106 attractions in Seoul, including Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market, Daehangno and National Museum of Korean Contemporary History.
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South of the Han River, just east of the 63 Building, Noryangjin Fish Market is the largest seafood wholesale market in inland Korea. Some 250–300 tonnes of seafood change hands every day, and auctions begin at 1 a.m. You stroll between th…
Towns & cities
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Step out of Hyehwa Station in the evening and the first things you see are people handing out show flyers and queues at ticket booths. Daehangno (Daehak-ro, "University Street") is officially the road from Jongno 5-ga to Hyehwa Rotary, but…
Museums
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On Sejong-daero, on the east side of Gwanghwamun Square, the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History is the national museum of Korea's modern history, from the opening of its ports in the late 19th century to the present day. Maps,…
Palaces
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Deoksugung is the palace in Jeong-dong, Jung District, right opposite Seoul Plaza and City Hall. Unlike Seoul's other palaces, traditional wooden halls and Western-style stone buildings stand inside the same walls, because it was the main…
Mountains & peaks
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Spanning Seoul's Dobong District and the cities of Uijeongbu and Yangju in Gyeonggi Province, Dobongsan is a mountain you can start climbing almost straight off the subway. Next to its highest peak, Jaunbong (739.5 m), the blade-like rock…
Museums
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Dosan Park, between Apgujeong and Garosu-gil, is named after the independence leader Ahn Chang-ho, known by his pen name Dosan. The park holds the grave he shares with his wife, Helen Lee (Lee Hye-ryeon), and next to it the Dosan Ahn Chang…
Churches & monasteries
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On the way up to Baegundae, the highest peak of Bukhansan, a temple sits above the Ui-dong valley. Doseonsa stands at about 400 m, the highest temple in Seoul that can be reached by car, and it is the largest temple complex on Bukhansan. A…
Historic sites & memorials
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A granite arch that looks like a small Arc de Triomphe stands in a park in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. Independence Gate (Dongnimmun) was completed in 1898 with money donated by ordinary citizens, on the spot where Yeongeunmun, the gate for welco…
Other
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Step out of Exit 3 of Dongmyo Station and you are already in the Dongmyo Flea Market, often called the biggest flea market in Seoul. Its streets overflow with second-hand goods of every kind, from heaps of used clothes on the pavement to f…
Theme parks
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Lotte World in Seoul's Jamsil district is two theme parks in one: Lotte World Adventure, a huge indoor park under a glass roof, and Magic Island, an outdoor park on an island in Seokchon Lake. The indoor half is what sets it apart from oth…
Viewpoints
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Lotte World Tower rises 555 metres over 123 floors, making it the tallest building in South Korea and the first in the country to pass 100 storeys. It opened on 3 April 2017. For visitors, the point is Seoul Sky, the observatory on the top…
Museums
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On a hillside in Hannam-dong, Leeum Museum of Art is a private museum run by the Samsung Foundation of Culture that shows national-treasure-level Korean antiquities alongside Korean and international contemporary art. Its buildings were de…
Nature
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Right beside the Yangjae interchange on the Gyeongbu Expressway, at the southern gateway to Seoul, a dense forest fills the ground between the roads. Created ahead of the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Maeheon Citizen's Fore…
Towns & cities
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Myeong-dong is the busy district between Chungmu-ro, Eulji-ro and Namdaemun-ro in Jung District, Seoul. Cosmetics shops, fashion stores and big department stores are packed together here, making it one of the first shopping streets foreign…
Churches & monasteries
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Myeongdong Cathedral stands on the hill above Myeong-dong as the cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul. It was Korea's first parish with a resident priest and the first church in the country built in the Gothic style. Climb the st…
Gardens & parks
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Boramae Park covers about 41 hectares across Dongjak-gu and Gwanak-gu in southwest Seoul, on the former site of the Korea Air Force Academy. Between the wide lawns, ponds and musical fountain stands the "Air Park", a group of retired milit…
Historic sites & memorials
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Every year at midnight on 31 December, the bell pavilion that appears on Korean television screens is Bosingak. This two-storey pavilion stands at the main crossroads of Jongno in central Seoul, and during the Joseon dynasty its bell signa…
Churches & monasteries
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A short climb from the Sinchon university district towards Ansan brings you to Bongwonsa, a temple with more than a thousand years of history. It is the head temple of the Taego Order of Korean Buddhism and the guardian of Yeongsanjae, a r…
Churches & monasteries
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Bongeunsa stands on the slopes of Sudosan in Samseong-dong, Gangnam, directly across the road from COEX. Tiled roofs and pine trees in the middle of a forest of glass towers make a striking contrast. Together with nearby Seonjeongneung, it…
Old towns & squares
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Buam-dong is a neighbourhood of Jongno-gu tucked into the valley between Inwangsan and Bugaksan. Being so close to the former presidential compound, it spent decades under military and green-belt restrictions, so there are almost no tall b…
Mountains & peaks
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Bugaksan is a granite peak about 342 m high rising directly behind Gyeongbokgung Palace and the former presidential compound, Cheong Wa Dae. In the Joseon period it was called Baegaksan, and as the guardian mountain on the northern side of…
Old towns & squares
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Bukchon Hanok Village is a neighbourhood of traditional houses on the hill between Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung palaces and Jongmyo Shrine in Jongno District, Seoul. Tiled roofs step up the slopes of Gahoe-dong, Samcheong-dong, Wonseo-d…
Mountains & peaks
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Bukhansan is the granite mountain that rings the northern edge of Seoul and the highest mountain in the city. Its top peak, Baegundae (836.5 m), rises next to Insubong (810.5 m) and Mangyeongdae, and the jagged skyline is visible from almo…
Museums
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The Seodaemun Museum of Natural History sits at the foot of Ansan mountain in Seoul. Step inside and you are greeted by a sperm whale suspended from the ceiling of the central hall and the skeleton of Acrocanthosaurus, a meat-eating dinosa…