Palaces, street food markets, the world’s most surreal border, and one of the best food cities in Asia. Here is what is actually worth your time in South Korea.
Korea surprises most visitors. You arrive expecting K-pop and Korean BBQ and leave with a much longer list of reasons to come back. The country is efficient, the food is extraordinary, and the contrast between ancient palaces and the energy of the modern city is more dramatic here than almost anywhere in Asia.
These are the 15 experiences that define a trip to Korea, with honest advice on how to do each one properly.
Before you go: Get a T-money card at any CU or GS25 convenience store at the airport on arrival. It works on every subway line, every bus, and at most convenience stores in Seoul and beyond. See the MileAsia T-money guide for how to set it up.
1. Visit Gyeongbokgung Palace
Built in 1395, Gyeongbokgung is the largest and most impressive of Seoul’s five Joseon Dynasty palaces. Walking through the Gwanghwamun Gate into the main courtyard, with Bugaksan Mountain rising behind the complex, is a genuinely striking arrival. The scale is the first thing that gets you.
The royal guard change-of-guard ceremony takes place every hour from 10 am to 4 pm, except on Tuesdays. The on-site National Folk Museum is included with entry and is worth an hour. The whole complex takes 2 to 3 hours to walk properly.
Free entry tip: Rent a hanbok (traditional Korean dress) from one of the shops near the entrance and entry to the palace is free. It is not just a tourist gimmick. Plenty of young Koreans visit this way too, and the photos are genuinely worth it.
2. Eat at Gwangjang Market
Gwangjang Market is one of Seoul’s oldest traditional markets, and its covered food hall is among the best dining experiences in Asia. Stalls serve bindaetteok (mung bean pancakes fried to a crisp on a flat griddle), mayak gimbap (tiny sesame rice rolls), yukhoe (raw, seasoned beef), and pajeon (spring onion pancake) from counters that have barely changed over decades.
This is not a tourist market. The vendors are mostly older Korean women who have been cooking the same dishes at the same stalls for years. Point at what looks good, sit on a stool, and eat. A full meal for two with makgeolli rice wine costs around 20,000 won.
3. Do the DMZ Day Tour
The Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea is one of the strangest places on earth—a 4-kilometre-wide strip of land separates the most heavily fortified border in the world. Standing there, looking through binoculars at a country almost no one can visit, is an experience that stays with you.
Guided day tours from Seoul cover the Third Infiltration Tunnel, dug by North Korea in 1978 and discovered before it could be used, and the Dora Observatory with views into North Korea. JSA tours to Panmunjom are also available with advance passport registration. Most visitors say the DMZ tour is the single most memorable thing they did in Korea.
Book in advance: JSA tours require passport registration and sell out weeks ahead in peak season. Standard DMZ tours can usually be booked a day or two ahead, but earlier is better.
4. Eat Korean BBQ
Thick-cut pork belly (samgyeopsal) grilled over charcoal at the table, wrapped in perilla leaves with raw garlic, ssamjang paste, and kimchi, then eaten in one bite. This is one of the great eating rituals in Asia, and the social dynamic around it, the ordering, the banchan side dishes arriving, the designated table griller, is as much of the experience as the food itself.
Go to a neighbourhood restaurant rather than a tourist strip. In Seoul, the Mapo area has excellent, unpretentious samgyeopsal spots. A full dinner for two, including drinks, costs 40,000 to 60,000 won.
5. Walk Bukchon Hanok Village
Bukchon is a hillside neighbourhood of traditional Korean wooden houses (hanok) sitting between two royal palaces in northern Seoul. The narrow alleyways, curved tiled rooftops, and sudden views down over the city are some of the most atmospheric scenes in Korea.
Most of Bukchon is a working residential neighbourhood, not a museum. Visit quietly and respectfully, especially if you go early in the morning when residents are starting their day. The upper sections away from the main tourist entrance have the best alleyways and the fewest people.
Best time to visit: Weekday morning before 9am. By 10am the tour groups arrive and the narrow lanes fill up fast.
6. Try a Jjimjilbang (Korean Sauna)
A jjimjilbang is a Korean public bathhouse and sauna complex, a genuine local institution. Pay entry (around 10,000 to 15,000 won), get a locker and a uniform, and access a full complex of hot and cold pools, dry saunas at different temperatures, a common room where Koreans nap on heated floors and watch TV, and usually a restaurant serving sikhye, a sweet rice drink and boiled eggs.
Dragon Hill Spa near Seoul Station is the most tourist-friendly. Local jjimjilbangs in residential neighbourhoods are more authentic and cheaper. Most are open 24 hours and genuinely used by Koreans as affordable places to sleep, recover after a late night, or spend a long afternoon.
7. Visit Changdeokgung and the Secret Garden
Of Seoul’s five royal palaces, Changdeokgung is the most beautiful. Unlike the grand formal symmetry of Gyeongbokgung, Changdeokgung is designed to work with its natural hillside setting. The buildings sit within woodland, connected by paths and ponds rather than grand courtyards.
The highlight is Huwon, the Secret Garden: 78 acres of forest, lotus ponds, pavilions, and 300-year-old trees at the back of the palace. Huwon is accessible only on a guided tour with limited capacity. Book in advance through the Changdeokgung website. The autumn visit, when the maples are turning, is something else entirely.
8. Climb Bukhansan National Park
Most visitors do not realize that one of South Korea’s best national parks lies within Seoul’s city limits. Bukhansan has granite peaks, ancient fortress walls, Buddhist temples in the valleys, and hiking trails ranging from gentle walks to proper scrambles with fixed ropes. On a clear day, the view from Baegundae peak over the entire Seoul basin is extraordinary.
Go on a weekday if you can. Seoul’s hiking culture is intense, and weekend trails are busy with fully equipped Koreans in colour-coordinated hiking gear, moving at a steady pace. The park has multiple entrances and several temples worth stopping at on the way up.
9. Spend an Evening in Hongdae
Hongdae is the neighbourhood around Hongik University and Seoul’s most creative, high-energy area. Street performances, K-pop dance studios, indie music venues, vintage shops, and a nightlife scene that genuinely runs until dawn. It is the youngest and loudest part of Seoul.
Where to stay: See the MileAsia Seoul neighbourhoods guide for a full breakdown of Hongdae versus the other main areas and who each one suits.
10. Watch the Sunrise from N Seoul Tower
N Seoul Tower sits atop Namsan Mountain in the centre of Seoul. The view from the area around the tower at dawn, the city spread in every direction, the Han River catching the early light, and the ring of mountains around the basin, is one of the great urban views in Asia.
Take the Namsan Cable Car up from Myeongdong or hike the trail from Itaewon in about 20 minutes. The outdoor viewing area around the tower is free. The paid observation deck inside costs 16,000 won and offers a similar view with less atmosphere.
11. Take a Day Trip to the DMZ and then Nami Island
Nami Island (Namiseom) is a half-moon-shaped island in the North Han River about 1.5 hours from Seoul, famous for its tree-lined walking paths, deer, and the fact that the K-drama Winter Sonata was filmed here. It is a completely different pace from Seoul: quiet, green, and genuinely pretty in every season.
Entry costs 16,000 won, and the island is reached by a short ferry from Gapyeong. Combine it with a stop at Petite France or the Garden of Morning Calm on the same day for a full excursion out of the city.
12. Explore Insadong
Insadong is Seoul’s traditional arts and crafts district. Galleries, teahouses, antique shops, handmade ceramics, and a winding alleyway called Ssamziegil, full of independent Korean designers and small cafes. It is the most accessible entry point into a slower, more considered side of Seoul.
Walk the main street on a Sunday morning before the crowds arrive. The traditional teahouses serve sikhye, omija (five-flavour berry tea), and yujacha (citron tea). Pick up a piece of handmade pottery or a sheet of Korean hanji paper as a far better souvenir than anything in Myeongdong.
13. Take the Train to Busan
The KTX bullet train from Seoul to Busan takes about 2.5 hours and costs around 60,000 won. Busan is a completely different kind of Korean city: a port city with beaches, hills, a vast fish market, and a food culture centred on fresh seafood rather than meat.
Jagalchi Fish Market is Korea’s largest seafood market. Gamcheon Culture Village climbs a hillside in vivid colours. Haeundae Beach is the country’s most famous beach. Haedong Yonggungsa Temple sits on coastal rocks directly above the sea. Busan makes an excellent overnight trip from Seoul. See the MileAsia Seoul-to-Busan guide for transport options.
14. Do a Temple Stay
Templestay is a government-supported programme that lets visitors spend one or two nights in a working Buddhist temple, following the daily monastic schedule: a 4 am bell ceremony, sitting meditation, temple food (simple vegetarian meals eaten in silence), and guided sessions on tea ceremony or sutra transcription.
It sounds austere, and it genuinely is. That is the point. For most people who do it, a temple stay is the single most different and memorable experience they have in Korea. The Templestay website lists participating temples with English booking options across the country.
15. Watch the Sunrise from Seongsan Ilchulbong, Jeju
Jeju Island is a 50-minute flight from Seoul and a completely different side of Korea: a volcanic island with black rock coastlines, waterfalls, and a pace that feels nothing like the mainland. Seongsan Ilchulbong is a 182-metre volcanic tuff cone at the eastern tip of the island, and watching the sunrise from the rim of its crater, light hitting the ocean and the green slopes below, is one of the most iconic sights in the country.
Get there before dawn. The car park fills early on weekends and during school holidays. The hike up takes about 20 minutes on stone steps.
Quick Reference
Best for history: Gyeongbokgung Palace, Changdeokgung Secret Garden, Bukchon Hanok Village
Best for food: Gwangjang Market, Korean BBQ in Mapo, Busan’s Jagalchi Market
Best for nightlife: Hongdae, Itaewon, Gangnam
Best for nature: Bukhansan National Park, Jeju Island, Nami Island
Best unique experience: DMZ day tour, temple stay, jjimjilbang
Best view: N Seoul Tower at dawn, Seongsan Ilchulbong at sunrise
