This week Hack Your City took the Seoul train to South Korea. We got outstanding hints on the town from locals and frequent traffic, and we positioned just a few highlights under. First off, right here’s an extraordinary map manual—I love when people draw on maps—to the traditional village of Bukchon, depicted here overlooking the city’s modern towers.
Eat and drink
“Ditch Garosu-girl and try Hongdae or Hannam for unique cafes. Special point out to Roof_And; they serve awesome chocolate drinks and buttery croissants.”—Annie
“If you want animals, you’ll love the diverse animal cafes during the town (cat cafe, canine cafe, misc animal cafe). The cafes tend to double as animal rescues, as those are animals that would likely be positioned down in any other case.”—Kalian. “Osulloc green tea unfolds divine.”—AlinJapan.
“Try the Italian meals; no comic story.”—Tufski.
“If you’re seeking out interesting places to drink and dine that are a bit off the beaten course, regions just like the alleys of Neja-dong (close to Gwanghwamun), Seochon (west of Gyeongbok Palace), and Sendong (near Insadong and Changdeok Palace) offer several small, intimate, and thrilling locations.” figbash
Changdeokgung Palace Photo: GoodFreePhotos
See and do
“Some different honorable mentions for places well worth a go to Lotte World (indoor mall and subject matter park), Building 63 (63 ground building complete of shops, restaurants, and an aquarium; tallest constructing in S. Korea; they gained’t construct bigger than this because of the risk of North Korea shooting it down with a missile), and Namsan (a mountain inside the middle of the town and a famous traveler spot).”—Kalian “It’s smooth to wander off in Seoul. Enjoy it. Go down that alley; you never know what neat region you will discover tucked away somewhere. Don’t worry approximately now not finding your way lower back; you’re in no way all that some distance from a subway forestalls.” Jasnah Kholin.
“Cheonggyecheon Palace is first-rate but truly does the Secret Garden excursion. You can’t wander within the Garden for your personal. However, it’s worth it to peer it with the mandated excursion. If you couldn’t wait for the English language excursion, jump at the Chinese or Korean one; the place is still lovely.”—Daejin “The town has heaps of green areas. Public parks, and roof pinnacle gardens and playgrounds. You can spend days just searching out these. Most of the larger shops have them. There is a pretty quality aquarium in the Coex mall.”
fallenshell
“Up-and-coming location: Euljiro district. It’s an old district in north Seoul. This is starting to get a few exciting restaurants and cafes. However, the Gangnam Instagram locusts haven’t invaded it but. Go to Mullae-dong for the live song scene that Hongdae’s gentrification driven out. Map, just out of doors of Gongdeok Station, is the location for Korean foodies that they don’t need you to recognize approximately. Maloney’s is the first-rate dive bar if you want to take a spoil and pay attention to tales from the amicable long-time barflies.”
ZenKimchi
Yongma Land, an abandoned subject park Photo: Christian Bolz
“A fun/bizarre element to do if you have time is visit Yongma Land. It’s a bit out of the way; however, for, like $five, you may wander around and climb throughout an abandoned subject matter park. It’s quite a laugh if you want ordinary or kitschy things. And if you enjoy tackily, don’t forget about to go to the towering, bronze tribute statue to the music ‘Gangnam Style.’”—INowReallyMissTheOldKanye, “The nightlife in Korea is first-rate, and you can buy drinks and birthday celebrations until 7 or eight a.M.
If you’re feeling a piece too partied out, check out a ‘jimjilbang,’ a public bathhouse. They are separated for males and females and feature unique pools of hot water, bloodless water, swimming pool, snacks, sauna rooms, bloodless rooms (my favored), and salt rooms. You exchange into gowns that they come up with, and everyone sleeps on floor mats in a massive network room. It’s pretty atypical; however, wow, it’s clean and high-quality of all types around $eight to $15 USD.”—sOLo.
“After an extended day of stroll and sightseeing, being capable of loosening up in a heated (or cold) bubbly bathtub is truly remarkable. Be certain to smooth very well yourselves inside the bathe earlier than going inside the baths as it is taken into consideration very awful manners if you don’t.”—Dimfacion.“If you cross all through the baseball season, test out a game close to the Olympic stadium. Korean baseball is reveled in, lots more crowd involvement than American baseball.”
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- Myeongdong buying district
- Photo: Cait Whittaker
- Know and plan
“Ditch Google Maps at the same time as in Korea, mainly Seoul. Seoul is constantly converting, and Google doesn’t always have excellent maps. Try the usage of Naver Map or KakaoMap instead.”—Jasnah Kholin “Get a TMoney card from a convenient store (GS25, CU, 7-Eleven, and many others) and cargo it at the closest subway station. Monday may be used for subway, buses, taxis, and more.”
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“If you’re more often than not interested in cultural and historical sites, locate a place to live north of the river. If you’re right here for K-pop and contemporary buying, search for locations in the south.”—big bash “The DMZ isn’t well worth it if you may visit the Joint Security Area (JSA). Few excursion agencies offer it. The USO and Cosmojin do it, I understand. The threat is that the JSA will get closed down for, properly, safety motives. Without warning.”—ZenKimchi
“South Koreans are average extraordinary pleasant, helpful and first-class however additionally absolutely aggressive inside the manner they navigate the city. They will now not pass from your manner, even supposing it’s obvious you’re trying to get by using, so don’t be afraid to push a little. They also will not flinch or assume an apology if you bump them (difficult!) in the street.”—INowReallyMissTheOldKanye.
Korean baseball is enjoyable, loads extra crowd involvement than American baseball. Get out of the city. “The teacher is your friend. You can literally get admission to close by provinces and counties for as low as 4USD. Gangwon-do is simply an hour away through ITX (four-8 USD one way) if you need some nature spots. Gapyeong, Cheongpyeong, and Chucheon are top notch locations to go to, especially around spring and autumn.” Annie. There’s a lot more from these same commenters, so visit the unique thread and read them all! Come back Monday, when Hack Your City is going to—hoo boy—Florida.