Places, cafés and restaurants we visited in Seoul.
What to eat in Ikseon-dong, set out from official sources: the published prices at the hanok cafes, a 3,000-won hangover soup one street away, the fact that not a single officially certified restaurant sits inside Ikseon-dong itself, and the four promises Jongno-gu asks visitors to keep.
A first-visit overview of Ikseon-dong, set out from official records: the urban hanok built for Korean residents in the 1930s, how the redevelopment zone was lifted in 2018 with three preservation measures attached the same day, why the alleys are narrow because the law says so, and the fact that people still live here.
Accommodation around Ikseon-dong, set out from official sources: 100 of Seoul's 133 hanok stays are in Jongno-gu, what the hanok-stay registration standard really requires and what it does not, the fact that a third of the rooms within walking distance are in old-style inns, and the airport bus 6002 that stops at Jongno 3-ga.
What there is to see in Ikseon-dong, set out from official sources: fire-service figures showing 62 of the 75 hanok are shops with only 13 dwellings left, the gentrification the city admits in its own magazine, the pork-skirt alley that began with jewellery craftsmen, and Nakwon Arcade and Donhwamun Gate within walking distance.
A first-timer's guide to Seongsu-dong: the airport bus that actually stops in the neighbourhood, the three different districts behind the three Seongsu Station exits, the weekend car-free window, and why even shops on the district office's own official course disappear.
Seongsu-dong has no registered tourist hotel at all, and 186 of its 299 rooms are old-style inns. That leaves the foreign-tourist homestay scheme, which is also where unlicensed lodging turns up. Which kinds of home the law allows, what to check before you book, and the airport bus that stops in Seongsu.
What there is to see in Seongsu-dong besides cafes, compiled from official sources: a free museum on a 1908 filtration plant site, opening hours and Monday closures facility by facility at Seoul Forest, why you cannot feed the deer, and what lies behind each Seongsu Station exit.
Wearing hanbok gets you into Seoul's palaces free, but only certain garments qualify. Here are the two requirements, the styles that get refused at the gate, why Changdeokgung's Huwon is the single exclusion, and how hanbok lets you into Gyeongbokgung's night viewing without a booking.
Seongsu-dong is supposed to be expensive, yet an official government list has cafes there selling an americano for 3,000 won. The Seongdong-gu restaurant selection, official prices then and now, the ordinance and sticker holding rents down, and which station exit to use.
How to see autumn colour without leaving Seoul, using only official sources. Changdeokgung's Huwon booking opens at 10am six days ahead, the city deliberately leaves fallen leaves unswept for three weeks, a 400-year-old Natural Monument ginkgo stands in the centre of town, and Bukhansan National Park is a subway ride away.
A guide to eating at Gwangjang Market: why the food alley is the only part open on a Sunday and stays open until 11pm, what bindaetteok and yukhoe and the gimbap are, and what the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Jongno District actually did after the 2023 overcharging controversy, taken from their own press releases.
A first-timer's guide to the Korean bathhouse, checked against the law itself. Where you are naked and where you must be dressed is set by the Enforcement Rule, not by custom; there is no legal basis anywhere for a tattoo ban; and sleeping over is a stranger arrangement than most travellers expect.
Now, Yeogi