Seoul is colossal, its metropolitan area stretching far and wide in a confusion of concrete and cleaved in two by the Hangang, a wide river crossed by many bridges. But despite its size, a very definite city centre – just small enough to be traversed by foot – has been in place north of the Hangang since the late fourteenth century, bounded by the five grand palaces. Of these, Gyeongbokgung is the oldest and most famous; Changdeokgung is another great example, just to the east, and in between the two sit Bukchon Hanok Village, central Seoul’s only area of traditional wooden housing, and artistic Samcheongdong, a young, zesty area filled with trendy cafés, restaurants, clothing boutiques and art galleries.
Just to the south of all these is Insadong, Seoul’s tourist hub, full of traditional restaurants and tearooms, excellent souvenir shops and more art galleries than you can count – and with a beautiful temple and a small palace of its own, you could easily spend the whole day here. To the south is busy Jongno, Seoul’s most important thoroughfare, and sketching a liquid parallel line south again is Cheonggyecheon, a gentrified stream lying beneath street level.
Seoul’s wooden heart
Though it may be hard to believe today, within living memory Seoul was a low-rise city. Its now-ubiquitous skyscrapers all went up over the past few decades, and as recently as the 1960s there was scarcely a multi-storey building in sight. On the fall of the Joseon kingdom in 1910, almost every Seoulite lived in the traditional form of housing – squat wooden houses now known as hanokjip (한옥집), or hanok for short: the longer version means “Korean house” to distinguish these buildings from modern Western forms of accommodation. Although almost all hanokjip have now disappeared, a few clutches remain, particularly in the charming, hilly neighbourhood of Bukchon Hanok Village.
Hanokjip are built almost exclusively from local materials – wood for the main framework, stone for the foundations and courtyard, and earth to fill the walls. Earth walls (hwangteo; 황터) have long been believed to have health benefits, as well as the practical advantage of insulation. Like Japanese houses, hanokjip make great use of handmade paper (hanji; 한지) – sliding doors and windows are covered with thin sheets and the walls with several layers, and even the flooring is made up of hundreds of sheets, each leaf varnished to produce a yellow-brown sheen mimicked by the yellow linoleum flooring found in most modern Korean apartments.
One feature which sets hanokjip apart is their use of underfloor heating, known as ondol (온돌). Rooms are raised above the courtyard, providing a space for wood fires; again, this feature has wormed its way into modern Korean housing, though today gas is used instead of flames.
Cheonggyecheon starts footsteps from Gwanghwamun Plaza, a city square surrounded by imposing buildings (including Gwanghwamun itself, the south gate of Gyeongbokgung). This area, and that surrounding City Hall to the south, constitute Korea’s most important business district, and you’ll see an awful lot of suits at mealtimes and during rush hour. Hidden among the tower blocks are scores of buildings dating from the Japanese occupation period, these elegant colonial structures now incongruous in their modern surroundings.
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NATIONAL MUSEUM OF KOREA
Unravelling Korean place names
Many foreign visitors to Seoul struggle with the lengthy transliterated Korean place names, but armed with a few facts – and some practice – you’ll be able to distinguish your Insadong-gils from your Samcheongdongs, and perhaps even Changgyeonggung from Changdeokgung. The key lies in the suffixes to these long words: gung, for example, means “palace”, and once removed you’re left with the slightly less bewildering two-syllable name of the complex in question – Gyeongbok Palace, and so on. The dong suffix means “district”, while gil means “road” – all of a sudden, it’s possible to break Samcheongdong-gil down, and identify it as a thoroughfare in the Samcheong district. Others that may be of use are gang and cheon, respectively used for waterways large (the Hangang, for example) and small (Cheonggyecheon); mun, which means “gate” (Dongdaemun); and dae, which usually signifies a university (Hongdae).
The business area segues into Myeongdong, the busiest shopping area in the country, packed with clothes stores, restaurants and tourists from other Asian countries. It’s flanked to the east and west by Dongdaemun and Namdaemun, two gargantuan market areas, and to the south by Namsan, Seoul’s very own mountain, which affords fantastic views of the city centre and beyond.
As you travel further out from the business and palace districts, the buildings become smaller in both size and number, thanks to the rugged – even mountainous – topography of the area. In fact, northern Seoul is home to a tremendously popular national park: Bukhansan, whose tree-lined trails are steep but surprisingly easy to navigate. Nestled among the western foothills, laidback Buamdong is Seoul’s most relaxing district, with a plethora of galleries and restaurants. In contrast, heading east will bring you to Daehangno, a student-filled zone whose hectic street life and cheap restaurants have made it the long-established base of choice for backpackers.
Western Seoul is all about students – there are tens of thousands at various massive establishments here. Hongdae is the most famous, but not purely due to its status as a vaunted school of artistic learning – it also possesses by far the best nightlife in the country, a neon-drenched maze of hip-hop clubs, live music venues and trendy subterranean bars.
South of Namsan is Itaewon, long the hub of foreign activity in the city; a curious mix of the sleazy and the cosmopolitan, it’s now home to some of Seoul’s best restaurants, bars and clubs, and is also a happening LGBT+ area. Itaewon’s scene has started to spread east and west, with much of Seoul’s expat population choosing to hunker down in these newly fashionable areas.
A number of important city districts lie south of the Han River. Most prominent is Gangnam (yes, from the song), a shop- and restaurant-filled south-bank alternative to Myeongdong, which merges with ultra-trendy Apgujeong, an area that’s brimming with boutiques and some of the best restaurants in the city. The Coex Mall, a gigantic underground shopping complex, is also in the south, as is the Jamsil area – home to Lotte World, one of the country’s most popular theme parks – and Olympic Park, where Seoul’s Summer Games were held in 1988.
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BUKHANSAN NATIONAL PARK
Seoul also has a pleasing range of sights within easy day-trip range. Foreign travellers leap at the chance to visit the DMZ, the chilling 4km-wide buffer zone separating North and South Korea. In fact, on some tours it’s technically possible to walk across the border, under the watchful eyes of rifle-toting soldiers. Two major cities are easily accessible from Seoul, and actually on the city’s subway system. Incheon to the west has a thriving Chinatown and serves as a travel base for trips to dozens of islands in the West Sea, while Suwon to the south is home to a stunning fortress. There’s an even better fortress in Gongju, a small city further south again; this was once the capital of the Baekje kingdom, whose astonishingly beautiful jewellery can be admired in a fantastic museum.