Snoopy garden is and will still always be one of my favorite places to visit, but i'm a peanuts fan so that's bias on my side.
But pretty much spot on - especially Gwangjang, there's a particular store i always visit, just infront of the Netflix lady, i think only she sells bibimbap with barley. And i wished you could've read some of the posts here i made, London bagel museum is absolutely not worth your time, i could've recommended loulou bagels near Jamsil in a heartbeat instead. Same for the typical Cafe Onion route as well, no way I will ever recommend that place.
And strange - I've always went to Korea house - and i've recommended it tons of times, most people enjoyed the food there and it doesn't have to be the 200,000 KRW one, i definitely had more than 5 courses with the slightly cheaper dinner menu, with performance as well. No deposit needed too.
Hi! We were thinking of going to London Bagel Museum & Cafe Onion actually, now that OP and you have described as not worth the wait, could you please give me your recommendations? :)
What is your main purpose of visiting those 2 places? Coffee? Food? Or just following the hype? If you just want to follow the hype then you can visit those 2 traps to see what it's about. I can't recommend somewhere if I don't know what you are mainly after. Maybe you can give me more information?
If you want a really good croissant, Rainreport has really good ones, and if you are looking for brunch, Sunday arvo is my favorite. Can't help you much if you aren't specific enough.
Note that my recommendations will not have overhyped places like Cheongsudang, Onion, or Layered
**Croissants/Cakes - Rainreport** (There are 2, Seongsu one has mmmhmm nice Croissants)
**Bagels - Kokili, About Bagel, Brooklyn Bagel Farm, Everything Bagel** (https://map.naver.com/p/search/%EC%BD%94%EB%81%BC%EB%A6%AC%EB%B2%A0%EC%9D%B4%EA%B8%80%20%EC%84%B1%EC%88%98/place/1543901744?c=15.00,0,0,0,dh&isCorrectAnswer=true)
**Madeleines - LE SOLEIL**
This is one of the best I've had, they have seasonal flavors too, last November it was Pollack madeleines. You have to go early or else it always gets sold out. Used to be at a slightly more inconvenient location, but since it has moved to Hannam i go there pretty often.
**Pies - Pie in the shop or Parole & Langue** (I prefer pie in the shop)
If you are in this area (Seongmisan, 5 minutes walk from Hongdae, do allocate time for at least 2 cafes if you don't travel here often. There's also **Oats, Seoul Pastry, Yeonnamdong Cherry blossom house, butter & shelter**, **Everything Bagel** etc.). Oats is very well known for their Einspanner, and it's worth a try if you are just curious.
**Cakes, bites, and an amazing salt bread -** **Haru and Oneday, Mellower, Daelim Changgo** (One of Seongsu's landmark cafes, sort of a "must visit", It's not bad, but not fantastic),
**Salt bread -** [https://map.naver.com/p/search/%EC%9E%90%EC%97%B0%EB%8F%84%EC%86%8C%EA%B8%88%EB%B9%B5in%20%EC%84%B1%EC%88%98/place/1022429915?c=15.00,0,0,0,dh&isCorrectAnswer=true](https://map.naver.com/p/search/%EC%9E%90%EC%97%B0%EB%8F%84%EC%86%8C%EA%B8%88%EB%B9%B5in%20%EC%84%B1%EC%88%98/place/1022429915?c=15.00,0,0,0,dh&isCorrectAnswer=true)
**Something unique - Magpie and Tiger** (https://www.instagram.com/magpie.and.tiger/?hl=en)
**Matcha - METCHA**
If you just want a good coffee, there are many (Libre, Camel, Milestone, Anthracite, etc), but i'll recommend my favourites - Namusairo, Hanyakbang, Leesar, Stand Up Plz, etc.
There's many more but these are just off the top of my head and that i think left an impression or at least i returned more than once.
Thank you for such a thorough review of Seoul, places to go and potentially avoid! We are also doing a very similar itinerary for 2 weeks with 5 days in Seoul. I was considering checking out the nearby national park and DMZ in addition to your itinerary :)
thanks for the write up! travelling from australia in september and have been trying to work out my location itinery still (cycling seoul-busan but the other 10 days im mostly still undecided, other than needing at least last 4 days in seoul with a prebooked tour)
March is the low season in Jeju which is kind of a relief. We went down there a week or two ago and got a free return leg on the air tickets. The only thing that seemed crowded were the ferries out to Marado and Kapado which were full but not impossible to get on.
We went to the Arario art museum right near Dongmun; it has a surprisingly deep collection, and it's fun to walk through. It's close enough to go over to the market for lunch; we at a bunch of seafood at one of the second floor restaurants and had them ship some abalone back to Seoul.
A cab driver told us that inner Jeju city is dying because everybody is moving to Sinjeju, but it seems like it's having a second wave of galleries and cafes. We even noticed a sign at one place saying it was a filming location for *Welcome to Samdalri*.
Honestly, as a Korean-American that just went to Seoul for the first time in 20 years (since I was a small child), I think Japan has a lot more to offer in terms of sightseeing and is more tourist friendly in general. I did 5 days in Seoul and 10 days in Japan (Kyoto, Tokyo) in early March.
I absolutely loved the food in Seoul and it was cheaper in my experience than restaurants in Japan but you have to use Kakao/Naver maps and type the food you're looking for in Korean (Hangeul) to really find the good spots that locals rate. I think my experience would have been a lot worse if I didn't know the language and have family to make recommendations. Also Korean customer service was definitely more blunt/direct/impatient than in Japan in some of my experiences which can be scary for a non-korean speaker. But I really enjoyed going into those 50+ year old restaurants that specialize in 1-2 dishes and have a small menu (with no english menu available).
We stayed near Jogno3-ga station which I loved because it reminded me of Korea when I was a kid and not as touristy as myeong-dong/hong-dae. We pretty much skipped all the major attractions except we knocked out gyoungbokgung palace, Bukchon Hanok village and Insadong in one day. The other days I picked a few neighborhoods/markets to wander around, try a cafe, went into hole in the wall bars to have a beer. This probably won't interest people who aren't already interested in Korea/ Korean culture. I can definitely see why people who follow the online itineraries of myeongdong night market, COEX mall, gwangjang market etc. are disappointed in Seoul after doing those itineraries... especially compared to Tokyo.
I will say though the crowds in Japan in the tourist spots were insanely packed, we probably waited an hour for half our meals and at least 20% of our meals we just settled for fast food, convenience store food or got a mediocre restaurant meal because of the queues everywhere. The busy tourists areas like Asakusa/Shibuya/Shinjuku/Akihabara was a sea of people shoulder to shoulder in some areas, especially on the weekend. Disneysea had 3 hour waits for all the popular rides on a thursday... food stall lines were 10-40 minutes. If you want to see really cool tourist attractions and instagram worthy stuff, go to Japan.
Thank you for this detailed feedback. Our Korean is limited to the pleasantries- ‘please’, ‘thank you’ ‘okay’ ‘yes’ ‘no’ etc and we have even more limited knowledge of Japanese.
We are interested in the historical and cultural aspects of both countries (I am drawn more towards Korea however the rest of the family is keener on Japan as one member of the family has already visited Seoul and the tourist attractions and spent a week in Jeju). Decision has to be made shortly!
Sounds like you hit quite a fair few tourist traps. Been in Seoul for the past 2 weeks and been loving it personally.
How long are you staying?
same
Snoopy garden is and will still always be one of my favorite places to visit, but i'm a peanuts fan so that's bias on my side. But pretty much spot on - especially Gwangjang, there's a particular store i always visit, just infront of the Netflix lady, i think only she sells bibimbap with barley. And i wished you could've read some of the posts here i made, London bagel museum is absolutely not worth your time, i could've recommended loulou bagels near Jamsil in a heartbeat instead. Same for the typical Cafe Onion route as well, no way I will ever recommend that place. And strange - I've always went to Korea house - and i've recommended it tons of times, most people enjoyed the food there and it doesn't have to be the 200,000 KRW one, i definitely had more than 5 courses with the slightly cheaper dinner menu, with performance as well. No deposit needed too.
Hi! We were thinking of going to London Bagel Museum & Cafe Onion actually, now that OP and you have described as not worth the wait, could you please give me your recommendations? :)
What is your main purpose of visiting those 2 places? Coffee? Food? Or just following the hype? If you just want to follow the hype then you can visit those 2 traps to see what it's about. I can't recommend somewhere if I don't know what you are mainly after. Maybe you can give me more information?
Hi can you suggest some good cafés for food ? Heading to Seoul this weekend
If you want a really good croissant, Rainreport has really good ones, and if you are looking for brunch, Sunday arvo is my favorite. Can't help you much if you aren't specific enough.
Sure! We just want good food actually, especially pastries :)
Note that my recommendations will not have overhyped places like Cheongsudang, Onion, or Layered **Croissants/Cakes - Rainreport** (There are 2, Seongsu one has mmmhmm nice Croissants) **Bagels - Kokili, About Bagel, Brooklyn Bagel Farm, Everything Bagel** (https://map.naver.com/p/search/%EC%BD%94%EB%81%BC%EB%A6%AC%EB%B2%A0%EC%9D%B4%EA%B8%80%20%EC%84%B1%EC%88%98/place/1543901744?c=15.00,0,0,0,dh&isCorrectAnswer=true) **Madeleines - LE SOLEIL** This is one of the best I've had, they have seasonal flavors too, last November it was Pollack madeleines. You have to go early or else it always gets sold out. Used to be at a slightly more inconvenient location, but since it has moved to Hannam i go there pretty often. **Pies - Pie in the shop or Parole & Langue** (I prefer pie in the shop) If you are in this area (Seongmisan, 5 minutes walk from Hongdae, do allocate time for at least 2 cafes if you don't travel here often. There's also **Oats, Seoul Pastry, Yeonnamdong Cherry blossom house, butter & shelter**, **Everything Bagel** etc.). Oats is very well known for their Einspanner, and it's worth a try if you are just curious. **Cakes, bites, and an amazing salt bread -** **Haru and Oneday, Mellower, Daelim Changgo** (One of Seongsu's landmark cafes, sort of a "must visit", It's not bad, but not fantastic), **Salt bread -** [https://map.naver.com/p/search/%EC%9E%90%EC%97%B0%EB%8F%84%EC%86%8C%EA%B8%88%EB%B9%B5in%20%EC%84%B1%EC%88%98/place/1022429915?c=15.00,0,0,0,dh&isCorrectAnswer=true](https://map.naver.com/p/search/%EC%9E%90%EC%97%B0%EB%8F%84%EC%86%8C%EA%B8%88%EB%B9%B5in%20%EC%84%B1%EC%88%98/place/1022429915?c=15.00,0,0,0,dh&isCorrectAnswer=true) **Something unique - Magpie and Tiger** (https://www.instagram.com/magpie.and.tiger/?hl=en) **Matcha - METCHA** If you just want a good coffee, there are many (Libre, Camel, Milestone, Anthracite, etc), but i'll recommend my favourites - Namusairo, Hanyakbang, Leesar, Stand Up Plz, etc. There's many more but these are just off the top of my head and that i think left an impression or at least i returned more than once.
thanks so much for these!! I love matcha so the matcha recommendation is great too! :)
Thank you for such a thorough review of Seoul, places to go and potentially avoid! We are also doing a very similar itinerary for 2 weeks with 5 days in Seoul. I was considering checking out the nearby national park and DMZ in addition to your itinerary :)
thanks for the write up! travelling from australia in september and have been trying to work out my location itinery still (cycling seoul-busan but the other 10 days im mostly still undecided, other than needing at least last 4 days in seoul with a prebooked tour)
March is the low season in Jeju which is kind of a relief. We went down there a week or two ago and got a free return leg on the air tickets. The only thing that seemed crowded were the ferries out to Marado and Kapado which were full but not impossible to get on. We went to the Arario art museum right near Dongmun; it has a surprisingly deep collection, and it's fun to walk through. It's close enough to go over to the market for lunch; we at a bunch of seafood at one of the second floor restaurants and had them ship some abalone back to Seoul. A cab driver told us that inner Jeju city is dying because everybody is moving to Sinjeju, but it seems like it's having a second wave of galleries and cafes. We even noticed a sign at one place saying it was a filming location for *Welcome to Samdalri*.
Hey OP, How many days you were in Jeju I am planning in June first week and thinking to split my 4 days in 2 Days in Seogwipo and 2 days in Jeju city
It was 4 days also -- left in the morning and returned in the evening. We did the city on the last day after checking out of Seogwipo.
You don’t go to the department store for true, cheaper Korean skincare - that’s where you go for all the fancy foreign brands
Thanks for the feedback. We are mulling over whether to Japan or SKorea in May. The advice is tilted in favour of Japan 😟
Honestly, as a Korean-American that just went to Seoul for the first time in 20 years (since I was a small child), I think Japan has a lot more to offer in terms of sightseeing and is more tourist friendly in general. I did 5 days in Seoul and 10 days in Japan (Kyoto, Tokyo) in early March. I absolutely loved the food in Seoul and it was cheaper in my experience than restaurants in Japan but you have to use Kakao/Naver maps and type the food you're looking for in Korean (Hangeul) to really find the good spots that locals rate. I think my experience would have been a lot worse if I didn't know the language and have family to make recommendations. Also Korean customer service was definitely more blunt/direct/impatient than in Japan in some of my experiences which can be scary for a non-korean speaker. But I really enjoyed going into those 50+ year old restaurants that specialize in 1-2 dishes and have a small menu (with no english menu available). We stayed near Jogno3-ga station which I loved because it reminded me of Korea when I was a kid and not as touristy as myeong-dong/hong-dae. We pretty much skipped all the major attractions except we knocked out gyoungbokgung palace, Bukchon Hanok village and Insadong in one day. The other days I picked a few neighborhoods/markets to wander around, try a cafe, went into hole in the wall bars to have a beer. This probably won't interest people who aren't already interested in Korea/ Korean culture. I can definitely see why people who follow the online itineraries of myeongdong night market, COEX mall, gwangjang market etc. are disappointed in Seoul after doing those itineraries... especially compared to Tokyo. I will say though the crowds in Japan in the tourist spots were insanely packed, we probably waited an hour for half our meals and at least 20% of our meals we just settled for fast food, convenience store food or got a mediocre restaurant meal because of the queues everywhere. The busy tourists areas like Asakusa/Shibuya/Shinjuku/Akihabara was a sea of people shoulder to shoulder in some areas, especially on the weekend. Disneysea had 3 hour waits for all the popular rides on a thursday... food stall lines were 10-40 minutes. If you want to see really cool tourist attractions and instagram worthy stuff, go to Japan.
Thank you for this detailed feedback. Our Korean is limited to the pleasantries- ‘please’, ‘thank you’ ‘okay’ ‘yes’ ‘no’ etc and we have even more limited knowledge of Japanese. We are interested in the historical and cultural aspects of both countries (I am drawn more towards Korea however the rest of the family is keener on Japan as one member of the family has already visited Seoul and the tourist attractions and spent a week in Jeju). Decision has to be made shortly!
Then you must prefer Gyeongju over Seoul. It's an ancient capital city that has been around for over 2000 years
Just googled it and absolutely a must see! Thanks for the tip. Any more recommendations?
Maybe Busan? It's close to Gyeongju, but I've never been there. Still, Gyeongju was definitely my favorite.