DivaNun Guide/Seoul

 

This DivaNun Guide is a one pager of everything to do, see, and eat in Seoul. 

Historical 

 

  • The Royal Palaces

    •  Changdeokgung, Changgyeonggung, Deoksugung, Gyeongbokgung, Gyeonghuigung

      • I've highlighted the ones I've seen

      • The palaces have a fee to enter but buying the bulk pass for all 5 palaces is the cheapest option even if you don't see every palace.

      • Bulk Pass Price: 10,000 won

  • Bukchon Hanok Village

    • A preserved version of a village during the Jonseon Dynasty. 
    • You can wander around the village for free but I highly suggest you pay to get into the observation deck.
    • Observaiton Deck Price: 3,000 won

    Cultural 

    IMG_9781s.jpg

     

    • Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art

      • An amazing art gallery that combines both ancient and contemporary art. One of the best interior designing I've ever seen in an art museum. 

    • Hongdae Neighborhood

      • This is where the university is and where my hostel was located. A great place for partying and night life. Lots of good restaurants to explore.

    • Itaewon Neighborhood

      • This is a very foreigner heavy district. There are some good restaurants but overall not a place I prefered to hang out out.  

    • Gangnam Neighborhood

      • The bright and shiny neighborhood south of the river. I found this place to be very expensive and didn't hang out there very much. 

    • Ihwa Mural Village

      • Murals and cute cafe's line the hills of this cute little village. 

    Miscellaneous

    • Facebook Pages
    • Night Life
      • Gay/Trans (Homo Hill)
        • Tucked away in Itaewon is Homo Hill where a number of different bars catering to gay and trans people are placed. 
      • Thursday Party (124-6 Itaewon 1(il)-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea)
        • A fun bar with a mix of both tourists and local college students. Though it does lean more heavily tourist. The drinks are strong and it will be popping on a weekday
      • NB1/ NB2 (362-4 Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea )
        • Large loud club on weekends. Open very late. Always packed
        • They play hip hop and pop music. 
        • Free before 10pm the cover starts off at 10,000 won before 11 and it rises at midnight. 
    • Accomodation
      • Time Travelers Party Hostel in Hongdae
        • 11 Yeonhui-ro 2-gil, Sinchon-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, South Korea
        • Very cheap and amazing hostel. DJ the owner is really chill and they go on group BBQ dinners on Friday. 
        • Youthful staff and a bar in the game lounge made this a very social and amazing place to hang out.
    • Souveniers
      • Skin care products are a must when you go to Seoul. It's so much cheaper then the United States. My favorite store was Skin Food but also Nature's Republic is forever bae. 

    Food

    After a month of Japanese food I was looking for something spicy and different. 

    • Cafe Blanc (173-14 Donggyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea)

      • This was a cafe near my hostel. They served freshly baked bread and other dishes that took their inspiration from France but use Korean foundations. 
      • The fried pork sandwich and the pastries above were my favorite things.

    • Piggy Bank (331-1 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea )

      • I was told that unlike in the states Korean Barbque has meat specific restaurants. The first shop I went to was chicken only but piggy bank gave me the juicy pork and beef korean barbque that I love. The meat here is cooked over hot stones and it was so good. 

    • Korean Fried Chicken

      • I don't have a favorite place for fried chicken in Seoul because everywhere I ate was delicious and the portions were huge. 

    • Vegetables

      • Korea is a place that eats a lot of meat so aside from the Banchan, the small plates of fermented veggies and other good stuff, that comes with your bowl of rice and meat you won't eat very much green stuff. I even resorted to eating a salad because I was so  desperate for a vegetable

    Transportation/ Navigation

    Inside of a city bus in Seoul.

    Inside of a city bus in Seoul.

    • In Seoul
      • While there aren't as many sings in english as there where in Tokyo I had no problem navigating the urban transportation infastructure. I took buses and trains and always managed to get where I intended
      • Google Maps does not give walking directions so it's terrible for that but I was able to plot all my bus and train travel using it
    • To Seoul
      • There are non stop flights from Tokyo to Seoul but I decided that I wanted to add some extra cities for my trip. So Instead I flew to Fukuoka and took the Ferry from Fukuoka, Japan to Busan, South Korea,
      • Ferry Travel
        • The Ferry is very cheap and if you have tome to squeeze in two extra cities its one of the best ways to travel. A one way ticket only cost me $65 and takes around 3 hours over the sea of Japan. 
        • Important Reminder you have to pay port taxes in cash before you can get on the boat. It's  about 600 yen on the Japanese side and 3,000 won on the Korean side. I thought I could pay in card in Busan and I almost missed my ferry home. 

    Next Visit

    • Boseong Green Tea Fields
      • Can you imagine the photoshoots I would pull in these luscious ass fields
    •  Sunny Books
      • LGBT Book store in Itaewon
    • Jjimjilbang
      • 24 hour beauty spa's, where you can get massages and soaks in all kinds of different rooms.
      • Siloam is the one I heard was the best

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