Attraction
Gyeongbokgung Palace
The first and largest royal palace of the Joseon dynasty, founded in 1395 and home to the throne hall Geunjeongjeon and the Gyeonghoeru banquet pavilion.
South Korea packs a remarkable amount into a compact peninsula. Seoul, the capital, combines royal palaces and hanok neighbourhoods with cutting-edge design, food and pop culture, while Busan on the south coast offers beaches, seafood markets and hillside villages. Gyeongju, the old capital of the Silla kingdom, is full of royal tombs and Buddhist temples, and Jeju Island is known for volcanic landscapes, hiking and coastal scenery. Elsewhere, mountain national parks such as Seoraksan, historic towns like Jeonju with its hanok village, and the Demilitarised Zone on the border with North Korea draw visitors. Fast trains, an efficient bus network and short domestic flights make it easy to combine cities and countryside in a single trip.
Attraction
The first and largest royal palace of the Joseon dynasty, founded in 1395 and home to the throne hall Geunjeongjeon and the Gyeonghoeru banquet pavilion.
Attraction
A UNESCO-listed Joseon palace built in 1405, admired for buildings that follow the hillside and for Huwon, its wooded rear garden of ponds and pavilions.
Attraction
A 236-metre broadcasting tower on the summit of Namsan, opened to the public in 1980, with observation decks giving 360-degree views over Seoul.
Attraction
Korea's national museum in Yongsan, opened in its current building in 2005, with free galleries covering everything from Paleolithic tools to Silla gold and Goryeo celadon.
Attraction
A residential neighbourhood of traditional tiled hanok houses between Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung, where visitors are asked to explore quietly during set hours.
Attraction
The royal ancestral shrine of the Joseon dynasty, a UNESCO site since 1995, where the spirit tablets of kings and queens are kept in long, austere…
Café
The original branch of the Onion bakery café, set in a stripped-back 1970s building in Seongsu that once housed a factory, known for pandoro and butter…
Café
The first branch of Fritz Coffee Company, a Seoul roaster and bakery known for its seal logo and retro style, set in a converted house near…
Café
A coffee roaster and café in a former shoe factory near Hapjeong, one of the venues that set the template for Seoul's industrial-style cafés.
Café
Amorepacific's Bukchon tea house in a remodelled 1960s Western-style house, with a tea shop, a lounge serving matcha desserts and a non-alcoholic tea bar.
Café
A traditional tea house in the 1933 hanok of novelist Lee Tae-jun, a listed folk heritage building in Seongbuk-dong run by his grand-niece.
Café
A dessert café a minute from Anguk Station, styled like an English country kitchen and best known for its lightly toasted scones and seasonal cakes.
Hotel
The first Four Seasons in South Korea, a luxury hotel near Gwanghwamun with palace and Namsan views, a year-round pool and the Michelin-starred Yu Yuan.
Hotel
A Samsung-owned luxury hotel on the slopes of Namsan, with acclaimed restaurants including La Yeon and the seasonal Urban Island outdoor pool.
Hotel
A 235-room luxury hotel on floors 76 to 101 of Lotte World Tower, with two Michelin Keys, Yannick Alleno's restaurant Stay and the Korean restaurant Bicena.
Hotel
A hanok hotel in Bukchon, opened in 2003 in a restored house of around 130 years, credited as the first hanok to be converted into a…
Hotel
A design-led hotel in Hongdae, part of Marriott's Autograph Collection, with a rooftop vinyl bar, creative interiors and quick links to the airport.
Hotel
A 301-room mid-range hotel run by Parnas Hotel on Insadong's main street, with accessible rooms and easy walks to the palaces and Bukchon.
Bar
A basement cocktail bar in Gangnam built around Korean produce and zero-waste methods, ranked second on Asia's 50 Best Bars list in 2026.
Bar
A small cocktail bar in a hanok in Seochon that showcases Korean spirits and native ingredients, ranked on Asia's 50 Best Bars in 2026.
Bar
A speakeasy inspired by Alice in Wonderland, reached through a flower shop and down a narrow stair, ranked 13th on Asia's 50 Best Bars in 2026.
Bar
A hidden cocktail bar on the lower level of the Four Seasons Hotel Seoul, named after the writer Charles H. Baker and open nightly until 01:30.
Bar
Korea's oldest active jazz club, opened in Itaewon in 1976 and now in a modern second-floor space on Itaewon-ro, with live music almost every night.
Bar
The Seoul brewshop of Magpie Brewing Co., a craft brewery founded in Itaewon in 2011 that now brews in Jeju, pouring its pale ale, IPA and…
Restaurant
Chef Mingoo Kang's tasting-menu restaurant in Gangnam, holder of three Michelin stars, which reworks Korean fermented sauces and seasonal produce with modern technique.
Restaurant
Chef Yim Jung-sik's Cheongdam restaurant, a pioneer of what it calls New Korean fine dining, holding two Michelin stars in the 2026 guide.
Restaurant
A research-led restaurant facing the wall of Gyeongbokgung, where chefs Cho Eun-hee and Park Sung-bae update Joseon court and aristocratic cooking with seasonal produce.
Restaurant
A Euljiro institution serving Pyongyang-style cold buckwheat noodles since 1946, known for its clear beef broth and for bulgogi on the side.
Restaurant
A hanok restaurant near Gyeongbokgung serving samgyetang, whole young chicken stuffed with rice and ginseng in a thick broth, since 1983.
Restaurant
A family-run Myeongdong restaurant open since 1966, serving a four-item menu built around kalguksu noodle soup, dumplings and its famously garlicky kimchi.
Thing to do
One of Seoul's oldest traditional markets, dating from 1905, where rows of food stalls serve mung bean pancakes, mayak gimbap and noodles beside fabric merchants.
Thing to do
A central street of galleries, craft shops, antique dealers and traditional tea houses, best explored on foot, with the Ssamziegil arcade at its centre.
Thing to do
An 18.6-kilometre walking trail along the Joseon-era fortress wall built in 1396, climbing four mountains around old Seoul and passing six surviving gates.
Thing to do
A free fountain show on Banpo Bridge over the Han River, recognised by Guinness as the world's longest bridge fountain, running from April to October.
Thing to do
Seoul's long-running non-verbal comedy show, in which chefs drum on pots, pans and chopping boards, performed daily in a theatre in the heart of Myeongdong.
Tour operator
Free walking tours run by the Seoul Metropolitan Government with volunteer guides, covering palaces, old alleys, the city wall and other heritage routes.
Tour operator
A Seoul food tour and cooking class company based in Bukchon, offering small-group night dining tours and hands-on classes in a traditional house.
Tour operator
Hop-on hop-off sightseeing buses departing from Gwanghwamun, with a daytime palace and Namsan loop and a night course along the Han River.
Tour operator
Sightseeing and dinner cruises on the Han River from the Yeouido ferry terminal, including a 90-minute sunset dinner cruise past the city's bridges.
Tour operator
A Seoul food tour company led by food writer Daniel Gray, running small-group dining tours of markets and long-standing local eateries.
High-speed KTX and SRT trains link Seoul with Busan and other major cities, intercity express buses reach most towns, and domestic flights serve Jeju
Spring, from April to May, and autumn, from September to November, bring mild weather, blossom and autumn colours; summer is hot, humid and rainy, and winter is cold but good for skiing
Busan for beaches and seafood, Gyeongju for Silla history, Jeju Island for volcanic scenery, Jeonju for its hanok village and food, and Seoraksan National Park for mountain hiking