Seoul in Six Days! (Part 1)

Korea was on my bucket list of countries to visit because of its Cold War history and I’ve never been there before. Moreover, we recently travelled to various parts of Japan in Dec 2017 and June 2018 respectively so it was time for Seoul! As we were only going to one city, it’s completely doable to spend six days in Seoul and see/experience loads of things! Here’s what we did for the first leg of our trip sans the kid who stayed at home with my mom.

Day 1: Arrival, Changdeokgung, Gyeongbokgung and Bukchon Hanok Village (Northern Seoul)

• Our flight left Singapore on 28th Nov at night and we arrived in Seoul at 7am the next day. We took the airport train from Incheon airport to Seoul station where our hotel was located. There are two options – the express train and the all-stop train. The former takes only 45min but costs 9000won while the latter takes an hour but costs under 5000won.
• As per what I do for all my Japan trips, I always pick hotels near a major train station so it’s easier to lug our baggages to and fro, especially on the last day when the number of bags double due to shopping!
• We booked a 3 star hotel called Hotel Stay Inn that’s really near Seoul Station exit 12. It was also quite a steal – <$400 SGD over 5 nights. Personally, I’m okay with 3 star hotels as long as it’s clean, safe and convenient because we won’t be spending a lot of time inside anyway. If you’re looking for a high end 5 star option, next to us was Four Points Sheraton Hotel. Four Points is also located next to Seoul Station exit 12 so it’s equally as convenient.
• After leaving our luggage at the hotel, we spend the day at two palaces in the northern part of Seoul.
• The one that I was more keen on was the UNESCO heritage site, Changdeokgung Palace. There’s also access to the secret palace garden (Huwon) that can only be done via going on a tour. The rest of the palace grounds can be done free and easy if you choose not to join a tour.
• Everyday, there’s a limited number of slots for the secret garden tour so we were lucky to get tickets for the 1030am English tour. You can find out more information about the various secret garden tour timings here so some planning is required prior to your visit.

• As for the second palace – Gyeongbokgung, we visited it after having lunch in Bukchon Hanok Village as they’re all near each other by foot or bus.
• Gyeongbokgung was more crowded and touristy so I didn’t really like it as much as Changdeokgung but it’s still worth a visit.
• We bought the multi-palace ticket (10,000won/pax) since we were going to more than one palace. This ticket also includes the secret garden tour so it made more economical sense.
• In the evening, we went to Myeongdong, which was a short 2 stops away from our hotel. It has everything you need – especially food and shopping! I think in total, we spent 3 evenings in Myeongdong for food and shopping after all our sight-seeing was done.

Day 2: Alpaca World, Nami Island and Garden of Morning Calm (Day Tour)

• One of the highlights of the trip was seeing alpacas! I was looking for a day tour to Nami Island and found a full day tour that covers an alpaca farm, Nami Island and a garden on Klook.com for approx. $96 per pax (including breakfast, lunch and transport).
• We were once again quite lucky to secure this tour on the last day of November because they don’t conduct it anymore in December due to the harsher winter conditions.
• We spent about 1-1.5hours at each site so it wasn’t very rushed. Would highly recommend finding day tours on Klook as they have quite a wide variety to offer.

• Post-lunch, we took a ferry to Nami Island. We didn’t watch the famed Winter Sonata drama that is associated with the island but still went there for the scenery. As HJ had visited Jeju Island when he first travelled to Seoul more than a decade ago, I chose Nami Island so that we could have a different experience altogether.

• The Garden of Morning Calm was the final stop of the day tour. I think it would have been much nicer if we went earlier in November before the autumn season transited to winter. Nonetheless, we had a preview of the winter lighting festival that is happening from Dec to March.

• The tour bus drops off at either Myeongdong or Seoul Station. We selected the latter because it’s nearer our hotel and we took the chance to explore the sprawling complex that is Lotte Mart. This was where we bought the bulk of our souvenir food items – seaweed, chips, citron tea!

Day 3: Korean War Memorial & Museum, Itaewon, Gangnam and Dongdaemun (Southern Seoul)

• After having gone on a full day tour, we deliberately planned for a free and easy day next. The Korean War Memorial is located across the Hangang River so that was our first stop since it’s the furthest away. Besides its historical significance, I also went there to snap pictures of material that I can feature in my lessons next year 🙂

• Thereafter, we headed to the Itaewon area for Korean BBQ. There’s a few famous ones – Maple Tree and Busan Galbi are two of the popular ones. We chose the latter based on reviews which stated that it was less pricey and still of good quality.

• Post-lunch, we headed to COEX Mall, the largest underground mall located in Gangnam area to see the Starfield Library and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, another UNESCO heritage site.
• Towards the end of the day, we took a train back across the river to Dongdaemun area to see the art market inside the Dongdaemun Design Plaza and have Shake Shack for dinner.

Thus far, we managed to see a good mixture of historical/cultural and architectural sites alongside shopping and eating.

The only downside was probably not having packed two pairs of walking sneakers – I had one pair of fur boots and one pair of sneakers. So imagine walking 12km on average daily, in weather ranging from -2 to 5 degrees, there were times we could not feel our feet!

To be continued with Part 2.