7 Days in Seoul: My Week, Honestly

This is my summary of my week in Seoul, in October 2026. Not a plan. Just what I actually did in 7 days in Seoul, and what I thought of it.

Some plans didn’t happen. I had to work, and one concert was fully booked. That’s in here too.

My first days (the airport bus, the SIM, Myeongdong, the 12-floor Daiso and the palace) are in a separate post: 3 Days in Seoul.

Jongno 3-ga: number 1 in the world, and my base

The airport bus dropped me in front of a coffee place, about 100 meters from my hotel. It smelled so good. That was my first minute in Jongno 3-ga.

I stayed there all week. It was outstanding. That area is trendy right now, and I’m not the only one saying it. In September 2026, Time Out ranked Jongno 3-ga number 1 on its list of the 40 coolest neighbourhoods in the world for 2026. Number 1, out of 40. Time Out says it was third on the same list in 2021.

Time Out talks about the old hanok houses of Ikseon-dong, and about the pochas: late-night food tents where young locals now go for cheap food.

For me, it’s the location. Everything is close.

• Insadong, for culture.
• The palaces, for history.
• Ikseon-dong, my favorite, for the cafes and restaurants.
• Gwangjang Market, for food.

And you can walk to Myeongdong. But of course, late-night food was great! But why was I there the first night? Because my hotel was beside. I didn’t really know much. Accidents can also happen.

Kanso Stay: a very good deal

My hotel was Kanso Stay, in Jongno. It’s kind of a capsule hotel. About USD 60 a night.

It’s not easy to find inexpensive hotels in Seoul. So with this location, at this price, I think it’s a very good deal.

Brand new and super nice. Coffee, a lounge, a nice shower, and very nice soap and shampoo. It’s clean. It’s not so small, and the bed is fine. More in my 3-day post.

My week, in short

Only what I actually did.

What	My take
Jongno 3-ga, my base	Outstanding
Kanso Stay	About USD 60 a night. A very good deal
Ikseon-dong	My favorite. I love it crazily
Insadong and the palaces	Culture and history, close to the hotel
Gwangjang Market	Famous, and I liked it
Olive Young	I shopped a lot, for family and an ex
Starfield Library	Overrated
KBO baseball with KBT, 7 October	Fantastic. Book it
DMZ tour	Not for everyone
Hongojib and Bodega Cat	Solo Korean BBQ, and an awesome pastrami sandwich
Hongdae	Not for me
Cheonggyecheon walk	Really, really nice
Seoul Museum of Craft Art	I recommend it

Korean food, my honest take

The smell of Seoul

Walk anywhere in Seoul and you smell it. Coffee, bread, kimchi and Korean BBQ. Everywhere.

Good, but not top 10

I’ll be honest. Korean food is good. But for me, it’s not in the world top 10.

French, Italian, Chinese, Thai and Spanish food are better, to my taste. Korean food is okay. There’s a lot of kimchi.

It’s fine. Better than Cambodia or Burma. But still.

What I love is the tablet on the table. You sit, you tap, you order.

And the best of Korean food, I think, is Korean BBQ. More on that below.

Back home, I wrote about Korean food in Hua Hin, with Seoul as the benchmark.

Gwangjang Market

Gwangjang Market is famous. And I liked it. It’s touristy, but it’s a gem.

I also tried Korean beef tartare (yukhoe). The full story is in my 3-day post.

When you’ve had enough of kimchi

Toasted rye, pastrami, melted cheese. A pickle on the side and a can of Dr Pepper.

At some point, I had enough of kimchi. So I went for a pastrami sandwich at Bodega Cat (보데가캣). It was awesome.

Bodega Cat is a New York-style sandwich shop in Jung-gu, on Supyo-ro 6-gil, between Chungmuro and Myeongdong stations, according to Korean food listings (Polle, Mindtrip).

Korean BBQ: pork, beef and Korean beef (hanwoo)

Korean beef (hanwoo) is very good. But it’s not the only option.

• Pork is the cheap option.
• Beef costs more.
• Korean beef (hanwoo) is very expensive.

A cheap Korean BBQ is about 15,000 won. A normal one is about 20,000 won.

Korean BBQ for one person

Rows of small counters, each with its own grill and its own screen. Look again: one person per seat.

Normally you need 2 people or more for Korean BBQ. If you travel alone, that’s a problem.

In Myeongdong, I went to a place made for solo diners: Hongojib (혼고집). It’s very nice.

The name explains it, according to Konest and a Korean news review: a house (jip) where you eat meat (gogi) alone (honja). Every seat is a one-person counter with its own grill, and you order on the tablet. The Myeongdong branch is on Myeongdong 3-gil, near Euljiro 1-ga Station.

A KBO baseball game: book it

A whole stand on its feet, singing. Pink cheer sticks in the air. A kid in a Heroes jersey.

In Canada, a baseball game is beer, hot dogs, and you watch the game. Here, they sing songs. They dance. It’s very animated.

When I travel, I want experiences. I want to enjoy things. And I like doing things that aren’t only what the tourists do.

So before I left, I booked a Korean baseball (KBO) game online. I saw it was a great experience. It was fantastic.

I booked with Korea Baseball Tour (KBT). Our group was 13 people from five countries: the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Taiwan.

I paid about 39,000 won (about 30 US dollars). That included the ticket, some street food inside the stadium, and a guide who explained a few things.

I went on 7 October, Kiwoom Heroes against Hanwha Eagles at Gocheok Sky Dome. First pitch was at 18:30. We met at 16:55 in front of the gold-colored ball sculpture at the stadium entrance. Our guide wore a navy KOREA jersey. Just ask “KBT?”

I highly recommend it. It’s a unique experience.

The DMZ: not for everyone

No photos from this one. You can’t take pictures. They are very strict. It’s a military place, so be very careful. You can go to jail for that.

The DMZ is the Demilitarized Zone, between North and South Korea. For context, the Korean War armistice was signed in 1953.

It might be good for others. For me, it wasn’t. My guide was not great, and I didn’t enjoy myself.

Going down to tunnel #3, the Third Tunnel, was an experience. But coming back up is like going to the gym!

The tour site Visit DMZ in Korea puts the access passage at about 358 meters long, at a slope of about 11 degrees. So yes, the gym.

I saw it with my own eyes. But it’s not for everyone.

Olive Young: I’m not a woman, but…

Most people go to Olive Young, especially women. I’m not a woman. But I do have an ex-girlfriend, and family. So I went, and I shopped a lot.

What’s popular right now is PDRN, in masks and skincare. PDRN is short for polydeoxyribonucleotide: DNA taken mostly from salmon, according to medical reviews.

You can find it at Olive Young, or at Daiso. Daiso was not for me. (The 12-floor Daiso is in my 3-day post.)

Starfield Library: overrated

The Starfield Library is the big library with the giant bookshelves, inside COEX mall in Gangnam. I went. I think it’s overrated.

I also wanted to see PSY. But the concert needed tickets, and it was fully booked. So instead, I walked around more.

Walking by the river (Cheonggyecheon)

At dusk the sky goes orange behind the office towers. Down below, people sit by the water.

I didn’t go to the Bitseom light festival. Instead, I walked by the river right in the city centre. It was really, really nice. It’s actually a stream: Cheonggyecheon (청계천).

After dark, the lights of the buildings fall into the water, pink and white.

From the Seoul city government: it was paved over, then restored in 2005. There are walkways on both sides, and 22 bridges along the way.

The craft museum: I recommend it

I also went to the Seoul Museum of Craft Art (서울공예박물관), and I recommend it.

It’s 50 m from Exit 1 of Anguk Station, on Line 3, close to Insadong. According to the museum’s own site, admission is free (except some paid exhibitions), and it’s closed on Mondays. It stands on the site of Andong Byeolgung, an old detached palace.

Hongdae and escape rooms

Hongdae: maybe I’m too old

Hongdae is the area around Hongik University. VisitSeoul describes it as the place for a young crowd, nightlife and street performers.

I went. I didn’t enjoy it. Maybe I am too old.

Escape rooms: book ahead (I didn’t)

I wanted to try an escape room. But I didn’t reserve, and it’s difficult in English. So I didn’t do one.

Here’s how it works, so you can plan better than me. This part is from Seoul Window and Room Escape Artist, not from my own experience.

In Korea it’s called bang-talchul (방탈출), literally “room escape.” Your team is shut in a themed room, and you solve puzzles to get out before the timer runs out. A game lasts about an hour. The English-friendly rooms listed by Seoul Window run 50 to 80 minutes.

Book ahead. Most venues only open bookings 1 to 2 weeks before, and the English version usually needs at least 24 hours’ notice. Many take bookings with no deposit, then confirm by text or call the day before. That system is built for Korean phone numbers. Miss the call, and the booking can be cancelled.

English is the other problem. Most rooms are in Korean, and many puzzles use the Korean language itself. Seoul Window counted fewer than 10 venues in all of Seoul that say they support English.

They do exist. Most are in Hongdae, for example Deepthinker, Breakout and Real Escape Challenge, and there’s Code Hunter in Gangnam. Seoul Window lists English-friendly venues at about 18,000 to 32,000 won per person (August 2026). Book through a travel platform such as Klook and it’s confirmed when you pay. No call.

Working from the hotel

I didn’t go to Seodaemun Prison. I had to work.

Twice this week, I planned to go out and visit. Twice, I stayed at the hotel and worked about four hours instead.

Since COVID, with more mobility and remote work, more and more people can do both, travel and work. I do. Some days, the work comes first.

Getting around: subway, buses, T-money and Naver Map

A red bus, a pink bus, and a big green umbrella over the sidewalk.

I really love these umbrellas. They stand on the sidewalks and protect people from the rain and the sun. Very, very nice.

The subway is so well organized. You can go anywhere in the city with it. The buses too. Public transport in Seoul is great. I didn’t use a taxi even once.

It’s cheap, too. In my first 3 days, I spent about 10,000 won on transport.

Two things make it so easy.

The T-money card. It’s a rechargeable transport card for the subway and buses, and it also works in other Korean cities. You buy it at convenience stores (CU, GS25, 7-Eleven). You top it up with cash at the counter, or at the machines in subway stations. Tap in and tap out, on the bus too, to get the transfer discounts.

Naver Map. It works way better than Google Maps in Korea. Google Maps still can’t give proper walking directions here, because Korea restricts the export of detailed map data (Korea Tourism Times, 6 Oct 2026). Naver Map has English, transit routes and transfer guidance.

What it cost me

My own numbers, this week

• SIM card: about 40,000 won
• Airport bus to Jongno: about 17,000 won
• Kanso Stay: about USD 60 a night
• Public transport, first 3 days: about 10,000 won
• Gyeongbokgung: about USD 2 (free in hanbok)
• Combined palace ticket: about USD 4
• Daiso: everything I saw was under USD 5
• KBO baseball with KBT (ticket, some stadium street food and a guide): about 39,000 won (about 30 US dollars)
• Korean BBQ: about 15,000 won for a cheap one, about 20,000 won for a normal one

FAQ

More from my travels

• 3 Days in Seoul: my first days
• Korean Food in Hua Hin, with Seoul as the benchmark
• Okinawa in December
• Da Nang in the Rain
• Hong Kong in Three Days

If you are coming to Thailand, start with my Hua Hin travel guide.