The largest market in Korea. Countless shops and street stalls line its alleys, selling clothes, household items, and food. As the place is famous for its reasonable prices and the generous hospitality characterizing traditional markets, almost half of the foreign tourists who visit Seoul are known to stop by the market.
directions: Line 4 Hoehyeon Station. Exit 3,5
Sungnyemun Imported Goods Market – Consists of two underground floors within the Daehan Hwaje Building (B3F-22F). The building is easy to locate among the low buildings of Namdaemun Market. In addtion to many items, the shopping center is particularly known for its cameras and audio equipment. Main items also include trekking items, household items, electronics, and fishing gear.
Food alleys
Sungnyemun Gate
Sungnyemun, the number one national treasure of Korea, was originally built as the southern gate of Seoul Fortress, from which came its other name, Namdaemun, or the great southern gate. It was burned down a few years ago, but was faithfully restored in 2013, following traditional architectural details.
directions: Line 4 Hoehyun Station. Exit 5. Line 1. Seoul Station. Exit 4. 8 minute walk.
Namsan Park
Autumn in Namsan Park
Spring in Namsan Park
This park gives you an access to many popular tourist attractions, just a few of which include N Seoul Tower, Palgakjeong Pavilion, Botanical Garden and National Theater of Korea, not to mention of the leafy park itself.
N Seoul Tower
Standing 236.7 meters of height, this is the 10th tallest tower of the world. Enjoy the fantastic laser show and beautiful night scene of Seoul at the observatory on the third floor or at the revolving restaurant.
Culture Station Seoul 284
This multi-purpose cultural space has been remodeled from the old Seoul Station built 90 years ago. This facility is a popular venue for contemporary art exhibitions, as well as movie screenings and live band performances.
Korea’s most widely known shopping town, the streets are lined with department stores and shops that sell famous brand name make-up, clothes, and shoes.
Myeong-dong Theater – The theater, made by remodeling a baroque-style building constructed in 1934, is a theater dedicated to plays. With its archaic appearance and auditorium design that closes the distance between the stage and the audience, it is considered the mecca of Korean live theater. directions: Line2 Euljiro 1(il)ga. Exit 6, Line 4 Myeongdong station. Exit 6. 7 minute walk.
Myeongdong Theater
UNESCO House – This is UNESCO’s Korean office building, NANTA Theater Myeong-dong and restaurants are also located in this building.
Guanqian Street – A street where you can encounter Chinese culture through Chinese dishes and household items.
Myeong-dong Tourist Information Center
Get free access to the internet, make online reservations for lodging , performances and experience chroma key technology in this center where you can also have a choice of over 400 tourist information leaflets. The center also operates a tourist complaints center along with the tourist police.
Seoul Global Culture & Tourism Center – This is the place where you can get information about tourist attractions in Seoul, use the internet for free and experience korean culture. directions: Line 4 Myeongdong Station. Exit 6. 3 minute walk
Myeong-dong Cathedral
The most iconic cathedral in Korea, it has been symbolizing the Catholics in Korea for 110 years. It is also the first Gothic style cathedral in Korea, a majestic wonder.
directions: Line 4 Myeongdong Station. Exit 8. 8 minute walk.
Department Stores and Shopping Malls
The Myeong-dong and Euljiro area is home to many flagship department stores and shopping malls where you will have access to hundreds of stores specializing in fashion, accessories, and more.
Lotte Town – It is a large scale shopping district that houses Young Plaza, duty free shops, luxury brand shop Avenuel, and the main Lotte Department store, one of the five largest department stores in the world.
Shinsegae Department Store
M Plaza
NOON Square
Migliore
Aland
A huge range of beauty shops
Myeong-dong is full of beauty outlets. TODACOSA is a cosmetics chain stocking a wide range of brands and is Korea’s first large specialized cosmetics store. Since opening in 2000, TODACOSA has prided itself on unprecedented levels of service, allowing customers to sample any product before purchasing and offering a special make-up corner to test foundations, eyeliners, lipsticks, et cetera.
Olive Young, which opened in 1999, is a health and beauty concept store stocking product lines ranging from cosmetics to health foods and has proved popular with women of all ages.
Myeong-dong is also home to several Korean big-brand shops including The Face Shop, Etude and Missha which draw in many overseas visitors.
(These are the standees outside the cosmetics shops!!! There’s a lot hehe)
A mall lover’s mecca
For people who love mall shopping and following the latest trends, Myeong-dong has it all. The eye-catching glass exterior of M Plaza draws in passers-by to its big-name stores including Spanish fashion chain, ZARA and Forever 21. On the 5th floor is Haechi Hall, a performance space where you can catch a concert or a musical and M Plaza is also home to the Seoul Culture and Tourism Center.
Active types will like Noon Square which specializes in sports and casual wear shops as well as having a cinema and seafood restaurant.
Migliore, easily accessible via Exit 4, Myeong-dong Subway Station, is a Myeong-dong landmark in the heart of the commercial area and offers tax refunds and multi-lingual information (in English, Chinese and Japanese) for international tourists.
Big-name stores and street stalls all in one place
Global brands like Forever 21, ZARA and GAP cluster together in Myeong-dong.
Myeong-dong’s street stalls are a real tourist attraction selling all kinds of items including belts, watches, ties and T-shirts. There are also street food stalls serving traditional Korea delicacies such as fish cakes, tteokbokki (a stir-fried dish made of rice cakes with vegetables in hot sauce) and soondae (steamed pig’s intestines stuffed with bean curd, soy bean sprouts, green onions, starch noodles and mushrooms).
Namsangol Hanok Village
Wedding Ceremony
This is a village that showcase an ancient village from the Joseon Period with well-preserved hanoks (traditional Korean houses), pavilions and even a pond. After viewing the residential culture experience programs that are available everyday, one example of which is the traditional style wedding ceremony.
Korea House – After enjoying various performances, you have an opportunity to make Kimchi, or savor the traditional royal cuisine.
Where the culture and history of Seoul come together: Miniature of Seoul City at the Seoul City Panoramic Theater
▶ The Seoul City Panoramic Theater
The Seoul City Panoramic Theater on the third floor is a unique exhibition area in the museum, presenting the entire Seoul cityscape with more than 700,000 elaborate and realistic miniature models produced by cutting edge technology. The dimensions of the hall area are 317.29m² . In the space, visitors will find a model (21.5m x 14.5m) that provides a panoramic view of Seoul and is built on a scale of 1:1,500. It provides a vivid and realistic portrayal of Seoul in miniature. Each section of the city is shown on the screen at the back of the theater which also contains information about Seoul’s history and geography.
Permanent exhibition hall: learning about the history of the Joseon Dynasty
Exhibition room 1 covers the period when Seoul was the capital city during the Joseon Dynasty alongside an exploration of the daily life of people from every class; from royalty to commoners.
Also the geographical importance of a castle town is explored covering its basic functions and administration by the Joseon government through relics and pictures on display.
Exhibition room 2 is divided into two themed areas: everyday life and economic life in Seoul during the Joseon Dynasty. From the cradle to the grave, the life of people in Seoul is well portrayed through various everyday items such as clothes, tableware and food. Visitors can also learn about the economic structure of society during the Joseon Dynasty.
Exhibition room 3 consists of three galleries, covering the culture of the royal court, as well as artistic and academic culture. It shows various aspects of Seoul’s cultural life including art, music, paintings and literature. It also explores the scientific and academic organizations that royalty, the middle classes, and the commoners belonged to.
Visitors can experience the changes and development of the city of Seoul in chronological order from prehistoric times to the modern.
The Touching Museum
The Touching Museum is a unique place where visitors can actually touch exhibits which are reproduced next to the originals. The elaborate replicas are so realistic that visitors can hardly discern the reproductions from the real relics.
More than 70% of items at the Seoul Museum of History are donated by the people in Korea. The donated relics exhibition room shows the museum’s gratitude to the donors through the exhibition of donated relics.
The museum holds cultural events on a daily basis, such as exploring the museum with daddy on Tuesdays, Wednesday cinema, and a talk show on the second and fourth Thursday of every month, as well as a music concert on Fridays.
The museum café on the first floor provides delicious meals combining traditional Korean cuisine with the highest level of service. Visitors can take a break after their long museum trip at the elegant café. (For reservations and more information, please call +82 0 2 722-7002. Gyeonghuigung, the eastern palace of Seoul is located next to the museum and is well worth visiting.
Assortment
March-October
November-February
Weekdays
09:00~20:00
09:00~20:00
Sat, Sun, Holidays
09:00~19:00
09:00~18:00
January 1st, every Monday, days decided by the mayor (charged to the director)
Assortment
Vehicles for under 20 people
Vehicles for 20 and above
Base (up to 2 hours)
3,000 Won
6,000 Won
Per 5 minute excess
400 Won
800 Won
Handicapped and people of
national merit (discount)
80% of parking fee
Small car (discount)
50% of parking fee
* Please use public transportation if at all possible when visiting the museum.
* You may not use parking at the Seoul Museum of History without the self-regulating day* sticker.
* Note: This refers to a sticker applied to the dashboard of a car where a driver chooses to forego driving one day a week and
take public transportation instead to avoid traffic and reduce pollution.
Small meals can be purchased at the cafeteria and restaurant inside the museum.
Souvenirs and cultural objects can be purchased in the Museum Shop on the first floor.
Bags and other packages should be stored in the storage lockers on the first floor.
Baby strollers for infants and wheelchairs for the elderly are available for use (five baby strollers, three wheelchairs).
Permanent exhibition room
Korean : 11:00 pm, 2:00 pm, 3:00 pm
English, Japanese, Chinese : Wishing to use Audio Guide
The Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) opened in 1988 and has earned a reputation as one of Korea’s leading art venues with a series of world-famous exhibitions. Situated in the center of Seoul, its convenient location and outstanding collections attract large numbers of locals and tourists. The specially-designed building features large windows that fill the interior with natural light. This attracts not only tourists but also artists and even movie directors, some of whom have used the location for filming.
Since it was established in 1988, the main museum building has been relocated to Seosomun-dong in Seoul. The museum has a variety of annexes such as SeMA Gyeonghuigung, located on the historic site of Gyeonghuigung (Palace), and the Nam Seoul Annex Building which is situated in a building that was once the Belgian Embassy. The museum also runs the Naji Art Studio which offers workshops and financial support to new generations of Korean artists to nurture their creativity.
The beautiful Renaissance façade which forms the entrance to the museum was originally part of the Supreme Court, built in 1928. Today it is better known as the iconic image of the Seoul Museum of Art. In March 2006, the arch and the beautifully constructed museum building were designated as Cultural Property No. 237 in recognition of their great historical and architectural value.
A home for artistic minds
SeMA is one of Korea’s leading art museums and has boosted its reputation through a series of impressive special exhibitions. Particularly noteworthy exhibitions have included European art featuring Van Gogh, Picasso, Matisse and Chagall alongside the museum’s “Spring Outing Exhibition” and the “International Media Art Biennale”. The museum is also famous for its permanent exhibitions of work by domestic artists, including the collection of more than 93 works by Chun Kyungja, known as one of the great 20th century Korean artists.
Outdoor exhibition areas
The museum offers visitors a leisurely outdoor “Museum Walk” on which to appreciate the various exhibitions and cultural offerings in the gallery’s grounds. The museum entrance is specially designed as an open space for the public – for example there is no barrier – and it is surrounded by greenery which leads you directly into a beautiful sculpture garden. Every year in spring, the “Spring Outing Exhibition” is held in front of the museum. The famous “Autumn Night Concert” is also held each Fall, captivating the audience with the sounds of jazz, pop and classical music, enticing them into the museum’s world of art.
In addition to its main building, SeMA includes SeMA Gyeonghuigung, the Nam Seoul Annex (located in Namhyeon-dong) and the Nanji Art Studio (on the grounds of the World Cup Stadium).
Seoul 