From Sizzling Street Food to Next-Level Skincare, Seoul Has Something for Everyone

If you don’t know much about Seoul (beyond its K-pop and K-drama creds, that is), the numbers give you a good idea of the South Korean capital’s staggering scale: It’s home to nearly 10 million people, who are connected by an efficient network of more than 35,000 buses and 23 train lines across 25 gu, or districts. Scattered throughout the city’s 234 square miles are more than 400 shopping malls, 100,000-plus restaurants, upward of 100 museums and close to 300 art galleries.

With all this ground to cover, deciding where to start can feel like an impossible task—which is why we’ve put together a short guide to help you plan your visit. Below, we’ve shared our favorite places to stay, things to do and see and, perhaps most importantly, where to eat while you’re in town. You won’t get to everything on your trip, but you can always come back. And we’re almost certain you will. Chase Travel is the first stop for your next adventure.

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The soft, serene guest rooms at the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul incorporate traditional Korean design elements, including pottery and silk.

Where to Stay

Seoul is a global business center, which means that you’ll find a healthy number of luxury hotels across its urban sprawl. But before choosing one, you should suss out which side of the Han River you find most appealing. The districts to the north are older and more established, and home to many of the city’s traditional attractions (royal palaces, preserved 14th-century villages); the south is where you’ll find the flash and bang of younger areas such as Gangnam District and Apgujeong Rodeo Street. Here are our top picks for where to stay on either side. 

Four Seasons Hotel Seoul
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The massive Couples’ Suite tub is one of the many draws of the impressive spa at Four Seasons Hotel Seoul.

For a hotel that ticks every box—serene rooms with sweeping city views, a spa with a traditional Korean sauna, and restaurants and bars that could keep you dining in for a week—you can’t do better than the Four Seasons, which sits north of the river about a 10-minute walk from Gyeongbokgung Palace. Even in food-obsessed Seoul, where there are endless options for where to eat (and drink), we’d still choose to drop some serious won here: Try the lunch buffet at Boccalino, which serves up polished plates of southern Italian fare, and after nightfall, head to Oul for some snacks and Korean-inspired cocktails, made with unusual ingredients like pine-pollen honey, fermented-rice tea and spicy kimchi cordial.

Park Hyatt Seoul
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Between its shiny malls and yawning gray thoroughfares, the neighborhood of Gangnam, like Central Business Districts the world over, can feel a little impersonal. That’s why we’re so bullish on the Park Hyatt. The towering hotel’s modern but warm spaces feel like something of a refuge, and the daily breakfast spread is faultless. But it’s Ocelas Spa that gets us most excited. Don’t leave without treating yourself to a Rose Brightening Facial, which pairs a multistep treatment with rounds of shoulder, stomach and leg massages. Afterward, relax in the window-walled lap pool that feels like it’s dangling above the city.

The Main Attractions

One of the most compelling things about Seoul is how it manages to embrace modernity while revering tradition. To make the most of your time here, you should aim to experience a bit of both.

Tour the Must-See Sites

Seoul is massive, so while you may be used to cherry-picking a few sites and setting out to see them yourself, things aren’t so simple here. Consider combining a few professionally led tours with some aimless wandering; the former can help you get a lay of the land while schooling you on important historic sites, while the latter lets you dip in and out of independent boutiques, dim speakeasies, karaoke joints and neofuturistic urban developments that double as architectural marvels (we’re looking at you, Dongdaemun Design Plaza).

Conceived by the late starchitect Zaha Hadid and the architectural firm Samoo, the neofuturistic Dongdaemun Design Plaza houses an art museum, exhibition spaces and more.

You can find tours of varying sizes, including smaller ones that let you customize stops to your taste, but most are guaranteed to hit a handful of major cultural sites, including Gyeongbokgung Palace, the main royal residence during the Joseon dynasty (Korea’s last and longest), and Gwanghwamun Gate, where you can watch the guard-changing ceremony twice a day; Jogyesa Temple; N Seoul Tower, a favorite lookout point; Namdaemun Market; a hanok village; and the National Folk Museum of Korea.

The ornate Gyeongbokgung Palace served as the main royal residence during the Joseon dynasty.

If you like traditional crafts and you’re itching to pick up a few souvenirs, look for a tour that stops in Insa-dong, a cultural street and neighborhood. Your guide can point out which pottery shops are worth your time, and which craftspeople produce the softest hanji, or traditional handmade paper. Bonus: Most tours are priced to include entrance fees, and some also include hotel pickup.

Level Up Your Beauty Game

If you’re even moderately interested in beauty products, you’ll know Seoul is one of the industry standard-bearers—not only for masks, creams and serums, but for gadgets and newfangled treatments, too.

The neighborhood of Myeong-dong, just north of the river, is where you’ll find a tightly packed warren of beauty and fashion shops. Look out for two of them in particular: the four-story flagship of the skincare brand Innisfree and the catchall beauty supply store Olive Young, which is similar to Sephora in scope. You can also hop over the river to Gangnam District and take a lap (or six) around the glossy, highly regarded Sulwhasoo flagship.

If you’re more interested in receiving actual treatments, you have a few options. For a traditional Korean spa day, seek out a jjimjilbang, or bathhouse; you can spend the entire day floating around one of these quiet complexes, dipping in and out of hot tubs, cold plunge pools and saunas.

Signing up for a seshin, or Korean scrub, offers a more hands-on experience. A word of caution: The treatment, which buffs away dead skin, can feel a little rough, but the end result (silky-smooth skin) is worth it. The women-only Spa Lei is a local favorite for seshin, as are the facilities at the Sulwhasoo flagship and the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul. We also highly recommend the water-based scalp treatment at Christian Unv, a Hannam-dong-based head spa to the stars.

Where to Eat and Drink

Seoul has more types of dining venues than you can shake a chopstick at, from casual kimbap joints and skewer-hawking street food vendors to Korean barbecue houses and cozy noodle shops. We’ve selected a favorite spot or experience in a handful of categories, plus the bar to hit once you’ve got something in your stomach. After all, some of the most fun you’ll have here will happen after dark.

Sample the Street Foods

Headed to Myeong-dong? Skip dinner and hit the street food stalls instead.

Nearly every afternoon, you can watch a small army of vendors set up shop in Myeongdong, their stalls lined up end to end along the neighborhood’s narrow pedestrianized streets. It’s as much a feast for the eyes as the other senses, and chances are whatever you’re craving—bungeoppang (fish-shaped bread), tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), stir-fried noodles, egg cakes, roasted chestnuts, grilled cheese, fruit juice—can be found here. 

But if you’ve spent the day in Myeong-dong and you’re itching to explore a different part of town, book a night tour of Gwangjang Market. Established in 1905, it was Korea’s first permanent market, and today, the vendors sell everything from bedding and traditional lacquerware to cooking tools and silk dresses. On your tour, you’ll beeline straight to the food street, sampling tasty traditional treats like bindaetteok (mung-bean pancakes), boribap (rice and barley with vegetables) and eomukguk (fish-cake soup). Afterward, digest during a stroll along the nearby Cheonggyecheon, the natural stream that cuts a horizontal line through the city.

Take a walk along Cheonggyeocheon Stream, which cuts through downtown Seoul.

If you’d rather DIY, you can also opt for a cooking class that begins with a market tour. You’ll follow your guide around as they select the best ingredients, then watch them prepare everything back in the kitchen.

Make It a Meal

Hangaram

If you want to sample a breadth of Korean specialties, try the trusty hanjeongsik. This type of restaurant, which offers a multicourse meal, is often reserved for business meetings, holidays and other such special occasions, but it can be dressed up or down. Hangaram, a locally beloved spot on a quiet backstreet near Myeong-dong, is a more casual version. Order a bottle of soju and the tteokgalbi, or beef ribs, and ask your server to keep the banchan (small, usually vegetable-based sides, often pickled or fermented) flowing.

Hue135

The steak house Hue135 is known for its premium cuts of meat.

So, you’re interested in a meal that’s on the fancier side, but you don’t want to leave with only half your stomach (and your wallet) full. Head to this steak house in the cool-kid area of Hannam-dong. Throughout your dinner, you’re practically flanked by case after case of dry-aged beef, from Australian Wagyu to Korean hanwoo (indigenous beef coveted for its high marbling), which the chefs then slice and prepare with near-medical precision. Sit at the bar, and you can watch the magic up close. Of course, the meat is supplemented by plenty of yummy side dishes, including a silky chawanmushi, or steamed egg custard.

Hyodo Chicken

This tiny restaurant opened a new location somewhat recently in Hannam-dong, and already, the chicken-jip (a term for Seoul’s fried chicken spots) is a neighborhood favorite. The chicken here is available to order bone-in or boneless, and it comes smothered in a variety of sauces, from sweet and garlicky to hot and spicy. Get a side of the blistered shishito peppers, too, which add a nice contrast (read: vegetable) to an otherwise perfect meal of crispy chicken.

Grand Ole Opry

Maybe a country-music-playing honky-tonk isn’t where you pictured spending your big night out in Seoul, but keep an open mind. The owner, fondly known as Mama Kim, first opened Grand Ole Opry in Itaewon’s red-light district in 1975 for American vets of the Korean War, and she’s been running it ever since. (You’ll still encounter members of the U.S. armed forces here, since Camp Humphreys, the largest American military base outside of the U.S., is located near Seoul.) Find a slice of home at the bottom of a bottle of Apple Pie, a delicious combination of ginger ale and cinnamon-flavored whiskey served in a Jack Daniel’s handle.

Myeong-dong Sookhee

Push past the crowds in Myeong-dong to an unprepossessing Starbucks, then head up the stairs and through a secret mirror door to this speakeasy-style bar, where the colorful, Geunjeongjeon Hall–style decor calls to mind both the Joseon dynasty’s elaborate throne room at Gyeongbokgung Palace and the set of a Quentin Tarantino film. Settle in for mixed drinks that often incorporate seasonal ingredients (like an effervescent tomato spritz that somehow conjures caprese), and small bites, like vegetable dumplings in a light, flavorful broth.

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