A Weekend in Seoul

@nicanleg

Trip Overview

Country visited: South Korea
City visited: Seoul, South Korea
Month traveled: January
Cost: $$
Traveled with: Solo
Total length of trip: 3 days

Seoul, South Korea

Arrived by airplane

Stayed 3 days

OVERALL ATMOSPHERE:

Seoul was bright, lively, beautiful, and inspiring. In my two visits to Seoul, I barely scratched the surface of all it has to offer, and I know I’ll continue to visit it in the future. At the time I was living in Osaka, so Seoul was an easy weekend trip. I’m a fan of the cleanliness, city lights, popular culture, and eccentric food. My visits mainly included trying traditional food and historical sites.

Quick points to know before traveling to South Korea:

There was a good amount of English language throughout the city, but don't rely on it and expect to be using Google translate pretty often.
I visited in January- which was miserably cold. I had little to no motivation to go anywhere in this weather (but I’m a Florida girl so don’t go hard on me!).
As a solo female traveler, Seoul felt very safe and comfortable for me. I avoided walking around at night, but mainly because it was too cold.
For some reason, it was SO hard to find an ATM that accepted my Bank of America card or my Japanese GAICA card, even in the airport, so I recommend getting plenty of cash at your departure and exchanging it once you land in Korea.

LODGING:

I stayed at Banana Homes Airbnb, in a single room with a private bathroom for $29 USD per night, totaling $92 for my three nights. It was absolutely adorable, located close to a subway station, and had a beautiful view of the view from a rooftop garden.

TRANSPORTATION:

Seoul has a beautiful, efficient, and clean subway system that's easy to understand and will get you anywhere in the city you want to go to. Get a T-money card at a convenience store to easily tap in and out of stations.

FOOD:

Unfortunately, I am not a fan of spicy food… so I had to play it safe in Korea. Some popular food I tried included bibimbap, mandu, hand cut noodles, gimbap, bindae-tteok, and bubble tea. Some specific places I visited included:

Gohyang Kalguksu Stall (As seen on Netflix – Street Food)
Honglim Banchan Stall (As seen on Netflix – Street Food)
Pakgane (As seen on Netflix – Street Food)

PLACES TO VISIT:

This list is by no means extensive, and if I had more time in Seoul there is so much more I wanted to do and see. This is all I got to experience but I’m happy with what I saw. My bucket list for this short trip included: