SEOUL · SOUTH KOREA
Palace eaves, neon nights, the border north.
Hanbok mornings at the palaces, food crawls through the night markets, K-pop and K-drama trails, and the day trips out to the DMZ and Nami Island. Every good day in Seoul, and every road out of it.
Only here
Three experiences that are pure Seoul.
Food tours and city walks exist in every Asian capital. Standing at the DMZ, walking a palace in hanbok and tracing your favourite K-drama do not.
The last Cold War border
The DMZ
An hour north of a ten-million city lies the most heavily fortified frontier on earth. Tours take you into the Third Infiltration Tunnel dug under the line, up to the Dora Observatory to look across the wire into North Korea, and through Imjingak where families still wait. There is nowhere else on the planet quite like it.
- 1 Best DMZ Tour Korea from Seoul (Red Suspension Bridge Optional)
- 2 DMZ Tour: 3rd Tunnel, Option(Suspension Bridge, Boat) from Seoul
- 3 DMZ tour south Korea from Seoul (NK experience hall, defector)
Five Joseon palaces
A Palace in Hanbok
Rent a hanbok, and the palace gates open for free. You walk Gyeongbokgung’s throne halls and lotus pavilions in Joseon colours, catch the changing of the royal guard at the gate, then drift into the tiled hanok lanes of Bukchon next door. Six centuries of capital, worn for a day.
- 1 Seoul: Gyeongbok Palace, Bukchon Village, and Gwangjang Tour
- 2 Best Seoul City Tour (Gyeongbokgung Palace,Insadong,Namsan Tower)
- 3 Small-Group Royal Palace and Seoul City Tour (hotel pick-up)
Home of the Hallyu wave
K-Pop & K-Drama
This is where the wave started. Tours circle the Gangnam entertainment agencies, dance studios that teach you the choreography, and the cafes, bridges and palace walls where your favourite dramas were filmed. A pop-culture pilgrimage you can only make in Seoul.
- 1 Full Day Tour In The Soop BTS Ver in PyeongChang Filming Location
- 2 Seoul: Kpop Dance Class Including Video Shooting & Editing
- 3 ARMY Must Visit BTS Tour in Seoul
Start here
The one almost everyone books first.
More Seoul trips are built around this day than anything else on the list.
Where most people start
Seoul's Most Popular Tours
The DMZ, Nami Island, hanbok at the palaces and the night-market food crawl. The days most travellers come to Seoul for.
Where to begin
The days a Seoul trip is built around.
The DMZ, Nami Island, the palaces in hanbok, the night-market food, K-pop and the cooking classes. The handful of days most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
The big day out
How to do the DMZ.
It is the question every Seoul trip turns on. The border is an hour north, but access changes and the tour you pick decides how far you get. Three ways to stand at the line, depending on your day.
Food & markets
Dinner is a stool at a market stall.
Seoul eats shoulder to shoulder. Mung-bean pancakes sizzling at Gwangjang, tteokbokki carts in Myeongdong, charcoal Korean BBQ in Mapo, and fried chicken with cold beer after midnight. The best meals come with no English menu, a plastic stool and a queue of locals who know.
Read the guide: the best food and market tours in Seoul →After the lights come on
Seoul never really sleeps.
The city does its best living after dark. Night-market food crawls and a Hongdae pub run, the view from the N Seoul Tower deck, a non-verbal show like Nanta, and the neon of Myeongdong and Dongdaemun glowing until the first subway runs again at dawn.
See the evening experiences →The Han
The city makes more sense from the water.
The Han River runs wide through the middle of Seoul, splitting the old north from glassy Gangnam to the south, its bridges stitching the two together. At dusk the towers light up, the Banpo Bridge rainbow fountain starts its show, and the riverside parks fill with picnics. The best seat for all of it is the deck of an evening cruise.
Han River cruises & boat trips →Palaces & hanbok
Six centuries of capital, worn for a day.
Gyeongbokgung is the grandest of Seoul’s five Joseon palaces, its painted dancheong eaves framing Mount Bugaksan behind the throne hall. Put on a rented hanbok and entry is free; you walk the courtyards and the lotus-pond pavilion in royal colour, watch the changing of the guard at the great gate, then slip into the hanok lanes of Bukchon next door.
- 1 Seoul: Gyeongbok Palace, Bukchon Village, and Gwangjang Tour
- 2 Best Seoul City Tour (Gyeongbokgung Palace,Insadong,Namsan Tower)
- 3 Small-Group Royal Palace and Seoul City Tour (hotel pick-up)
Plan by distance
Pick how far you want to go today.
Seoul is a hub. Stay inside the city for the palaces and the food, push an hour north to the border, or commit a full day to reach Nami Island and the mountains.
In the city
Stay in Seoul.The five palaces in hanbok, the hanok lanes of Bukchon, Myeongdong and Gwangjang for the food, and a soju-soaked pub crawl after dark. Days you never leave town.
Half a day out
North to the border.An hour up the expressway to the DMZ: the Third Tunnel, the observatory looking into the North, and back in the city by mid-afternoon.
A full day there and back
Out to Nami and beyond.Nami Island’s tree-lined lanes and the Garden of Morning Calm, the granite ridges of Mt Seorak, or the winter slopes. The big days that need an early start.
The Hallyu wave
Walk straight into your playlist.
Seoul is the home of K-pop and K-drama, and you can stand in it. Circle the Gangnam entertainment agencies and the HYBE building, learn the choreography in a real dance studio, then visit the cafes, bridges and palace walls where the dramas you binged were filmed. The wave started here.
See all 24 K-pop & K-drama tours →By place
The city, and the roads out of it.
Central Seoul for the palaces and the food. The DMZ for the border. Nami Island for the autumn lanes. Suwon for the fortress walls. Mt Seorak for the peaks. Incheon for the coast and the Chinatown.
By activity
Pick what kind of day you want.
A food tour if you want to eat the city. A hanbok shoot if you want the palaces in colour. A cooking class if you want to take Korea home. A Han River cruise if you want the skyline at dusk.
Plan it
Three days that cover the essentials.
First time in Seoul? Here is how three days plays out without a wasted hour.
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