Back in September, when we were going to South Korea for the first time, we were clueless enough to think it's going to be a similar experience to Japan. We couldn't have been more wrong, Seoul felt much more like home than Tokyo. In fact, it reminded us a lot of our hometown Warsaw - busy and spacious city streets, slightly polluted air (in December on our second visit it was MUCH more polluted), lively people, getting maybe a bit too loud in many situations, and the vibe in the air that makes you want more. Here is what we think of Seoul and why it will see more of us in the future! Have you seen any Korean movie (congrats on the "Parasite", Korea!)? If yes, you probably know what kind of an refreshing mix of direct and touching we have in mind. And it's something you can feel just being in Korea. The Koreans are nothing like the Japanese. They are much louder, thrive in groups, seems that they get drunk all the time and have some intense encounters, even with the strangers. This cultural difference benefits the tourists - they want to communicate in English. Almost everyone speaks a few words of it and is not afraid to try (we're looking at you, Japanese!), which makes foreigner's life so much easier. What they can't explain, they make up for with the openness and kindness, which makes the trip that much more enjoyable. And you'll have to ask around as South Korea is using it's own alphabet, Hangul, and a lot of restaurant or bar names are only written in it.

There's so much to do in Seoul that we feel one could easily spend several weeks there and not get bored. There are five main palaces, dotted through the old city centre, you can wander through to go few centuries back in time. This feeling is magnified by a promotion run by all the palaces that encourages visitors to wear historical Korean outfits. Anyone dressed appropriately can access the palaces for free! It would have made the concept feel too touristy, if it wasn't for the locals who wear their traditional hanbok outfits for the Sunday stroll through city's parks. It's just one of many faces of Korean loveable quirkiness.
One common feature of all Seoul sightseeing spots is that there are very few original sites to see. The city and its palaces burned or were destroyed so many times (also thanks to the country's complicated history with Japan) that almost everything you'll see is a rather new reconstruction. All five great palaces are linked to the Joseon Dynasty and are built in quite a similar style.

We started with the most northern, Gyeongbokgung - the largest, referred to as the most beautiful of Seoul's palaces and the main one of the Joseon Dynasty. It spreads on a huge area with many similar buildings - all closed though and with barely any information boards to indicate their purpose. If you don't have a guidebook, it's hard to figure out what you're looking at. It's interesting but after a while everything seems similar. The nicest place is probably the Hyangwonjeong Pond and the Gyeonghoeru Pavilion. Beware of the central gate, where the crowds can get unbearable and getting a picture without hundreds of visitors becomes quite impossible. Nevertheless, that part is where you can admire new meeting the (relatively) old in Seoul, with the traditional buildings with skyscrapers in the background.

To the East, there's the complex of Changdeokgung and Changgyeonggung. It's much smaller than Gyeongbokgung. Unlike the other palaces, this one in large part survived the Japanese invasion and you can see mostly original structures. There are many reconstruction and excavation works going on throughout the complex and it seems more buildings will be available for visitors in the near future. Maybe because of its size, we liked it much more than its bigger brother. It wasn't as crowded and seemed more authentic, intimate, conveying the soul of the old royal atmosphere better.

Another site recommended in the guidebooks is the Bukchon Hanok Village. A set of small streets with traditional Korean hanok houses is packed with tourists. Many of the houses were converted into guesthouses, art centres or tea houses, but many still remain inhabited by people of Seoul. Since the hordes of tourists make a lot of noise, even just passing through the narrow streets or peeking through the windows, the place is closely monitored by staff, holding "keep silence" signs and not allowing to pass through many of the alleys.

You're better off trying another traditional village, Namsangol Hanok. It's more park-like with way less tourists. You can also visit a sample hanok and stroll through the park's alleys. Venturing a bit further, you will end up coming across Seoul's time capsule. To celebrate Seoul's 600 years as a capital, Koreans burried 600 items of cultural significance under a memorial stone, which is to be opened by the next generation of Seoulites on the 1000th anniversary, in 2394.

Leaving the palaces behind, one of the best experiences we had in Seoul was the visit to the N Seoul Tower. It's an hour long walk up a hill from Myeong-dong shopping district, but totally worth the view awaiting at the end. We recommend taking it around sunset for the best views. You can soak in the atmosphere in one of few bars at the top. 360 degrees view of a twenty million people metropolis, including the iconic Lotte World Tower - Korea's tallest building, leaves a mark.

Another landmark that made its way to the pop culture with PSY's video, at one point the most viewed one on Youtube and now with impressing 3,6 billion views, is the district of Gangnam. Very different from the old part of Seoul, it's the most upscale area of the city, with highest real estate prices and skyscrapers all over. If you want to feel the power of Asian economy growth (pre-Covid19, at least), this is a good place to go. It's modern, but in many places the new and posh still mixes with old alleys and traditional bars. Great way to taste the true life in Seoul.

Seoul has problems with pollution and there were many initiatives taken to address this issue. One of the very pleasant ones are the promenades along Seoul's streams - running right next to small streets. The city has replaced a big ring road by opening the streams and making promenades along them, allowing for both more ventilation and relax areas for the citizens.

As a growing megacity, it's packed with other modern architecture gems, such as Dongdaemun Design Plaza by the late Zaha Hadid. It's a mix of trade, cultural and leisure centre, with many niche shops inside and hidden gardens and simply a pleasure to spend some time in. If you're interested in modern architecture, you might want to save this list we came across, saving many as a to-do for the next visit.

If you still don't know whether Korea is worth your time, this is the ultimate argument - the food. Maybe we got lucky - and truth be told, we have been guided to the best places by the locals - but every single meal we had in Seoul was mind blowing. Three things to keep in mind - many Korean dishes are spicy and we mean proper spicy. For an unaccustomed palate, it can easily be too much. If this is you - make sure you ask if your dish of choice is not considered by the staff a bit spicy which for you could mean inedible. The second one would be the size - the portions in Korea are triple what you'd get in other Asian or European countries. It happens that you order one dish and end up having 15 (yes, fifteen) of them on your table. The side dishes will be small but in most cases, that's right, unlimited. If not all of them, then you can count on an all-you-can-eat kimchi in virtually ANY place in Seoul (additional challenge - you can find kimchi on each of the food photos in this post, we dare you!). If you're unfamiliar with this delicacy, it seems it's a love it or hate it kind of taste (although we cannot imagine how can it be the latter). It's usually Chinese cabbage fermented in spicy sauce (every time a bit different) and served chopped in big pieces. There's a good chance after your trip to Korea, it will become a staple in your kitchen, like it did in ours. The third thing would be closely related to the meal sizes. In most of the restaurants, you cannot eat alone. By default, in many places you will be turned down simply because the meal serves at least two people. And trust us, you will not leave a restaurant hungry in Korea!

Speaking of Korean cuisine, there are a few things you cannot miss. The world-famous Korean barbecue is renown for a reason. A selection of great meat - pork or beef - and cheese, prepared by you or the staff, but always right in front of you on a charcoal fuelled grill, a variety of side dishes, banchan, all washed down by cold soju - Korean alcoholic beverage made of rice or sweet potatoes - should be your first bet if you spend just one day in Seoul. As mentioned above, no meal can do without a selection of side dishes, mainly super healthy fermented vegetables in various forms. A well-known example that incorporates them is bibimbap - a bowl of rice with meat, fried egg and few other ingredients. Noodles are very popular too, also in a cold form of naengmyeon - cold noodle bowls, similarly to bibimbap mixing different sauces and vegetables. If you like beef, you should give bulgogi a try, especially when visiting during cold winter - this hearthy stew will give you all the energy you need to roam the city.

If you've been around Asia, you already know that chopsticks are not a default option everywhere. In Indonesia and Malaysia for example, your only utensils will be fork and spoon. Koreans, even though they do use chopsticks, have their own thing - they are almost always made of metal. While hygienic, for unaccustomed users they can cause quite a bit of trouble since they are way more slippery than the usual disposable ones, especially if you order cold noodles, make sure to practice! :)
Korea has also a lot to offer if you have a sweet tooth. All sorts of sweet pancakes with crunchy and honey fillings, rice flour dumplings resembling Japanese mochi daifuku and steamed cakes. All this can be accompanied by the strangest beverages we had in a long time. In a cafe on a calm patio filtering all the city noise of the surrounding touristy area, we had some of the strangest teas - jujube, thick like a soup and with taste also resembling more a soup than a common black tea. Yes, that's how much we loved the food in Korea - it deserves two sections!
While strolling through the city, you'll come across many food stalls with the most incredible dishes. In Myeong-dong, Seoul's main shopping district, along the regular shops almost at any time during the day there are few to hundreds of stalls open. One of the most common dishes is tteokbokki - rice cakes in spicy red sauce. Other must-tries include pancakes - kimchi or seafood versions, dumplings or fried cheese sticks. There are even some higher-shelf options, such as grilled lobster. For about 15.000 won you get a whole, small lobster, grilled in front of you with some cheese and sauce on top. Yes, please!

One of our favourites is a food market assembled in a semi-open market hall Gwangjang in Bangsan-dong district. It features dozens of stalls serving the most incredibly smelling treats. From strangely looking Korean octopus, which arms are served chopped but so fresh they are still moving (!) through less mixed-feelings fried fish to incredible bean pancakes or noodles soups. Most stalls are run by a mouthy lady, inviting more or less insistently to pick hers over her neighbour's. The topic deserved its place in a Netflix documental "Street Food", featuring several vendors that managed to fight their way. We visited the main character of that episode to try her quality knife-cut noodles and dumplings. She has a small plaque by her place, showing a snapshot from the series - the food is exceptional indeed, especially the dumplings!

If you're in a hurry and don't mind slightly European breakfast of snack, Seoul is full of Paris Baguette bakeries chain. We missed such comfort food so much - all sorts of buns with savoury or sweet fillings and a good coffee. Another thing Japan should learn from! What would be a trip to Korea without stocking up on their famous beauty products? That's right, the city is packed with local drug stores offering all the top and less-known Korean and foreign brands. The biggest chain is called Olive Young and their flagship stores by Gangnam Station or in Myeong-dong (much more crowded) lures with three storey high selection of all the Korean best sellers, with multiple and frequent discounts.There are many guides online that can help you sort through all this goodness to find something for everyone. The single most popular Korean cosmetic would be a face mask. There are entire walls filled with all sorts of masks for different types of skin and varying prices, make sure to grab a few. Brand-wise, you will encounter Holika Holika, Cosrx, Banila Co, Espoir, 3CE, Missha, Etude House (new brushes!), Innisfree, Skinfood, Dr Jart+, Make P:rem, Neogen, Dear, Klairs and many, many more! They can be found both in drug stores as well as have multiple exclusive stores you are meant to bump into as you walk through the city. Anyone will find something great!
In Seoul you'll also find a bunch of iconic snacks. We haven't been paid for that (please, we accept any amount of packs!) but the honey butter almonds you'll see all across the city are an absolute blast. It's a snack that comes in dozens of tastes, from regular honey ones to the best Korean rice cakes flavoured with a bit of a kick. Guaranteed that your pack won't last a day! Seoul is probably one of the best connected cities in Asia. There are two international airports to choose from when landing in Seoul - Incheon and Gimpo. Both are located to the West of the city, Gimpo about half an hour ride and Incheon much further, an hour longer journey. Gimpo is the older one and serves rather regional flights within Asia, therefore you get a better chance of landing at newer but farther Incheon if flying from another continent.
When approaching landing at Gimpo, make sure to peek through the window to appreciate this megacity in its full grace. The suburbs begin way before the main city appears but right off with hundreds of buildings tens stories high. Don't get distracted by the K-pop stars dancing to show you the safety measures on a Korean Air flight!

There's one bad thing about South Korea for the tourists - Google Maps are practically useless. The app we successfully used in almost every other place on earth, including Cuba, in Korea won't allow you to set a driving route between two points within Seoul. It won't show you most of the small streets either, not to mention there's no chance googling the reviews of a restaurant you're standing in front of - not only it's not there but might be that such street simply doesn't exist. We experienced it painfully, being drawn to a certain corner of the street by an incredible smell and not being able to find the place on the map afterwards.
Explained by the caution towards the neighbouring, unpredictable North Korea, the country's maps is very protected and the only accurate ones can be found in the local solutions, such as Naver. The downside is that it's in Korean so everything gets just a bit more complicated when trying to navigate from one point in town to the other or finding a nice place to eat. Your best bet, as usual, are locals who will help you navigate through the local apps and guide you to the best spots.
That being said, the taxis in Seoul are very affordable and reliable. Everyone runs on meter and you can easily arrange for an Uber so there's no chance you'll get ripped off.