Seoul

Seoul is the capital city of South Korea. It is the most popular destination for tourists, and offers a wide variety of both old and new Korea.

Transport

Getting to and from the Airport

Note that there are TWO airports serving Seoul: Incheon and Gimpo. Almost all international flights fly into Incheon. Most flights from Japan that fly into Gimpo fly out of Haneda in Tokyo.

• Incheon Airport : Official site - Offers useful info about the airport. It is a fairly new airport and generally has very nice facilities.

It is pretty straightforward getting from Incheon Airport into town. It'd be useful to check with your hostel/hotel which bus/train to take.

Getting around Seoul

The Metro is really easy to use, cheap and very slick. Taxis are cheap and metered. You probably won't need to use any buses while you are there, except, perhaps to get up to Seoul Tower (if you are too lazy to walk).

Sights

There is lots of info about seeing Seoul available online. Google this yourself or refer to any guidebook. In particular, there is a bunch of useful information (and pretty pictures) at Visit Korea

Mie JET recommendations include:

• Gyeongbokgung Palace

• Jongmyo Shrine

• Dragon Hill Spa

  an AMAZING jimjimbang (Korean bathhouse). It's a fantastic place, particularly in the middle of winter!

• Insadong area

  Shops/restaurants

• Seoul Tower (and the surrounding park)

  It's a fairly decent walk from Myeong-dong. If you are lazy you can always bus it.

• Sanchon (in Insadong)

  One of the single most satisfying culinary experiences of my life.

• Deoksugung Palace

• Cheonggyecheon

  A nice man-made canal built through the middle of downtown. City planners took an old waterway and turned into a park with a nice waterway. Goes on for quite a ways and makes for a nice stroll.

• Hwaseong Fortress

  Located about an hour outside of Seoul on the train, the fortress is a walled town and fort from the 18th century. It's an interesting day trip, you can just see the main building or spend more time walking all around the walls.

• DMZ (Outside Seoul)

  It's pretty cool - try to get on a tour that includes Panmunjom - home to the world's tallest flagpole (160m! WOO!). If Wikipedia (and guides in the DMZ) are to be believed, it's also a place of awesome biodiversity, and as home to endangered animal and plant species such as the red-crowned crane, the white-naped crane, the Korean tiger, the Amur leopard and the Asiatic black bear. Awesome.

Accommodations

• Kim's Guesthouse

  A little bit hard to find, it's reasonably well located in Hapjeong. The dorms and privates are basic but adequate from ￥１９００ in a dorm. The owner is friendly (though perhaps a little on the whacky side) and helpful and can give you plenty of advice about what to do/see in Seoul and Korea. She speaks good English and pretty decent Japanese too! They can organise day trips to the DMZ from there. The hostel is adequately heated (it was -7 when we visited) and has a pleasant common area and kitchen. I won't rave about the bathrooms - they were OK. Hot water and a space to wash. That is all.

• Golden Pond Guesthouse

  $14-$19 for a mixed dorm or private room. Guesthouse is small but we had an enjoyable time. It was clean, the owners/staff spoke English, free internet, kitchen, and near a great area of town. Drawbacks are a small bathroom (shared) and a small hang-out room. It was in a good area with a long street of shopping, cinema, and food. If you pass that you get to another main street of food and shopping including some Western conveniences like TGI Fridays and other joints. If you walk out to the main street and cross the street with Dunkin Donuts ending up on your left, that whole street is amazing cheap Korean food!

  188-40, 14/5 Myeongnyun-dong 4-ga Jongno-gu
  Hyehwa Subway station

• Hotel Ibis Myeong-Dong

  Budget hotel, basically like a Toyoko Inn. This place was in a great location--loads of shopping and restaurants nearby, right next to a subway station, and within walking distance of one of the palaces. Depending on what deals you can find online, it should be about 7500 yen for a double room.

See also

• Seoul - Wikitravel