There are plenty of options for late night shopping and dining in Seoul. Photo / Getty Images
There are plenty of options for late night shopping and dining in Seoul. Photo / Getty Images
First-time visitor to South Korea? Seoul is this Asian tiger's buzzing metropolis, but it can be a daunting experience for the uninitiated, writes Mark Daffey.
Seoul is an amalgamation of neighbourhoods collectively providing housing for a whopping 10 million people, and for a first-time visitor it can be difficult to know where to start. Here are some suggestions to help you on your way.
Wuthering heights
Start by getting a grip on the city layout. The best place for that is atop Mt Namsan, where N Seoul Tower allows 360-degree views across the suburban sprawl from its 450-metre-high observation deck – the highest in Seoul. Commonly called Seoul Tower, or even Namsan Tower, the N symbolises the tower's "new" look after the 45-year-old needle was remodelled in 2005, adding a lighting system designed to celebrate changing seasons and events.
Downtown Seoul, with the needle-like N Seoul Tower on Mt Nasman in the background. Photo / Getty Images
Access to the tower is via three different avenues – cable car, elevator or stairway. Once up top, you'll discover rotating restaurants, gift shops and cafes. For those without a head for heights, a terrace at the foot of the tower also offers unobstructed views.
Trace the flow of the Han River as it divides north from south, linked by a series of 31 bridges. Come here late in the afternoon to feel the sun's last warming rays before it dips towards the Yellow Sea, then linger as the evening lights of Seoul glimmer, illuminating the many arterial roads spreading to all parts of the city and beyond.
Royally flushed
The Joseon Dynasty dominates Seoul's history more than any other, having ruled over the entire peninsula for five centuries. Vestiges of those times, which only ceased with Japanese annexation in 1910, are sprinkled all over the city, notably in the form of five grand palaces.
Of those Gyeongbokgung is the original, but Changdeokgung, the third palace built, is the prettiest. It's also the only one protected by Unesco's World Heritage listing. Allow some time here to wander through the palace courtyards and gardens. If there's a fault it's that signposting is poor, so to really understand what you're looking at you'll need a guide.
The Gyeongbokgung Palace, where traditional Changing of the Guard ceremonies take place thrice-daily. Photo / Getty Images
Schedule in time to watch one of the thrice-daily Changing of the Guard ceremonies that take place outside Gyeongbokgung and Deoksugung Palaces – think 20 or so soldiers dressed in colourful robes and wide-brimmed hats banging drums, blowing trumpets and twirling batons. Pauses are even incorporated into the ritual so that onlookers can take photos alongside them.
To market, to market
Walk through some areas of Seoul and you could be forgiven for thinking the entire city possesses the mentality of a teenage girl with a limitless credit card. Few other nationalities are as addicted to shopping as the South Koreans, and no proud Seoulite would be seen dead wearing last year's fashions. Image is everything here, so it should come as no surprise to learn that South Korea is the cosmetic surgery capital of the world.
No fewer than 20 shopping malls and more than 30,000 individual stores are scattered around Dongdaemun, where the retail activity really springs to life after 10pm. While you're there, stop in at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza – a spherical gallery, museum and theatre venue designed by Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. It's a striking architectural statement, though not necessarily to traditionalists' taste.
The Dongdaemun Design Plaza, in Seoul's retail district. Photo / Getty Images
For cosmetics, sportswear and steak houses, head to Myeongdong. It is often said that there is nothing you can't buy at Seoul's Namdaemun Market, from toothpicks to mammoth ivory. Look for inexpensive clothing, homewares, fabrics and flowers here. Best of all, the two market areas are within walking distance of one another, so you can take your loved one to dinner then dazzle him or her with roses.
Downtown Seoul is perfect for evening shopping and wandering. Photo / Getty Images
Yongsan is the place for electronics, and Gangnam's Apgujeong Rodeo St is where fashionistas pick up the latest in designer clothing. For crafty tourist souvenirs, head to Insadong-gil, a 400m pedestrian thoroughfare lined with stores hawking artworks, musical instruments and ceramics. Many characterful teahouses and restaurants are hidden down unassuming side alleys here.
Eat and be merry
Korean barbecues have long been favourite dinner outings, as much for their social value as their nourishing content. It is a combination that has proven popular around the world.
The barbecues are do-it-yourself affairs around a central grill, where an endless selection of side dishes accompany cuts of seared beef and pork. All are then washed down with a bottle of Soju, the fiery rice wine best gulped down in a single swill. Try Wangbijib in Myeongdong, or Dongdaemun's Butumak – the perfect culinary solution after late-night shopping.
Gwangjang is Seoul's largest food alley. The covered street market squeezes 5000 stalls into an area measuring 42,000sq m. It's practically impossible to go anywhere without seeing a menu containing bibimbap – a stir-fired meat (in some regions, seafood is preferred) and vegetable dish mixed with rice. Same goes for kimchi, a side dish of salted and fermented vegetables.
Traditional Korean street food is the top snack in the city. Photo / Getty Images
But the market specialty is mung bean pancakes, or gimbap – a Korean sushi colloquially known as "drug rolls" that are best paired with rice wine (it seems to go with everything). Come to this market during winter and electric "blankets" will warm your seat.
Run for your life
I'm a sucker for global sports events and I always make a point of trying to run a lap of an Olympic stadium should the chance arise. I can't visit Barcelona or Munich or Athens without popping in, and so it was too with Seoul.
Seoul hosted the 1988 Summer Games, memorable for Canadian sprint sensation Ben Johnson smashing the 100-metre world record, only to be stripped of his gold medal after testing positive to banned stimulants three days later. I was devastated (though I shouldn't have been surprised).
These days, the Olympic Stadium is more commonly used to stage soccer matches and concerts. Chunks of the original athletics track are missing and the lines have faded. Dare I say it, it's a little "Seoul-less" these days. For Olympic tragics like myself, however, it's still worth visiting, if only to stand behind the starting line in lane six and imagine what it must feel like to explode out of the blocks then hurtle down the track in front of 100,000 cheering spectators in just 9.79 seconds.
The border separating North and South Korea is one of the most volatile on the planet. It's an uneasy truce where soldiers from both sides are forever on watch for signs of aggression. And it's only an hour or so north of Seoul.
A Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) tour is the most popular day excursion out of the city. Buses depart from designated meeting points in Seoul before they cross the Civilian Control Line, the first checkpoint along Highway One. Here, South Korean soldiers board the bus to check passports and ensure that everyone has adhered to a strict dress code that forbids the likes of sandals, ripped jeans or T-shirts bearing provocative text. A military bus then transports guests to the Joint Security Area inside the DMZ – a heavily fortified, 240km buffer zone either side of the border.
Once there, you'll find a jumble of buildings either side of a painted line indicating the border. Strung out along that line is Conference Row, where officials from both sides meet inside sparsely furnished buildings to discuss diplomatic issues under the watchful eye of the United Nations. This is as close as you'll get to a North Korean soldier.
Tours continue on to Imjingak Park, an open-air museum exhibiting military hardware and monuments to fallen soldiers, and into a North Korean tunnel that was unearthed in 1978.
Getting there Air New Zealand flies direct to Seoul.
Details Travellers to Seoul must present a negative Covid-19 PCR test taken no more than 48 hours before departure, or a negative supervised rapid antigen test taken no more than 24 hours before departure. All travellers are required to take a PCR test within 24 hours of arriving in South Korea. See english.visitkorea.or.kr for more.
