Seoul
Out of context: Reply #5
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- i_monk0
Shinchon: University student area, full of noraebang (karaoke) and restaurants.
Hongdae: South west of Shinchon, it's the nightclub area for that part of town (at night) and the trendy artsy district during the day.
Myeongong: the fashion district, but Korean fashion can be odd and unless you're kinda small it probably won't fit.
I highly recommend the National Museum of Korea; it's a bit of a trek but you can get there on the subway and it'll take at least an afternoon to see most of it. The National Museum of Contemporary Art was an even longer trek (still on the subway of course) but it was full of interesting stuff, spent another afternoon there.
Itaewon is where most non-student foreigners can be found in the city, and it's a bit shit. I wouldn't go there.
Yongsan is the big electronics district, check out E-Mart if you want to blow a ton of cash on electronics, games, etc.
The main palace is Gyeongbokgung, it's just north of City Hall. I went there as a kid and remember liking it, but I didn't get back to it last time. This is also near the downtown stream they resurrected, Cheonggyecheon, and Insadong the antiques market (this is where one of only 2(?) Starbucks in the world was forced to change its wordmark to the local writing). There's a huge music store somewhere in this area too, quality foreign brand stuff at lower prices than you'd expect.
I didn't go, but Seoul Tower is a big sight seeing stop too, pretty much what you'd expect.
Yeoido Island (the big island in the Han River) is also nice in spring, with the trees blossoming and whatnot.
All of this, except the two museums, is on the north side of the river. I lived on the south side when I was a kid, but it's changed a lot since then so I can't recommend anything.