Seoul at 2 a.m.: the late-night city of bbq, soju, and underground streets

It’s 1:47 a.m. and I’m at a low table under a yellow extractor hood at a gogi-jip — a Korean grill restaurant — in Mapo, with two friends and a charcoal grill of samgyeopsal (pork belly) and a green-glass bottle of soju. The kimchi is being changed out every fifteen minutes. The radish is properly cold. The grill smoke is going up the hood and out into the alley. A taxi pulls up outside; the driver gets out, comes in, eats half a portion of the same pork belly, drinks a small soju, pays, and is back in his car in twelve minutes. This is Seoul.

Why I keep coming back

I first went to Seoul in 2010 on assignment for a magazine that wanted a story about the Korean Wave (the Hallyu, the cultural export of K-pop, drama, and cinema), which was at the time only beginning to register in the West. I underestimated the city. I underestimated it again in 2013. By 2018 it was clear that Seoul had become the most culturally influential city in East Asia outside Tokyo and that I had been missing the structure of why.

The city’s particular gift is density. Twenty-five million people in the metropolitan area; the central core is high-rise, multi-layered, with underground shopping streets that are themselves entire ecosystems. The public transport is the best in Asia. The food culture — Korean BBQ, the banchan side-dish tradition, the noodle shops, the late-night fried chicken — is layered into every neighbourhood.

Where to base yourself

Bukchon / Insadong for the heritage hanok houses, the palaces, and the slower-paced central historic district.

Hongdae for the student / nightlife energy.

Itaewon for the international neighbourhood with the best non-Korean food.

Seongsu-dong for the design-led, Brooklyn-of-Seoul feel.

Gangnam for the wealthy modern district south of the river; useful if you want the corporate Seoul.

What to actually do

Visit Gyeongbokgung Palace at first opening. The main royal palace of the Joseon dynasty, with the Geunjeongjeon throne hall and the National Folk Museum on the grounds. Reduced entry if you wear a hanbok (rented from shops around the palace); a touch theme-parky but locals do it too.

Walk Bukchon Hanok Village in the early morning. A neighbourhood of preserved traditional Korean wooden houses, occupied as actual residences. Don’t speak loudly; this is people’s homes.

Take a Seoul City walking tour or do a temple walk. Jogyesa, the main Zen Buddhist temple, in the city centre. The 1,500-year-old Bongeunsa across from the COEX mall in Gangnam.

Eat at a market at 1 a.m. Gwangjang Market is the famous late-night market — bindae-tteok (mung bean pancakes), live octopus (yes, sannakji), bossam (boiled pork wraps).

Go to a jjimjilbang. The Korean bathhouse-and-sauna complex; communal hot pools, sauna rooms in various temperatures (the rooms cooled by ice, heated by salt, etc.), often with overnight floor sleeping. Dragon Hill Spa is the famous 24-hour one; Siloam by Seoul Station is also large and central.

Climb Namsan Tower for the view. Or, more interestingly, walk the city wall trail — Seoul’s medieval city wall is largely intact and walkable in sections.

Where to eat

Korean food is a deep regional culture. Seoul has the best of all of it.

Jung Sik — Modern Korean tasting menu; two Michelin stars. Mingles — Two Michelin, contemporary Korean with deep respect for the tradition. Hadongkwan (Myeongdong) — Seolleongtang (slow-simmered beef bone soup); a 90-year-old institution. Tosokchon Samgyetang (Tongin) — The classic ginseng-stuffed-whole-chicken soup. Queue. Wooraeok (Euljiro) — Naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles in icy broth) — an absurd dish on first encounter, addictive by the third bowl. Anywhere with a ‘meat row’ sign for BBQ. Cheongdam and Mapo are the meat-row districts; pork (samgyeopsal, moksal) for the casual evenings, hanwoo beef for the splurge. Fried chicken and beer (chimaek) — A national institution. Kkanbu Chicken and Kyochon are the chains; the smaller neighbourhood places are usually as good.

When to come

April–May (cherry blossom, mild) or October (the famously crisp Korean autumn, autumn leaves).

June through August is hot and humid. December through February is dry but cold (sometimes –10°C).

Golden Week / Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok, October) is a busy domestic-travel period.

Practical notes

• Visa: 90 days visa-free for most Western passports. K-ETA online pre-registration is now required for most Western visitors.
• Money: Korean won. Card universally. T-money card for transit (loadable, used on subway, bus, taxi).
• Transport: The metro is the best subway in Asia in my experience — fast, signposted in English, with mobile coverage and clean toilets. The KTX high-speed train connects Seoul to Busan in under three hours.
• Etiquette: Bow slightly when greeting. Don’t pour your own drink (someone else fills your glass; you fill theirs); take with two hands when an elder pours for you. Take your shoes off at the entrance of homes and many traditional restaurants.
• Soju: Korean rice spirit, around 16–20% alcohol. Drunk in shots; the cycle is fast. The mornings are unforgiving.

A final thought

Seoul is one of the cities that has, in the past fifteen years, gone from underrated to slightly overrated and then settled back to its actual strength. The K-pop tourism wave, the rise of Korean cinema globally, the food tourism — these have all made Seoul a more obvious destination than it was when I first visited in 2010.

The city’s actual gift is the late hours. The Korean working day is famously long, and the social life happens between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. The bbq restaurants, the soju bars, the karaoke rooms (noraebang), the 24-hour markets, the bathhouses — all of these are calibrated to a city that doesn’t really sleep until 3.

For a visitor, the implication is straightforward: do less in the daytime. Sleep in. Walk a palace in the late afternoon. Eat dinner at 9 p.m. Drink soju. Find a 24-hour spa at 1 a.m. and emerge at 5 with the city’s first subway. The Western tourist habit of being in bed by 11 is the wrong strategy here. Seoul rewards the night.