Seoul, South Korea is an awesome city that’s a mix of a foodie’s paradise and plenty of cultural exploration at its heart.

How long to stay?

This was our last stop along a month-long trip around the world. We would have loved a longer time in Seoul, but could only afford three nights in this city. It felt a little too short for what we wanted to do (especially since part of us being here was to meet up with others). If we had to do this again, I would tend more to four or five nights in the city for our first time. Of course, we both had work and real life to get back to, so we had to cut it short.

That just means we’ll have to make a trip back at some point, especially with the kids.

What we did in Seoul

Gyeongbokgung Palace

The Gyeongbukgung Palace is where the Joseon dynasty once lived way back in 1395. Over 600 years later, the palace has become a giant tourist attraction. I think the real reason for the crowds is that it’s an approachable way to gain an appreciation of Korean culture. There are tours you can take (in multiple languages) to learn more about the area.

The buildings are quintessential Korean style, however the area suffered immense damage from the Japanese in the early 1900s. There is still an ongoing restoration process still in place today. That could even mean there’s a reason to come back if you’ve already visited.

Changdeokgung Palace

From one palace to another, Changdeokgung Palace is slightly younger than its sister palace above. In fact, Changdeokgung is intended to be a secondary palace to Gyeongbokgung. There was a period of nearly 300 years where Changdeokgung served as the primary residence for kings until Gyeongbokgung was rebuilt. So in many ways, think of these two palaces as intimately related.

You can easily visit both palaces in the same day, as we did. And as with the other palace, this one also has tours available to add some extra insight to your visit.

Lotte World

Want to go to an amusement park in South Korea? Lotte World is an easily-accessible amusement park right in the middle of the city. While we stopped by and considered entering, we ended up deciding against it. Nothing wrong with the theme park itself, but we just ran out of time in the day and didn’t want to force ourselves to stay here for just a couple of hours.

Visit the border with North Korea?

One of the things I had plans to visit was the DMZ, which stands for Demilitarized Zone. You won’t find any weapons here between the South and North. And some areas of the zone are going to only be accessible if you’re part of a tour.

I had this tour booked, and we were all ready to go, but turns out North Korea was making some pretty heavy threats around when we were due to go. Out of an abundance of caution, we canceled the tour. But the impression we had from a lot of South Koreans is that the North will make empty threats pretty often. Will it always be empty? Who knows. But something to keep in mind if you want to visit.

For more images from our activities, refer to our dedicated post on our activities in Seoul.

Where we ate in Seoul

Some of the places no longer exist from when we went before, so we’ll only emphasize the more memorable meals we had that still exist.

ToSokChon Samgyetang

Located right next to Gyeongbukgung Palace, ToSokChon Samgyetang is a rather famous restaurant that serves ginseng chicken soup. Ginseng is believed to have many health benefits, and the dish holds a lot of historical significance for the country. Once served only to the rich, the dish is now available for all. It’s thus a very popular restaurant, so expect crowds.

We ordered a wide variety of dishes, but personally my favorite was the ginseng chicken soup. Despite me being the least Asian amongst our group (I’m half), I was putting everyone in their place by eating all the ginseng. Others found the flavors too intense, but it honestly tasted refreshing and not too strong to my palate.

The crowds may make you think of this as a rather touristy restaurant, but it’s still worth a visit or two. English isn’t spoken well here, so brush up on some basic Korean as I did or point at the menu and you’ll be fine.

Seocho Myeonok

This ended up one of our favorite restaurants on our entire month-long trip around the world. The flavors are just so good and the meat is super tender. As with other restaurants, we found English wasn’t spoken well, but the staff seemed encouraged by my (likely poor) attempts at speaking Korean. We had what could best be described as a feast for kings. I’ve since still been searching for something that mirrors this food in the States but not successful yet.

Just look at that meat… I’m getting hungry just looking at it. Falls off the bone and the flavors just mesh so well together.

Hanchu

In the mood for some KFC? And by that, of course, I mean Korean Fried Chicken. If the answer is yes, you might want to consider Hanchu found at 68 Nonhyeon-ro 175-gil in Gangnam. There is plenty of seating inside, which makes it good for large parties. The food was also very delectable. Maybe we just had good luck with our restaurants in South Korea, but everything was 맛있어요 (delicious).

Naturally, we ordered the fried chicken (both with and without sauce) and it’s every bit as yummy as we hoped. The chicken is incredibly crispy and the flavors work well together. This is how fried chicken should be.

For more images from our activities, refer to our dedicated post on our dining in Seoul.

Where we stayed in Seoul

Park Hyatt Seoul

We liked our stay at the Park Hyatt Seoul. One of the selling items for us was its convenience to everything we wanted to see. On top of that, the rooms were spacious, which came as a pleasant surprise to us. The hotel is what you would expect from a luxurious city hotel. And thankfully, we didn’t find it too stuffy inside (a totally different feeling from, say, Park Hyatt Paris Vendome).

The hotel even offered us a farewell gift, which was generous and fully unexpected. The hotel did a great job with both managing expectations and finding a way to exceed them. Service was truly impeccable during our stay.

Our top tier Hyatt status afforded us free breakfast each morning in the restaurant. Yes, it’s a buffet, but everything was high quality and pretty tasty. The pastries are a personal favorite (sorry, I like my carbs). You’ll find both Eastern delicacies and Western favorites here, which is great for those who want to explore the local culture and those who are more timid to branch out.

For more images, refer to our dedicated post on this hotel.

Have you been to Seoul, South Korea?

Suggested reading:

• Other destinations we’ve visited
• Overcome Your Travel Fears and Enjoy Life
• Why You Need to Collect Korean Air Miles