Gwangjang Market

Gwangjang Market is Seoul's best-known traditional market, founded by Korean merchants in the early 1900s. Under its covered lanes, the smell of frying mung bean pancakes and customers perched on stall benches fill the centre, while shops selling hanbok fabric, bedding and vintage clothes surround it. If you want Korean street food and old-style market life in one place, this is where most people start.

History: a market founded by Korean merchants

In 1905, when Japanese traders had taken control of Namdaemun Market and were expanding towards Jongno, Korean merchants including Park Seung-jik pooled their money to found the Gwangjang Company. Sources differ on whether the market itself opened in 1904 or 1905. It took over the site of Baeogae Market, one of the three great markets of late Joseon Seoul, and is regarded as the first market in the country open every day. The original plan was to build it over the stream between the Gwanggyo and Janggyo bridges, hence the name 廣長, but after the site moved to Baeogae the characters were changed to 廣藏, "gathering widely and storing". Its wooden buildings burned during the Korean War and were rebuilt in concrete in 1954; a major fire in 1966 destroyed 157 shops.

From fabric market to food market

At first it sold farm produce, seafood and firewood from the surrounding region. In the 1960s and 1970s it was the place to buy hanbok and Western dress fabrics and wedding goods. After the Cheonggyecheon stream restoration was completed in 2005, it turned into the food market that draws crowds of visitors today.

What to eat and see

• Bindaetteok: mung beans ground on millstones and fried into thick pancakes on the spot – the market's signature dish.
• Mayak gimbap: finger-sized rolls dipped in mustard sauce, which originated here.
• Yukhoe: seasoned raw beef, one of the market's best-known dishes alongside bindaetteok.
• Sundae and jokbal: blood sausage and braised pig's trotters, good for sharing at a stall bench.
• Fabric and hanbok arcades, vintage market: beyond the food alleys you'll find the old fabric trade and vintage clothing shops.

Good to know

The merchants who founded the Gwangjang Company are said to have pooled 78,000 won in capital. Another fire in 1998 damaged about 100 fabric shops, but the market recovered each time. After it appeared in the Netflix documentary series Street Food in 2019, with its kalguksu noodles and bindaetteok on screen, foreign visitor numbers rose sharply. In 2014 it was also a filming location for the variety show Running Man.

Tripto tips

• Getting there: about 100 m from Jongno 5-ga Station exit 8 (Line 1) or Euljiro 4-ga Station exit 4 (Lines 2 and 5).
• Timing: stall seats fill up quickly at lunch and dinner; going a little outside mealtimes makes it easier.
• Ordering: check the price board before you order. Opening hours vary from shop to shop.
• Nearby: Cheonggyecheon stream is right next door for a walk afterwards.
• Time needed: allow 1–2 hours to eat and wander.