3 Day Seoul Itinerary: How to Spend 3 days in Seoul For the First Time

Visiting Seoul for 3 days and wondering what to do and where to start? Follow this super comprehensive 3-day Seoul itinerary designed for a first-timer to have the best time in Seoul.

A trip to South Korea is not complete without visiting Seoul. Being the capital of South Korea, Seoul is a vibrant city with a ton to do, from temples to royal palaces to shopping to beauty treatments, you can find almost anything in Seoul.

I spent a few days in Seoul during our most recent trip to South Korea and had a lot of fun! We were out from 7am to 9pm everyday taking photos, exploring, eating and shopping some more at night! So in this itinerary, I will show you the best way to spend an amazing 3 days in Seoul, including things to eat, best photo spots, and other useful travel tips.

Overview of this 3-day Seoul Itinerary

Seoul is a BIG city, with a ton of different neighborhoods to explore. From historical palaces and temples to modern skyscrapers and late night clubs and karaoke, Seoul has it all. There are many ways to spend 3 days in Seoul, especially if you are a female. Some people spend all 3 days doing different hair and skin treatments whereas others focus on shopping or palace and museum hopping.

This 3-day Seoul itinerary is focused more on sightseeing, which should appeal to everyone. However I did do beauty treatments in Seoul, which I will briefly mention here as well. But feel free to swap out things as you see fit.

• Day 1 in Seoul: Cafe Onion, Bukchon Hanok Village, Palaces, Hongdae
• Day 2 in Seoul: Jogyesa Temple, Cafe, Mural Village, Naksan Park, Gwangjang Market, DDP, Myeongdong
• Day 3 in Seoul: Olympic Park, Gangnam, Namsan Tower, Myeongdong Night Market

Is 3 days enough for Seoul?

Nope! I honestly think you need 4-5 days to fully explore Seoul as a first time visitor.

3 days in Seoul allows you to see some of the main attractions, eat at a couple of viral cafes or restaurants, but it is far from enough, especially if you end up waiting an hour or two for a meal.

This 3 day Seoul itinerary covers all the essential places in Seoul, but there is so much more you can explore.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of my Seoul itinerary, there are some pretty important logistic things you should know about Seoul that can make your trip easier and smoother!

How to Get into Seoul from the Airports

There are 2 airports in Seoul if you are traveling from abroad (if you are coming in from Busan you can always take the KTX train).

• Incheon International Airport (ICN) is the larger airport in Seoul. If you are coming from the US or Europe, most likely you will be flying into ICN

• Gimpo International Airport (GMP) is the smaller airport in Seoul. It mostly serves domestic flights but also has flights connecting to Japan, Taiwan, China, etc. GMP is closer to Seoul than ICN.

How to get from Incheon to Seoul

Besides taxis, the most popular way to travel between ICN and Seoul is to take the train/ subway or take a limousine bus.

• By train/ subway: You can take the Airport Railroad Express (AREX) train to Seoul Station (~45 minutes), then transfer to the subway to your final destination. It costs
  ₩11,000 for the train ticket and ₩1,400 for the subway ticket. You can buy the AREX ticket at the airport (level B1F) and also buy a T-money card, put money (cash only) on the card, then use the T-money card to pay for the subway ticket at Seoul Station.

• By Limousine Bus: Depending on the time of the day and where you are staying, it may be easier to take the Limousine bus. Time is about the same as the AREX/subway combo (but it also depends on traffic) and it costs between ₩5,500–18,000 for the one way bus (we paid 18000 won). You can purchase tickets at the airport (also level B1F).

I personally love the Limousine bus. The seats recline SO MUCH and there are USB cords for charging. I couldn’t sleep on the flight but I had a nice nap on the bus during our one hour ride into Seoul.

How to get from Gimpo International Airport to Seoul

The best way to travel between Gimpo International Airport and central Seoul is by taxi or train/ subway.

• By Taxi: Gimpo is closer to central Seoul compared to Incheon when it comes to distance, and taking a taxi doesn’t cost as much. As an example, it costs about ₩30,000 or $20 USD one way between Gimpo and Myeongdong.

• By Train/ Subway: Depending on where you go in Seoul, you can take the Airport Railroad from Gimpo to Seoul Station, then transfer to the subway. Or you can take the subway Line 9 or Line 5 instead of Airport Railway (slightly slower). If you are staying in Gangnam, it’s better to take Line 9 directly to Bongeunsa Station rather than the Airport Railway

Unlike Incheon, I didn’t find Limousine bus between Gimpo and places like Myeongdong, so I would probably not recommend taking a bus.

One thing to note is that it’s easy to travel between Gimpo and Incheon airport. You can take limousine buses or the Airport Railway between these two airports!

Where we stayed in Seoul + popular areas to stay

Most first-time visitors stay in the neighborhoods of Myeongdong, Insadong, and Hongdae. There are also people staying in Jamsil, Gangnam and Itaewon, so it really depends on what you are looking for.

Myeongdong is very central and very lively at night, it is crowded and loud but you get access to the late night street market and shopping (by late night I mean everything is open till at least 10pm). It is also super convenient to go to the palaces, cafes and N Seoul Tower from Myeongdong, making it one of the most convenient locations to stay.

We stayed in Myeong-dong when we were in Seoul, but at two different hotels: Royal Hotel & Solaria Nishitetsu Hotel. Both hotels were nice and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them!

If you don’t want the tourists and the craziness of Myeongdong, then I would recommend staying in the Insadong/ Jongno area, which is a little bit north of Myeongdong. This area is closer to palaces, Bukchon Culture Villages and many of the viral cafes you see on Instagram. In fact my family members stayed at Nine Tree Insadong and they loved the location.

I had previously considered staying in Gangnam but I’m glad someone talked me out of it. The area is VERY hilly and not as lively as Myeongdong at night. Gangnam is also a very large area, so it can be a bit difficult to tell where exactly to stay in Gangnam.

Hongdae is a hot area that everyone talks about. It is a college area so there are a lot of young, college aged locals. I went to Hongdae during the day and I really liked it, so I can see how it can be fun to stay there overnight. The reason we didn’t stay in Hongdae is because it is far from the palaces and other places we wanted to go in Seoul.

My observations and tips on visiting Seoul

Here are some of my observations when I was in Seoul, as well as some tips to make your trip more smooth (and not make the same mistakes that I did).

• Seoul is big and it takes 20 minutes to an hour to get from place to place. When you plan your itinerary, be sure to research how much time you need to get to an attraction.

• Naver Map is great, but you will have to copy/paste the Korean name from Google Maps to Naver Map. If you try to search in English on Naver Map, be sure to not have space between the words, otherwise you probably won’t find it on Naver Map.

• Seoul (Incheon Airport) has ATM machines that take international debit cards. I used my Fidelity Debit Card and it didn’t have an international ATM fee (same for Charles Swab).

• You can buy a eSim card online before you even arrive in South Korea, but Incheon Airport has a few stands. We used LG U+ and got a physical sim for a Korean phone number, and they gave us a free T money card when we got the physical sim.

• You can only use cash to top up your T Money card; each ride is 1400 won, so you can calculate approximately how much you need.

• There are machines in subway stations that will give you a refund on amounts left over from your T money card.

• Things open late in South Korea. Most coffee shops are not open till 10am! It is mind boggling for someone coming from the US how cafes open so late. This also means things close late in South Korea, so there really is no need to wake up super early unless you want to take photos like we did.

• Seoul (or South Korea) in general is very kids friendly. There are many kids friendly cafes in Seoul and there are kids play areas at airports. Even bathrooms have kids toilet seats!

• Drinks are very sweet from cafes in South Korea, we were kinda shocked the first time we got a drink in Seoul. If you don’t like overly sweet drinks, be sure to ask for half sugar or even no sugar when ordering.

• There are long lines at all the popular cafes and restaurants. Most popular cafes have 1-2 hour wait unless you go right at opening. If eating is your goal, then be realistic about how much you can do in a day.

• Seoul is very hilly, so be prepared to walk up and down hills a lot! Be sure to wear comfortable walking shoes (and no, Converse is not comfortable) since you will be walking a lot.

• Most Seoul subway stations have escalators/ elevators, but not at every entrance and not always easy to find. For example, Myeongdong station has 1 or 2 elevators (out of 10 exits). You will have to really look for them. We tried and still failed to find it, so we had to carry our luggage up the stairs.

Now without further ado, here is everything I did in Seoul for 3 days!

Day 1 in Seoul: Cafe Onion, Bukchon Hanok Village, Palaces, Hongdae

Welcome to Seoul! On the first day of your Seoul itinerary, you will be exploring some of the most historical parts of Seoul. Assuming you have the full day in Seoul, you can start early to get breakfast at Cafe Onion, then get traditional clothes rentals to explore Bukchon Village and the palaces. Lastly, you will head over to Hongdae for the afternoon.

Breakfast at Cafe Onion

Located in Jongno District (north of Myeongdong and south of the palaces), Cafe Onion is a super viral cafe that everyone must stop by at least once.

Known for its Hanok (traditional Korean house) design, Cafe Onion offers a wide array of pastries and drinks. You can then enjoy these pastries sitting inside the Hanok.

The cafe opens at 7am, and it is one of the earliest cafes to open in Seoul. Most cafes in Seoul open at 10 or 11am just as a reference. If you get there after 8:30 there will definitely be a long line to get in. We arrived around 7:20am and there was no line!

The only drawback of going early is that not all the pastries were out when we got there. We got the garlic cream cheese baguette, the pandoro and a salt break. The garlic cream cheese baguette is AMAZING, the other two were ok. I heard their strawberry pastry is good but it wasn’t out when we got there.

Hanbok Rental

After enjoying a nice breakfast at Cafe Onion, we walked around the area. This area has a ton of other cafes, including the viral London Bagel Museum. This cafe also has a huge line everyday and it sells a variety of different bagels and sandwiches. Personally I really didn’t like their “bagels” as it was more of a dense bread than actual bagel. But again, I’m from NYC and I am used to real bagels.

Another popular cafe in the area is Cafe Layered. I went to the one in Jeju and LOVED their salt bread.

When it’s about 9am, head towards a Korean traditional clothing rental shop. We went to one right across the street from Cafe Onion called hanokhanbok, and they had a wide selection of hanboks and accessories.

Hanbok rentals start around $10-$20 (USD) for 2 hours. Since we wanted to keep the clothes overnight, we ended up paying about $70 a person. The price includes hair accessories and braiding, no make up was included.

Renting a hanbok is a really fun experience, and the best part is you don’t have to pay for admission when you wear a hanbok to enter the palaces. It also makes your photos look so much nicer!

Bukchon Hanok Village

After getting your Hanbok, you can walk north for about 10 minutes to visit Bukchon Village, famed for its traditional Korean houses.

Because people actually live in Bukchon Village, you will need to be respectful of the local residents and keep your voices low. When we got there around 10am, there were a lot of tourists and even a guard telling people to keep quiet.

The most popular spot in Bukchon Village is undoubtful the photo spot on one of the street, the spot is called “Bukchon Yukgyeong (Photo Spot) 북촌육경”. We actually came back another morning just to take a photo here without people.

If you venture away from this spot, the side streets are not as crowded and offer plenty of photo opportunities. There are also cafes and restaurants in the village that you will stumble upon as you explore.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

There are 5 royal palaces in Seoul and the two most popular ones are Gyeongbokgung Palace and Changgyeonggung Palace.

Gyeongbokgung Palace is the largest of the 5 palaces and the most beautiful. It was the main royal palace during the Joseon dynasty and had been destroyed twice and restored twice.

There are numerous gates, pavilions, courtyards and buildings in Gyeongbokgung Palace and many people take a tour to understand what they are looking at. Many people also come to this palace to see the changing of guard, which takes place at 10am and 2pm everyday except Tuesdays.

Pro tip: If you go through the main gate, you have to wait in a line to get in. Since we came from Bukchon Village, we used the side entrance and didn’t have to wait at all.

Lunch: Chicken Ginseng Soup

After touring Gyeongbokgung Palace, it is already lunch time! Since we wanted to visit another palace after, we decided to get lunch in between the two palaces.

Korea is known for many local foods, one of which is a delicious and nourishing chicken ginseng soup. Since we were still a bit jet lagged, we wanted something lighter and comforting to the tummy.

We found a long line in front of Baeknyeon Tojong Samgyetang (백년토종삼계탕) and decided to wait. The restaurant is on the Michelin guide and is known for its chicken ginseng soup and it was better than anything I’ve had in the US. I am sure there are way better places for this in Seoul but I thought it’s pretty good for a touristy area.

Changgyeonggung Palace

Now you are full, it’s time to take a short stroll to another palace in Seoul, the Changgyeonggung Palace.

Although not as grand as Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changgyeonggung Palace is still a nice palace to visit. Most people actually visit the secret garden inside this palace as the main purpose.

In order to visit the secret garden, you will need to get a timed entry ticket ahead of time. I do know people who weren’t able to get tickets when they went so tickets definitely can get sold out.

Explore Hongdae in the afternoon

Hongdae is a very popular neighborhood in Seoul, especially among younger people. There are a few universities in the proximity of Hongdae, that’s why you will find college aged students all over the area.

One of the most beautiful campuses to visit is Yongsei University. You may not have heard of the name but you will certainly recognize the buildings if you are a K drama fan. A lot of popular K dramas were filmed on campus.

If you are in South Korea for a beauty trip, then Hongdae is a great place to be. I actually got my nails done at 5×5 (and it’s legit the prettiest manicure I’ve ever had) and my friend got her color analysis done at Vic’s Lab.

Shopping is great in Hongdae, you will find both cheap stores along Hongdae Shopping street and trendy brands like Gentle Monster, Blue Elephant, New Balance, etc.

Hongdae also has a ton of photo booth stores, these are usually unmanned and you just go inside and pay cash to the machines to take your photos.

Lastly, the food! Hongdae has so many restaurants and cafes. I can see why people like to stay in Hongdae since it is pretty lively.

Dinner: Cheap Michelin Star dinner in Myeongdong

Myeongdong has no shortage of food and one of the most popular places to eat there is Myeongdong Kyoja, a cheap Michelin Star restaurant.

There are only 4 items on the menu at this restaurant,

• Dumplings
• Spicy Noodles
• Soybean Noodles
• Chopped noodles with minced meat

My friend and I got the dumplings and the chopped noodles because we wanted to save space for some street food after. The food was pretty good and comforting!

The place has multiple stories and is super efficient. We thought we would have to wait a long time knowing how popular it is, but we didn’t have to wait a long time knowing how popular it is, but we didn’t have to wait at all! The food also came out super fast so we only spent no more than 30 minutes in and out.

Day 2 in Seoul: Jogyesa Temple, Mural Village, Naksan Park, DDP, Gwangjang Market, Myeongdong

On the second day of your Seoul itinerary, you will see a mix of traditional and modern places in Seoul and eat some Netflix famous foods!

You will start the day early at Jogyesa Temple, then grab breakfast at the viral Mil Toast Cafe. You will explore the Inhwa Mural Village and the Seoul city wall before making your way down to Dongdaemun.

You will have a late lunch (or early dinner) at Gwangjang Market, home of the Netflix knife-cut noodles. If you still have energy, then you will also check out DDP and Dongdaemun market, famed for its late night shopping before making your way back to Myeongdong.

Jogyesa Temple

Jogyesa Temple is a Buddhist temple in the heart of Seoul, located in the Jongno district (just south of the palaces). It is a popular temple among locals and many come to pray throughout the day.

If you happen to visit in the month of May, the month of Buddha’s birthday, then the courtyard of the temple will be covered in colorful lanterns, making it one of the most beautiful sights in Seoul. Unfortunately when we visited in October, there were no lanterns, but they did set up some colorful arches near the entrance.

The temple is open super early, and we went around 7am hoping to take photos under the colorful lanterns before it gets crowded. Even though we missed the lanterns, it was still a nice place to walk around.

There is a huge hall with a giant Buddha inside. You will need to take shoes off to go in and pray. We didn’t think it would be appropriate to take photos so we just looked from the outside.

Mil Toast

Located about a 15 minute walk from Jogyesa Temple is a very popular cafe called Mil Toast House. This cafe opens at 8am and if you get there after 8:40am, you will have to wait more than an hour (sometimes 2 hours) to get seated inside. We got there around 8:20am and ended up waiting for about 30 minutes.

Mil Toast is famed for its various toasts, as well as its steamed bread. For its signature steamed bread, you can pick up 2 flavors (such as plain, chestnut, sweet potato, corn, etc). There are other really pretty looking toasts and french toasts as well as a wide variety of drinks. We got the signature bread, a honey toast, a corn toast and a strawberry milk, they were really good!

Ihwa Mural Village, Naksan Park and City Wall

If you are a fan of street art or you simply want to check out an unique neighborhood, then Ihwa Mural Village would be a good option for you.

Located north of Dongdaemun and east of the palaces, Ihwa Mural Village is a neighborhood that has been revitalized by street arts and paintings after a history of being a poor neighborhood (similar to the Gamcheon Village in Busan).

The street art was the work of 70 local artists and brought an influx of tourists, which actually led to discontent of local neighborhoods, resulting in some murals being painted over. Despite some of the murals being painted over, it’s still nice to walk around the area and try to find all the murals that you can.

While you explore Ihwa Mural Village, you should also stop by Naksan Park, known for its hiking trails and the Seoul city wall. If you have energy, then you can hike up and down along the wall and stop by the Naksanjeong Pavilion for a view of the city. Otherwise just walk along the City Wall down to Dongdaemun.

Gwangjang Market

Gwangjang Market is one of the most popular and touristy food market in Seoul and it is conveniently about a 10 minute walk from Dongdaemun. Its popular skyrocketed after some of the food stalls were featured in the Netflix show Street Food Asia.

The fame has brought so much business to the market and the stalls featured that many locals are complaining about the higher food prices as a result. In fact many do tell tourists to stop visiting due to the high prices, but it’s still pretty cheap by US standards.

We decided to visit and try out the knife cut noodle stall featured in the show. The stall is run by an old Korean lady who had perfected her knife cut noodles and the broth. It was a bit difficult to find this stall as the market is not small and all the stalls looked similar. After walking around for quite a while, we finally saw a line for a stall and found it.

There are a number of items on the menu and we opted for her famous knife cut noodle soup and dumplings. We were given a jug of tea and a bit of kimchi (which was really good).

If you want to try all the good food in the market, you can opt to do a market food tour. Or you can simply walk around and pick the things that look interesting to you. Some stalls put up the Netflix sign to show you that they were featured in the episode.

DDP (Dongdaemun Design Plaza)

Not far from Dongdaemun is a futuristic looking building called DDP. The building itself was designed by a British-Iraqi architect and it is a popular tourist attraction. There are multiple levels to the building and there are various exhibitions, design labs and even design stores inside the building.

I originally thought the building was just for photo opportunities but once inside, I found really cool (and free) exhibits, such as a photo booth that uses various lightings and takes a photo of you every couple of seconds and another booth that has a rotating camera that captures videos of you and your friends.

As we explored more, we saw machines that let you virtually try on the store’s clothes as well as actual physical stores and other design labs. This building is a huge contrast to the surrounding areas, which are more traditional in nature. You can spend as much as 2 hours at DDP or as little as 20 minutes.

If you are there late at night, then you should also stop by apm Place for some clothes shopping. This building is known for its bulk clothes shopping that’s open from 8pm to 5am! The catch is you need to buy more than one item at the time but it’s great if you want to buy a lot of things (and accessories) for your friends.

Myeongdong

We went back to Myeongdong for dinner and shopping at the end of the day. Since we were based in Myeongdong, we went back to it every night. The great thing about being based in Myeongdong was that everything was open till very late.

As we were pretty tired from a whole day of walking, we decided to just eat near our hotel at Myeongdong Joomak. The restaurant offers a variety of Korean food and we got bibimbap and a seafood pancake. Food was pretty good and we left some room for more street food after.

There are so many stalls at the Myeongdong Night Market it’s not really possible to eat everything in one setting, which is why we would get one or two things a night to try. My favorite was the egg bread (kind of sweet) and the kimbap rolls (the squid ones are really good). I also liked the fried chicken with rice roll, and wished I had more room to finish it.

Day 3 in Seoul: Olympic Park, Gangnam, Namsan Tower

On your last day in Seoul, you will get to see a beautiful park, explore the fancy neighborhood of Gangnam, and finish your day at Namsan Tower and walk back to Myeongdong.

Olympic Park

The Olympic Park in Seoul is not usually on a first-timer’s Seoul itinerary but it’s one worth visiting. The park was built for the 1988 summer Olympics and inside the park you will see the various stadiums and halls built for the game.

The park is huge and there are also a number of statues, walking paths, flower gardens, etc. When we visited early in the morning there were many locals there exercising and playing sports.

The primary reason we went to Olympic Park was to see the orange cosmo flower field during its peak bloom in October. The flower field is located near the Rose Plaza.

Gangnam: COEX Starfield Library & Shopping

There is a direct bus from Olympic Park to the Starfield mall in Gangnam. Taking the bus in Seoul reminded me of all the Korean dramas that I used to watch. The bus we took was full of high school students and since it was early morning there was a TON of traffic getting into Gangnam.

Gangnam is a HUGE area, and I can’t say we explored every single thing in Gangnam. So I will only highlight a few popular places that we saw there.

Our first stop was the Starfield COEX mall, the home of the Instagram famous Starfield Library.

The library is located in the middle of the mall in a very open area. There are a number of seats both downstairs and on the second level. Google Maps says the library opens at 10:30am but it actually opened way earlier. When we got there around 9 something it was already open.

On the second floor there are two coffee shops, one of which is % ARABICA, a popular coffee shop from Kyoto, Japan. Get some coffee and pastries there for breakfast while you are there. If you walk through the coffee shop, you will come to a balcony with a nice view of the library’s escalator.

Since most people go to this library to photograph the escalator, you will definitely want to get there as early as possible before there are too many people. There are two escalators and both can be filmed/ shot from the second level through one of the two cafes mentioned above.

Right next to the Starfield Mall is the Hyundai Mall, a high end shopping center with stores like Hermes inside. The downstairs has a nice food court and super market, if you want to do some luxury shopping or get something to eat.

Gangnam: Bongeunsa Temple

Bongeunsa Temple is a Buddhist temple directly north of the Starfield Mall in Gangnam. It is another Buddhist Temple in Seoul. It was destroyed in a fire in 1939 and has since been restored.

Compared to Jogyesa Temple, Bongeunsa Temple is a lot bigger (in fact it is one of the largest temples in Seoul and one of the 14 major temples in South Korea). There are more buildings in the temple complex and there is also a giant Buddha Statue of Maitreya Buddha that has become a major tourist attraction.

Gangnam: K-Star Road

After visiting the COEX mall area, head north to the famous K-Star Road, a street full of K star bear statues and fancy luxury boutiques.

This area totally reminds me of Fifth Avenue in New York City, with nice and wide roads lined with designer shops. If you are looking to do some luxury shopping, then this is the road for you. Otherwise it’s mostly just walking around and taking photos with these cute bear statues painted with K star/ K pop group names.

I was looking for a scarf from Chanel while visiting and there were literally two Chanel stores within a few blocks of each other.

Gangnam: Beauty Clinics & Hair Salons

Depending on what you plan on doing in Seoul, Gangnam is also famed for beauty treatments. I actually got my hair and facial treatment done in Gangnam (hair was done at Chahong and Thermage & Aqua facial was done at H Faceup). My facial treatment took about 3 hours (one hour was for the numbing cream to set in).

If you are not looking to get any treatments done, you can still walk around the Dosan Park area to check out the popular cafe NUDAKE and do some shopping. I randomly came across a clothing store in Gangnam and shirts and cute sweaters were $20 USD or less!

Namsan/ N Seoul Tower

You simply cannot leave Seoul without visiting N Seoul Tower! If you watch Korean dramas then you know that a ton of popular K-dramas were filmed at N Seoul Tower (and its surrounding area), such as My Love From Another Star, True Beauty, Boys Over Flowers, etc.

Most people take a cable car from the Namsan Cable Car station to the N Seoul Tower area but you can also walk uphill for 30-45 minutes. I personally would advise walking down instead of up if you do choose to walk instead of taking the cable car.

To get to the Cable Car station from Gangnam, you will need to take the subway to Myeongdong first. From Myeongdong, you can take a free Namsan Shuttle Bus, a taxi, or just walk uphill. Be warned that during rush hour, subways from Gangnam are SO packed (like NYC rush hour is nothing compared to Seoul’s rush hour).

If you are planning to go to Namsan for sunset, plan to get there 2 hours before sunset!

We made the mistake of underestimating how long the wait for the cable car was for sunset. It actually took us 1.5 hours to get on the cable car (20 minutes to buy tickets and an hour to board the cable car), so we completely missed the nice sunset.

Once you get off the cable car, you can explore the viewing platform area (which also has an area for love locks). Right below the tower, there are multiple floors of restaurants, cafes, photo booths and photo spots that you can explore. We actually got dinner from one of the restaurants on the 2nd (or maybe 3rd) floor and it wasn’t too expensive (restaurants on top of the tower are fancier and way more expensive).

Shopping in Myeongdong at Night

After we spent about 1.5 hours at Namsan Tower, we took the cable car back down. The wait for the cable car back down at night was only 15 minutes (as opposed to 1.5 hours coming up).

From the bottom cable car station, we took the free Namsan Oreumi Elevator down, and then just slowly walked 15 minutes back to Myeongdong.

Since it was our last night in Seoul, we pretty much did all of our shoppings in Myeongdong (especially at Olive Young for all the skincare and make-up products). We tried more street food (I can safely say I probably tried 80% of all the street food at the Myeongdong market).

If you are tired of Myeongdong by now, you should check out Itaewon, known for its bar and clubbing scene. We didn’t have time to go but it was one of the areas we definitely wanted to visit at night.

This concludes our pretty eventful 3 days in Seoul.