City Guides
Seoul Beyond the Hype: Palaces, Markets and Mountain Temples
K-dramas brought you here. The 600-year-old city behind them will keep you.
By Julien Marchetti · 22 April 2026 · 8 min read
Seoul's pop culture wave is real, but it sits on top of a city that has been the capital of Korea since 1394. The palaces, fortress walls and temple bells were here six centuries before the first boy band.
Start at Gyeongbokgung, the grandest of the five Joseon palaces, and rent a hanbok from the shops opposite — wearing one gets you free entry and turns the palace grounds into a time machine. Walk the fortress wall from Dongdaemun up Naksan at sunset for the best free view in the city.
Eat at the markets, not the malls. Gwangjang's bindaetteok mung-bean pancakes and mayak gimbap are the city's soul food; Mangwon market does the same for half the tourist price. For dinner, find a pojangmacha tent stall and order whatever the table next to you is having.
Leave a day for the mountains: Bukhansan's granite peaks rise inside the city limits, and the temple of Jingwansa on the way down offers temple-stay programmes and a lunch that alone justifies the hike.
