Seoul travel guide

Top 10 sights in Seoul

Ranked by Wikipedia language editions — proven fame.

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   1

   Changdeokgung

   The best preserved of the five Joseon palaces, built in 1405 and the royal residence for most of the dynasty because the main palace lay burned for 270 years. Its buildings follow the contours of the hill rather than a grid; the rear Secret Garden is seen only on a timed guided tour, so book ahead.

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2. 

   2© João Trindade · CC BY 2.0

   Jongmyo

   The Confucian shrine holding the spirit tablets of the Joseon kings and queens, whose main hall is 101 metres long — the longest single wooden building in Korea. It is both a World Heritage site and, for its ritual music, on the intangible heritage list; the rite is still performed each May.

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3. 

   3

   Gyeongbokgung

   The first and principal palace of the Joseon dynasty, founded in 1395, burned by the Japanese invasion of 1592 and rebuilt in 1867 before being largely dismantled under colonial rule. Restoration since 1990 has returned about a quarter of it; the guard-changing at Gwanghwamun runs twice a day.

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   4© kallerna · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Blue House

   The presidential office and residence from 1948 until 2022, opened to the public when the president moved to Yongsan. The main hall, the state guest house, the lawn and the Bugaksan trail behind it can now all be walked, and it sits directly north of Gyeongbokgung.

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5. 

   5© DoulosCore · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Namdaemun

   The southern gate of Seoul's city wall, first built in 1398 and long the oldest wooden structure in the city. An arsonist destroyed it in 2008; it was rebuilt by 2013.

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   6© Jinah78 · CC BY-SA 3.0

   National Museum of Korea

   Korea's flagship museum, holding some 400,000 objects in a building of 2005 in Yongsan, with free admission to the permanent galleries. The Room of Quiet Contemplation, which shows two gilt-bronze seated Maitreya figures of the seventh century alone in a darkened hall, is worth the trip on its own.

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7. 

   7© Khitai (a flickr user) · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Namhansanseong

   A mountain fortress southeast of Seoul with twelve kilometres of wall, where King Injo held out for forty-seven days in the winter of 1636 before surrendering to the Qing. It became a World Heritage site in 2014; the ridge walk is well marked and the village inside is known for chicken stew.

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8. 

   8© kallerna  This photo was taken with Fujifilm X-T30 · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Cheonggyecheon

   A stream running 10.9 kilometres through central Seoul, covered by concrete and an elevated expressway from the 1950s and reopened as a walkway in 2005 at a cost of 386 billion won. Twenty-two bridges cross it, each lit differently, and the water is pumped from the Han.

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9. 

   9

   Deoksugung

   The palace of the short-lived Korean Empire, where Gojong declared himself emperor in 1897, and the only one mixing Western neoclassical buildings with traditional halls inside one wall. It stays open into the evening, which makes it the palace people visit after work.

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10. 

    10© SJ Yang · CC BY-SA 2.0

    Lotte World

    A recreation complex in Jamsil combining the world's largest indoor theme park under a glass roof with an outdoor island in the middle of Seokchon lake. An ice rink, a folk museum and a department store are in the same complex, so weather never cancels the day.

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Popular tickets & tours in Seoul

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Based on 2025 Wikipedia pageviews — popular places beyond the top 10.

1. 

   1© Minseong Kim · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Hongdae (area)

   The district around Hongik University, Korea's leading art school, and the centre of Seoul's independent music since the 1990s. Live clubs, buskers and small shops now run west into Yeonnam-dong along the Gyeongui Line Forest Park, a disused railway turned linear green strip.

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   2

   Yoido Full Gospel Church

   A Pentecostal church on Yeouido with about 480,000 registered members, ranked the largest single congregation in the world, founded in a tent in 1958 by David Yonggi Cho. Seven services fill the main sanctuary each Sunday with simultaneous interpretation.

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   3© by kayakorea (Brandon Butler) · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Itaewon

   The multi-ethnic quarter of Yongsan that grew around the US garrison, where the World Food Street behind the Hamilton Hotel runs to a few dozen national kitchens. Seoul Central Mosque stands on the hill above it, and the lanes continue into Gyeongnidan-gil and Haebangchon.

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   4© kallerna · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Bukchon Hanok Village

   A hillside neighbourhood between the two main palaces where some nine hundred hanok — tile-roofed courtyard houses — survive, most of them rebuilt in the 1930s. The alleys of Gahoe-dong give the standard view of tiled roofs against office towers; people live here, so early or late is the courteous time.

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   5© Own work · CC BY-SA 3.0

   Myeong-dong

   The shopping quarter of Jung-gu, and the most visited district in Seoul, with cosmetics chains, money changers and a street-food market that sets up along both kerbs in the evening. Namdaemun market is ten minutes' walk west and the Namsan cable car uphill to the east.

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   6© d. FUKA · CC BY-SA 2.0

   War Memorial of Korea

   A military museum at Yongsan on the Korean War, with tanks, aircraft and a captured MiG on the outdoor terraces. The corridors of the memorial hall carry the names of about 170,000 dead of the war on bronze panels, arranged by unit.

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   7© kallerna · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Myeongdong Cathedral

   The cathedral of the Archdiocese of Seoul, consecrated in 1898 and the first Gothic brick building in Korea, standing on the site where Korean Catholics met in secret before the persecutions. Its spire appearing above the shopping streets is the reason people notice it.

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8. 

   8© d'n'c (a flickr user) · CC BY-SA 2.0

   Changgyeonggung

   A palace built in 1483 as a residence for dowager queens, which the colonial government reduced to a zoo and botanical garden in 1909 and renamed a park. The animals were moved out in 1983 and the palace restored; the 1909 glasshouse, Korea's first, was kept.

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   9© kallerna · CC BY-SA 4.0

   Bongeunsa

   A temple founded in 794 and now surrounded by the towers of Gangnam, with a 23-metre stone Maitreya standing against the Coex skyline. It holds a Buddhist scripture collection of over 3,000 woodblocks and runs templestay programmes in English.

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    10© Vanbasten 23 · CC BY-SA 3.0

    Insa-dong

    Street in Seoul lined with antiquarian shops, galleries and ink-brush dealers. Impoverished noble families sold their paintings and books here from the Joseon period onward.

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