Seoul & Jeju, South Korea
First stop!
We landed early in Seoul feeling gassed, we got to meet baby Mila the night before we flew which was the best send off!
Seoul 1/2 - Naksan trail & DMZ
Day 1
Landed at 8 AM, so had the whole day to explore.
Gwangjang Market: For some local street food — bibimguksu (spicy cold buckwheat noodles) & kalguksu (hand-cut noodles). Delicious!
Naksan Trail: Walked up for sunset views over Seoul and some drinks. This was a highlight for us!
Dinner at Jongno-3ga: Local drinking spot with lots of restaurants. We had pork galbi (ribs) and kimchi stew, cooked at our table, with a side of kimchi. It was delicious although we definitely looked like foreigners as the lady forcibly helped us cook our food (and not the locals).
Day 2
De-militarised zone (DMZ) tour:
- Third Tunnel - 1 of 4 tunnels discovered where NK planned to dig under the boarder to invade Seoul.
- Dora observatory - where you can see into NK and it’s 3rd biggest city (Kaesong), as well as the fake towns they’ve planted nearer the boarder, not fooling anyone. Unfortunately no photos were allowed.
Nurungji tongdak: Korean rotisserie chicken stuffed with rice for dinner 🐔 (here)
Seoul 2/2 - Palaces, Hongdae & Seongsu
Day 3
Site seeing
- Three palaces - Gyeonbokgung, Changgyeonggung, Changdeokgung. We enjoyed the latter two the most as they were way less busy and had nice gardens.
- Bukchon Hanok village - very busy but cool to see the old buildings.
- Insa-dong for traditional tea.
- Ikseon-dong had some cool bars, cafes and shops.
Korean BBQ: we stopped at Galbi town next to Ikseon-dong for a dinner in a massive outdoor bbq place.
Hongdae: in the evening we went to Hongdae where we had some drinks at corner bar and bar da before ending up at Modesci.
Day 4
Bit of a slow day
Seongsu
- Voted one of the coolest neighbourhoods in the world - definitely fun to walk around and window shop, recommend!
- Finally got some fried chicken which took an hour to come, Nina was not happy but it was worth the wait. We ordered far too much and it floored me for an hour after 😂
Drone show over the hangang river
- Was very cool but only lasted 15 mins
Jeju - hikes & beach
Day 1
Arrived late due to flight delays and it was pouring with rain so picked up our rental car and drove straight to the airbnb.
Local noodles: we ate at a seafood restaurant around the corner for dinner and had cold, spicy noodles with sashimi and uni noodles in a seafood broth.
Day 2
Olle trail hike
- Seongsan Ilchulbong - started off next to this crater hill known as the sunrise peak on the East side of the island.
- Walked along the coast and then up Dusan bong a small mountain in land where we could see great views of the coast.
Mountain of fish: maximised our protein intake following the hike with five different types of grilled fish for dinner - was a lot but very good.
Day 3
This was a more chill day where we hopped around in the car - highly recommend getting one if visiting Jeju.
Non-existent waterfall: visited the Eongtto waterfall hoping that it would be there due to the rain earlier in the week but it was dry. Was still nice for a stroll though.
Jeju Maemil: for lunch we had cold buckwheat noodles from this restaurant - they were so fresh and worth the detour.
Cheonjeyeon falls: some natural waterfalls and a very cool curved bridge that went high above the river - a big missed opportunity for a 360 photo.
Jungmun Saekdal beach: 5 mins drive from the waterfalls and so beautiful! Full of surfers, we wish we’d brought our swimming stuff for a dip.
Jeju black pork: we had a dinner of barbecued black pork which was much juicier than regular pork followed by a few drinks.
We loved Jeju and wish we’d stayed longer!!
