J62

I have a quick business trip to Seoul coming up in a few weeks and plan to add a day (or 2) at the start or end of the trip on my own.

Any recommendations on how best to spend a day in or around Seoul?

I don’t have any interest in DMZ, and truth be told haven’t yet taken the time to do my own research which I usually do. This trip just popped up.

J62

I've had a little time to scope out some general options......
I'll be staying in a business district on the south side of Seoul, south of the river, close to a subway station so it'll be easy to get almost anywhere.

If the weather is nice, I'll want to get outside for a hike. That may be a 5-6km hike in one of the city parks, or venture to Bukhansan national park.
I'd love to find a food market - cooked/prepared food that is. It could be street food, or a large market with lots of different options to try.
Again, if the weather is nice, visiting one or several temples might be an option. Combined with a hike would be ideal.

Open to any suggestions on specific ideas.

shelemm

Although you can get to Bukhansan by subway, it is not a short excursion at all. Equally deserving of attention is Namhansanseong, once a sprawling mountain fortress that is now part of a Namhansanseong Provincial Park. You can hike miles along the walls that protected the fortress and from one monumental gate to another. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here is the website with map. Not sure if there is an English language version... though could be useful for the map at least:

https://www.gg.go.kr/namhansansung-2/main.do

I think you could get a hired car (like uber) to take you up the mountain. Also, there is an 800 stair path you could walk up to the Namhansanseong West Gate from this park:

남한산성 서문 등산로 먼지털이

Gami-dong, Hanam-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

BTW, there are multiple restaurants in the park, at least seven serve duck. Koreans eat duck, but usually only in villages. It's rare to find it in a city. They associate duck (and also goat) with country living. And they also strongly associate hiking with tofu, so there is at least one tofu restaurant as well (Tofu Making House). Dubu kimchi is a dish not easy to find outside Korea, but it is an excellent choice especially at a place that makes their own tofu.

The best market for food and one of the cities best attractions is the Gwangjang Market, Seoul's central market that is a rabbit's warren of tiny alleys. The bindatteok (mung bean pancakes) are a main attraction, sold by women who are freshly frying them. There is also a section of the market for yuk hoe, a kind of beef tartare. I am fond of saying there are eight places to eat for every step you take in Seoul, and often where you eat will determine what you eat.

J62

Thank you shelemm! Much appreciated. I'll read through your other Korea posts for more tips. Most of my trip will be hosted by local businesses - bus or taxi here, networking reception there so I look forward to getting out and about on my own. Figuring out how to get around, or get lost is part of the fun! I like your description (on another post) about a duck meal. No menu, and they just kept bringing you courses.....

Did you use any cash on your trip, or was everything cc or tap to pay?

shelemm

My trip was a long time ago, so I am not the person to ask about 'recent' advancements. I am pretty sure I used cash everywhere. The duck places up on Namhansan do have full menus so it looks like you will have to choose.

J62

A quick post-trip update.
I had one free day at the front end of my business trip. Took a taxi to the Namhansanseong Provincial Park and walked for several miles along the fortress walls. It was cloudy/foggy/rainy, so there were no views and very few people out. Taking a long hike (walk) was a great way to reset the jet lag/time zone fog....

Later that day I explored a traditional market on the south side of the river - looking for things to eat or take home. Lots of options for eating, not so much for things to take home. Fun to explore. Other than a coffee shop/sandwich I didn't stop in anywhere for local foods. For dinner that night I did take a full on cultural immersion plunge and ate at a cook-at-your-table soup place that was hopping busy. Not a word of English spoken by the staff, but between google translate, and watching what others were doing it was easy, and tasted great.

A few takeaways.
Getting around Seoul was very easy - taxi, bus, or subway. Google maps don't work for walking directions - I used the Korean map app Kakao Maps and that we fantastic. I also used the Kakao-Taxi app to request and pay for taxis. For public transportation, I got (actually borrowed from a colleague ) a T money card - you tap in/out of subways & buses and it debits from the card stored value.

I used cash for one taxi, but other than that I used credit cards for everything. I had some leftover KRW that I used to pay down my hotel bill. Next trip I don't know that I'd even get any cash.

I did not take the time to learn the Korean language characters / phonetic pronunciaction before my trip and wish that I had. It wasn't necessary - all transport has english signs, but local shops do not. Not sure I would have known what I was reading, but it would have been nice to at least be able to sound out the words. Google translate was great.

I got a local esim card for my phone at airalo dot com. 1G was more than enough for a week.

jdc26

Thank you for this, as I'll be in Korea for a month in June so this was helpful. Really looking forward to it.

shelemm

Thanks so much for reporting back. I will assume when you say "cook-at-your-table soup" you are talking about hot pot. That's where a bowl of already bubbling hot and spiced liquid is served with items you add in. Sometimes the bowl is embedded into the table with a burner underneath to keep it hot.

J62

It was actually a stew cooked at the table. Here are before and after (about 10min with lid on) photos, plus the menu on the side of the building. I got the 2nd one down (Sirloin stew) for 24,000 KRW, or about $20. It included some sirloin beef, sliced sausages, ham, ground meat, tofu, ramen, and veggies in a hot spicy stew/soup base.

J62

More info about the T-Money cards. They cost 3000 KRW and can be loaded with any amount of value - I think you can only load them using cash, but I'm not sure. You can buy & load/recharge them at convenience stores like GS25, CU, or 7-11. In Seoul you can't walk more than 10 paces without encountering one of those convenience stores. I think my hotel had a T-money kiosk as well. Since I borrowed one from a colleague I didn't go the actual process of buying and loading one myself so I don't know if you can use a credit card to add value. You can also reload them before you exit the subway, in case you don't have enough value on the card.

Many taxis accept T-Money - there will be a small logo on the roof sign and/or side window. I preferred to order taxi by the Kakao-Taxi app, or have the hotel call one for me.

Tipping is not customary. I was never asked, nor ever expected to tip.

Taxi drivers all use the Kakao maps app, and they all have an electronic meter on the dash that you can see the cost.

shelemm

You ate at this place:

https://eunw.short.gy/UlYSwU

You ate budae jjigae, aka 'army stew.' Made with spam and a lot of processed ingredients. I've never had it, and I can't say I have any desire to. How did you like it? The second picture looks very good, but the first picture before it gets cooked looks horrifying to me. There are so many great fresh noodle dishes to be had in Korea, so I don't know how anyone is attracted to the packaged ramen and spam.

But it is a popular dish among some people in Korea, and you stumbled into a restaurant devoted to it. Like I said before, where you eat in Korea often determines what you eat. Once you sat down here, you had no choice.

J62

agree 100%, including the before it’s cooked reaction. After 24hr straight travel and halfway around the world time zone, my brain fog instinct was to go to the one place that was hopping busy. All of the other places nearby, including many noodle places were dead compared to that one.

Tasted great, was filling, and afterwards I went right to bed and slept like a baby.

shelemm

As long as it tasted great, that's what counts. If it acted as a soporific, so much the better.