Seoul, South Korea
Palaces next to K-pop, barbecue at 3 a.m., and cherry blossoms in April at a fraction of Tokyo prices.
Best time to visit
Weather by month
| Month | High | Low | Rain | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 1° | -7° | 20 mm | |
| Feb | 5° | -5° | 24 mm | |
| Mar | 10° | 0° | 41 mm | |
| Apr | 17° | 6° | 71 mm | prime |
| May | 22° | 12° | 97 mm | prime |
| Jun | 26° | 18° | 139 mm | |
| Jul | 28° | 22° | 324 mm | |
| Aug | 29° | 22° | 278 mm | |
| Sep | 25° | 17° | 128 mm | prime |
| Oct | 19° | 9° | 56 mm | prime |
| Nov | 11° | 2° | 48 mm | prime |
| Dec | 3° | -5° | 22 mm |
30-year averages (1995–2024) from ERA5 reanalysis via Open-Meteo. Rain is the monthly total.
Cost
Serves travellers at Backpacker→Premium level. Typically around $120 a day on the ground.
Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.
What's on
Lotus Lantern Festival May
Buddha's birthday parade
Seoul Fireworks Festival October
Han River spectacular
Worth knowing
A card country. Cards work everywhere including small shops and taxis, and contactless is standard. Keep some cash for traditional markets and older street stalls. Tipping is not done and can cause confusion.
money · editorial
Google Maps does not give walking or driving directions in South Korea, for legal reasons that are not going away. Download a Korean map application before you land or you will be navigating by screenshot. Also learn the exit numbers: metro stations have a dozen and coming up the wrong one puts you a long way from where you meant to be.
know before · editorial
The monsoon lands in July with days of heavy rain and complete humidity, and August continues without the rain to break it. Winter is dry and clear but the wind comes off the continent and is punishing.
when not to go · editorial
Myeongdong is central, dense with shops and aimed squarely at visitors. Hongdae is students, live music and noise until dawn. Itaewon is the international quarter. Gangnam, south of the river, is business, department stores and cosmetic clinics. Bukchon and Insadong are traditional houses and quiet streets. Seongsu is old factories turned into cafes and the current favourite.
where to stay · editorial
The metro is the best in the world for coverage and for signage a foreigner can read, and it reaches the airport, the suburbs and the edges of the city. Buy a rechargeable transit card at any convenience store; it works on the metro, buses and taxis. A car is pointless.
getting around · editorial
Incheon for almost all international flights, about an hour into the centre on the airport express or a limousine bus that stops at the main hotel districts. Gimpo is much closer to town and handles domestic routes plus short hops to Tokyo, Osaka and Shanghai.
getting there · editorial
Quests
Icon
Gyeongbokgung
The changing of the guard happens twice a day, at the main gate.
Bukchon Hanok
Six hundred traditional houses between two palaces. People live here: keep your voice down.
N Seoul Tower
High on Namsan. Walk up the path and skip the cable car queue.
Gwangjang Market
A hundred years of food stalls, in narrow aisles, on low stools.
Cheonggyecheon
A stream that lay buried under an elevated motorway until 2005, and came back.
Banpo Park, Han River
The whole city picnics here. Have fried chicken delivered to you on the grass.
See
Walk the Bukaksan wall
Eat
Eat samgyeopsal somewhere loud, at night
Samgyeopsal on the table grill
You turn the meat yourself. Wrap it in a lettuce leaf with garlic.
Tteokbokki from a street stall
Red, sweet and hot. Ask for a boiled egg alongside.
Makgeolli in a bowl
Fermented rice, cloudy, faintly fizzy. Stir it before pouring.
Moment
Go to Gwangjang market at 10pm
A few hours in a jjimjilbang
Sauna rooms at different temperatures, the same pyjamas for everyone, and naps on the floor.
Noraebang in the small hours
A closed room, two microphones, charged by the hour. It is the national sport.
Trail
Inwangsan along the city wall
Three hundred and thirty-nine metres up along the 1396 wall, with Seoul on both sides.