South Korea
Seoul, DMZ, & Gangnam
From February 1st to 5th, 2023
First of all, before you visit South Korea, you need to download the Naver app and the Kakao app. Google Maps and Uber-like apps do not work in South Korea, so we found navigating to be more challenging than in other countries.
Day 1
We landed from Vietnam to Seoul around 5pm and made it to our hotel, The Four Seasons Seoul in time for a small bite (tapas style) and cocktails at Charles H bar in the bottom floor of the hotel. We got the croquettes, lobster roll, and charcuterie board; it may have been a bit much. The food and the drinks are an absolute must!
Day 2
Hailey went out for a facial treatment at Sulwhasoo Spa at the Lotte Hotel. Max went out for a walk around town and a bite to eat.
Hailey then went to get her hair done in Hongdae at Soonsiki Flagship Bombhead. It took 4 hours. Next time, she’d probably pick a hair salon in or near Gangham.
The evening was quickly approaching and we went for drinks at Cham Bar. This is apparently a very popular bar in Seoul, but we were lucky enough to snag 2 spots at the bar. We ordered the lasagne and about 100 drinks - everything was wonderful.
The schedule was tight so we had to move quick to make it to our 7:45pm dinner at Woorahman for traditional Korean BBQ. At first we were wanting to cancel the reservation because it was late and a bit further out of town. It was worth the trip! The chef came in the room and cooked the food right in front of you. We were served all kinds of sauces and kimchi along with our dishes. We also had the whiskey tasting with our menu.
Day 3
We woke up at 7:30am for an 8am departure to the DMZ. We puled up to the DMZ about an hour later to purchase our tickets at the station. Tickets were about $6 per person. Once our tickets were purchased, we hopped on a large tour bus with about 15 other people (the bus was not full) and headed to cross over into the DMZ checkpoint zone. It was 23 degrees outside.
At this point, we were not allowed to take any more photos until further instructed. Two South Korean guards boarded our bus to double check our passports with our names on a piece of paper. So, once we all cleared the checkpoint, we crossed over the original DMZ line, to the newer/closer DMZ line.
The bus driver parked the car, we put all our belongings in a locker (especially phones), grab bed helmets, and took our seats for the monorail ride to the bottom of the tunnel. It went about 300 meters underground to the closest point to the North Korea border. There is a little window cut out where you can see to the North Korean side of the border. The tunnel was cold, humid, dark, lit by a few lights, wet and musty. Not a place you want to stay in for long.
After the tunnel tour, we head into the 'museum' to read about the history and see some artifacts. We learned about the JSA from our guide, Sunny. She explained the buildings, the border, famous people who visited, events from the war, previous border 'incidents', etc. We were then guided into a theatre to watch a 3 minute video on North and South Korean ties, what ‘life’ is like at the border, and the goal to become one Korea again. There are about 500 people who live in the DMZ area.
The last stop for the DMZ tour was at an observatory where you can go look over into North Korea with binoculars. Sounds weird and creepy, but when you’re there you are so curious about what is going on across the border.
At this point we had seen all we needed to see and we headed back to Seoul to grab a bite to eat at a Yummy Boy recommendation: Pizza Hip in Gangham. We got a pizza and a pasta, both were great and hit the spot. It was full of young people. We shopped around the area for a bit before heading back to the hotel and resting up for dinner.
We went to dunner at 7pm at Jueun and it was absolutely fantastic. It was a bit difficult to find, but we asked some locals and we finally found our way. Jueun had really cool atmosphere, music and food. Highly recommend.
After dinner we went back to the Gangham area to check out more of the bar scene. It took us the longest to find this bar, but we’re glad we didn’t give up. Pine & Co was one of the cooler speakeasy bars we've visited. The layout was unique and the cocktails were well crafted.
The last stop of the night was at Zest. A beautifully designed bar, really great cocktails, and a fun clientele inside. They label themselves as Korean Fine Drinking.
Day 4
The next day we weren’t feeling too hot (it was a long day/night the day before), but we powered through and went to Kwangjang Market for a bite to eat. We came across a mung bean pancake, a banana & nutella pancake, and then another knife cut noodle spot that Hailey had watched on a Netflix show. The line was around the square for the noodle place, but we waited about 15 minutes and we were in. These markets encourage quick eating. The market was crawling with people, some spots having super long lines. It was great people watching.
We headed back to the hotel to rest up a bit before spending our last night in Seoul.
We watched a demonstration from our hotel room (I guess they demonstrate against the government a lot in Seoul) before heading out to dinner at Aeria. This was such a beautifully crafted meal and we loved our dinner there. It was also somewhat difficult to find as it was inside a larger building.
We went for drinks at Les Chamber, which was a speakeasy with a NYC vibe to it. They had live music and a lot of booze.
We decided to check out one last bar before calling it a night and we went over to Alice. Themed after Alice in Wonderland, the bar was lively with friendly staff, creative cocktails and a fun environment.
Day 5
We headed out early the next morning for our flight to Kyoto!
Jeju Island
From March 11th to March 13th 2024
Stay
Parnas
See/Do
You can pretty much tour around the island in 1 day, but take 2-3 days if you want to do so leisurely.
There are many natural spots to see, your hotel or tour guide will be able to guide you and take you to what most people come here to see.