Neighbourhoods

The old city is north of the river and the money is south of it

The Han cuts Seoul in half and the halves are genuinely different places. Everything historic is north — the palaces, the wall, the markets, the hanok quarters, the old street pattern. Everything built after 1970 to be new is south, on a grid, and that is Gangnam.

Visitors spend most of their time north and should. But the two halves are twenty minutes apart on line 2 and seeing both is the point.

North of the river

Jongno is the old centre: palaces, Insadong, Gwangjang Market, the wall. This is where most of what you came for is.

Bukchon and Seochon flank Gyeongbokgung — tiled roofs, steep lanes, and residents who have had enough of being photographed. Ikseon-dong is the same architecture converted into bars and small restaurants, and it is where people go at night.

Hongdae, around Hongik University, is the student district: live music, cheap food, street performers, and open later than anywhere. Sinchon next door is the same thing with fewer visitors.

Itaewon is the international quarter, historically shaped by the garrison that was next to it, and the most varied eating in the city. Euljiro is a district of printing shops and metal workshops that has filled up with bars hidden on the upper floors of industrial buildings. Seongsu is the old shoe-factory quarter, now the city's design district.

South of the river

Gangnam is offices, private academies, cosmetic clinics and department stores on enormous blocks. Apgujeong and Garosu-gil are the expensive shopping. Jamsil has the tower, the lake and the theme park.

⚠️ Gangnam's blocks are very large and the walk between two adjacent things can be a genuine fifteen minutes. It is not built for pedestrians in the way the north is.

The river itself

⭐ The Han River parks run along both banks for the length of the city and are free, open and heavily used — cycling, picnics, swimming pools in summer, and the ordinary Seoul habit of ordering fried chicken to a spot on the grass. Yeouido, Banpo and Ttukseom are the easiest to reach. This is where the city actually relaxes and almost no visitor goes.