, buses, most taxis, and even some vending machines and lockers. Top it up as you go rather than trying to calculate fares in advance; the discount for transferring between bus and subway within the same trip only applies if you…
Flights
Compare fares into Seoul and pick dates that suit the days you planned.
Airport transfers
Book a private or shared ride from the airport so the first evening starts at your door, not at a ticket queue.
Car hire from Seoul
Only worth it for day trips beyond the city — in town, the plan above works on foot and public transport.
Affiliate notePostcardRoute is reader-supported. Some links to Booking.com (stays, flights, car hire, tickets and tours, airport transfers) are affiliate links, tracked through CJ Affiliate: if you book through them we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We only recommend places we would send a friend.