Top choice in Gwanghwamun & Jongno-gu
The perfect place to unwind under the shady fruit trees in a courtyard with flickering candles. In colder weather sit indoors in hanok rooms decorated with scribbles or in the garden pavilion. The teas are superb, especially omijacha hwachae (fruit and five-flavour berry punch), a summer drink.
Small exhibition spaces surround the courtyard.
0.55 MILES
Like a phoenix, Seoul’s premier palace has risen several times from the ashes of destruction. Hordes of tourists have replaced the thousands of government…
0.46 MILES
The World Heritage–listed Changdeokgung is the most beautiful of Seoul's five main palaces. You must join a one-hour guided tour to look around. English…
2.63 MILES
Amid the celebrity-owned apartments on the leafy southern slope of Namsan is Korea's premier art gallery. Beautifully designed and laid-out, it balances…
20.56 MILES
The World Heritage–listed fortress wall that encloses the original town of Suwon is what brings most travellers to the city. Snaking up and down Paldal…
0.86 MILES
One of Seoul's five grand palaces built during the Joseon dynasty, Deoksugung (meaning Palace of Virtuous Longevity) is the only one you can visit in the…
3.5 MILES
This vast and imposing concrete slab of a museum takes visitors on a fascinating journey through Korea's past from prehistory all the way to the Korean…
8.29 MILES
Granite-peak-studded Bukhansan National Park's sweeping mountaintop vistas, maple leaves, rushing streams and remote temples draw over 5 million hikers…
2.63 MILES
This huge museum documents the history of the Korean War (1950–53) using multimedia exhibits and black-and-white documentary footage, along with artefacts…
0.04 MILES
Cheondogyo means 'Religion of the Heavenly Way', and this temple is the hall of worship for a home-grown faith containing Buddhist, Confucian and…
0.09 MILES
Cutting-edge Korean art is usually on show in this basement space alongside permanent displays of the smallest book in the world (no more than a dot), and…
0.09 MILES
Mokin are carved and painted wooden figures and decorative motifs that were used to decorate sangyeo (funeral carriages). Carved by village craftsmen,…
0.11 MILES
One of Seoul's longest running commercial-art galleries, in business since 1977, Sun Art specialises in early-20th-century Korean art and awards an annual…
0.14 MILES
This palace has a modest, natural-wood design reflecting the austere tastes of Heungseon Daewongun (1820–98), King Gojong’s stern and conservative father…
0.18 MILES
The focus of Jogye-sa is the grand wooden hall Daeungjeon, Seoul's largest Buddhist worship hall and the epicentre of Korean Buddhism. Completed in 1938,…
0.19 MILES
Jogye-sa's museum has three galleries of antique woodblocks, symbol-filled paintings and other Buddhist artefacts. There's also a cafe and gift shop here.
0.23 MILES
This 10-tier, 12m-high monument in Tapgol Park once graced Wongak-sa, a Buddhist temple that stood here but was destroyed in 1504 on the orders of the…