Hello everyone! I’m here to share about my Seoul Itinerary! We travelled in early May, right after spring season so the weather was not hot yet. The air was still cooling and it was not possible to be out in denim shorts at all.

We got discounted tickets at $650 per pax, return tickets to Seoul from Singapore Airlines. Wooohoo, a pretty good deal I scored! Roy previously went to Seoul once for his business trip but did not visit places of interests during his short trip there. It was my first trip to Seoul and I was sooo looking forward to it! I mean, it’s the land of kimchi, good looking people and bingsu, what is there not to love about Seoul?

For our accommodation, we booked it only one week before our trip. And this, I will not suggest because the Airbnb listings there are very sought after! I was initially looking at one listing my hair stylist shared with me, the next thing I know, the page refreshed itself and stated no more booking available. WHATTTTT.

Lucky us got to find a nice accessible place within our budget of $100 per night. That works out to $50 per person per night.

Our host recommended us to take the AREX Express train that goes straight to Seoul Station where we change the train to Chungmuro. We purchased the Express Pass for KRW8000 (SGD10) that goes directly to Seoul without stopping. If you take the normal AREX, it is KRW4000 (SGD 5) but it stops at 7 stops in between.

If you are travelling light, it is okay to take the AREX. But we were travelling with 4 luggages and it was tough for us to go up and down the flight of stairs at Seoul Station. An alternative is to take the airport bus. We took the airport bus when we went back on the last day, but it took us at least 2.5 hours.

The nearest train station is Chungmuro, which is less than 100m away from the train station exit.

The BnB was very neat, cozy and clean. I think the entire building is meant for service apartments and BnBs.

It came fully equipped with a Queen size bed, a fully fitted kitchen with pots and pans, television, vanity table, and dining table.

The toilet came with a bidet toilet bowl. You can choose to blow dry your butt after washing hahahah. You can check out the listing here.

By the time we settled down in our house, it was already 8pm. So we headed to Myeong Dong for some street food and window shopping before calling it a day.

Rise and shine! Our agenda for Seoul Day 2 was to Gyeongbokgung Palace and Insa-Dong.

We had an hour before the Change of Guard ceremony commenced, and we were famished. So we took a walk opposite the palace and chanced upon this little restaurant filled with locals. Anything with locals means the food must be good! We went in there without further hesitation and placed our orders. hehe.

I ordered the Spicy Tofu stew which was superb! None of those I’ve tried in Singapore can beat this.

I think Roy opted for Bibimpap (mixed rice).

I don’t have the exact address to this place but when you are at Gyeongbokgung palace facing the road, cross the road and head leftwards. 

I love the colours of the guards’ uniform! The colours used were all very vibrant and fresh. Couldn’t keep my eyes off their uniform.

After the ceremony, we went for a free tour. If you are unsure of the guided tour meet-up point, just ask the ticket counter and they will show you the way.

I can’t remember how long the tour was, I guess it was at least an hour or so.

We learnt about the King’s daily life and how different rooms are for different occasions and purposes. I won’t post more pictures about the palace because I think it is better for you to experience the grandeur of the place yourself.

Our next stop was to Insadong, the nearest train station is Anguk Station.

Most of the stuff sold on the streets were handicraft such as paper fans, traditional wooden toys and handcrafted stamps.

Then we walked past O’sulloc! It was full house so we had to wait for a while for our table.

Drool-worthy cakes and desserts!

The staff recommended us to try the Green Tea cake roll and it was AH-MA-ZING!! It was the softest, most fluffy cake roll I’ve ever had in my life. Would kill to be there right now and have this again.

Here is my fiance 🙂

Just directly opposite O’Sulloc was Ssamziegil. I read about it online but didn’t plan to go there. But since we were already there, we went into take a look. It is a multi-level mall that is connected by upwards slope. Yeah so you just keep walking up the slope and you will end up at the rooftop without having to take a lift or staircase.

It’s a pretty unique place but would be boring to some who don’t appreciate overpriced handicrafts. I would say this is the Korean version of our Haji Lane. Many youngster were there too.

There was a shop selling shit bread. HAHAH I mean they were shaped in the form of shit. Very cute but I don’t think it was nice.  

We left the place shortly after and took a stroll down the streets of Insa-dong when we chanced upon a small alley with a lot of people.

It was a dumpling shop! It’s called Bukchon Mandu.

Yeah I was the last in queue. When we finally got in, the space was very crammed and it was hard to move around without pushing people.

We ordered the mix platter and a bowl of cold noodles soup. I’d say the dumpling were not too bad, but they are a tad salty for me. 

The cold noodles were tasty but very chewy and took us a long time to finish. We saw this on every table so we ordered one for ourselves too!

It was getting late and there wasn’t anything for us to do in Insadong so Roy suggested we head to Hongdae. I swear Roy loves Hongdae, we probably went there every night.

Hongdae is the place for all the hip youngsters to be at. The streets are always lined with buskers dancing or singing.  There are quite a few clubs there too so I won’t suggest staying there. Or if you are planning to stay there, may find a hotel/bnb that has good soundproofing or somewhere further from the clubs. Because at 2-3am, the crowds can still be very noisy too!

Yep, look at the crowd.

Went to O-Lens to buy myself a pair of contact lenses because I didn’t bring any extra for the trip. So I needed a pair of backup! I got one pair of contacts for KRW15000 (SGD19) that can last for 3 months. They even threw in a free bottle of contact lens solution and casing. SO GENEROUS!! I thought there wasn’t gonna be any freebies since I bought the cheapest contact lens in the store but no, Koreans are just generous.

We roamed around and found ourselves at their BBQ street. We didn’t know which one to go so we randomly walked into Mister Cheese Pork BBQ.

The BBQ came with Mozzarella cheese ZOMGWTF!! It was damn goooood. I don’t like pork or beef but I finished them all here. Too tasty to resist!

Missing Mister Cheese BBQ right now.. 🙁

P/s: you can read more bits and pieces of my trip on my Dayre here: https://dayre.me/urbandoll/rp6OHuFMu1

My Seoul blog posts:
1) Seoul Blog Day 1 and Day 2 – Gyeongbokgung Palace, Insa-Dong, Ssamziegil and Hong Dae
2) Seoul Blog Day 3 – Namsam Hanok Village | Itaewon | Dong Dae Mun
3) Seoul Blog Day 4 – Everland

xoxo,