Seoul Travel Guide Hub: Plan your trip

This Seoul travel guide hub is part of our “Mi Amor Mi Hanguk: Our South Korea Story” series. It started as one blog and exploded into various mini‑guides – from first‑time planning and neighbourhoods to day trips, winter lights and much more. Start here, then follow your curiosity.

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Let us start by thanking you for your patience with our South Korea series. It was long due, and we are here now.

We landed in Incheon on a winter afternoon; at first, it looked like any major global city. By the time we reached Seoul, the whole tapestry had changed. As the sun went down, the city had no intention of slowing down. Snow on the footpath, people on the streets fixated on their phones, and buildings almost speaking to you to grab your attention. In that moment, we realised what it feels like to be inside a K-drama.

We have already visited larger‑than‑life cities like Mumbai, Sydney, Paris and many others, so our image of Seoul was on similar lines – a rich tapestry of modernisation, a city completely wrapped in technology. You start building perceptions when you watch K-dramas and movies like Parasite or Train to Busan, and you feel like you have already read the city’s pulse. Almost. That is exactly where you are wrong. Seoul feels endless; maybe there are city boundaries on a map, but to us it looked like a giant, never‑ending city.

Protector of Gwanghwamun

Every capital city holds a piece of the country’s soul and its aura. You can usually read a lot about a country – its people, its history, and even its future – just by walking through its capital. Seoul, with its past, its present, and its fierce hunger for the future, is one of the most admirable examples of this. For us, the city became our window into South Korea before we even managed to leave its borders.​

It was also the first city that really burst our minds in terms of planning how to explore it. If you check online for places to visit, you will end up with a list of more than 30–40 “must‑see” spots. So instead of adding one more overwhelming list to the internet, we decided to turn our confusion into something useful and share how we actually broke the city down into pieces we could handle. Only then did we realise the planning stress was not just about the number of places, but also about the noise around them.​

On Instagram, you will find hundreds and thousands of reels promoting restaurants, markets, shops and whatnot, and if you start engaging with them, you will spiral straight into the rabbit hole. The same thing happened to us; we built our first itinerary based on Instagram and traveller recommendations, and that was our doom. Every third restaurant in Korea seems to have its own aroma and style. You cannot survive in Seoul if you look like the place next door. There is only so much you can do with food itself, so what is left? Ambience. Creators know how to make a restaurant look cute and outstanding, but in real life, every second café looked amazing. We often had to fall back on Google reviews to finally make a decision. Somewhere between the tenth reel and the twentieth “must‑visit” café, we knew we needed a calmer way to look at the city.​

Famous Gangnamdol on K-Star road

That is how this whole Seoul chapter started. We had no idea that when we sat down to write about it, it would turn into a book by itself. We had to hold ourselves back and stop adding more details. The love for the city and the need to share even the smallest things that might help your planning made this piece grow wild and a little dramatic – which, to be fair, is exactly how Seoul feels too. So we cut the “book” into six small, reader‑digestible blogs. This is our “Mi Amor Mi Seoul” mini series.

If you are new here, check out our South Korea planning blog first – that is a good place to begin if K-pop or K-drama is your next big obsession. (Pssst… if your South Korea plan is already sorted and you are now hunting only for Seoul details, you can happily start from here.)

To save you from the same chaos, this mini series breaks Seoul into simple, focused pieces:

• Where to start in Seoul and how to peel the onion layers

Starting your trip in Seoul and how to divide and conquer regions.

• Shop till you drop: Seoul style

Shopping spots and what to expect

• Seoul’s time lens: deep history of the city

Forts, gardens and streams where you can have a lovely time

• Keep calm and let Seoul shine bright – a visit to the Garden of Morning Calm and the Lantern Festival

Must‑see places to enjoy the winter season in and around Seoul

• The electrons of Seoul – day trips to amazing places from the city (DMZ, Nami Island, railbikes and more)

Places to uncover beyond Seoul.​

• A vegetarian’s guide to the Seoul galaxy

Managing food and dietary needs when you are travelling on plants and prayers.

This hub is your contents page for "Mi Amor Mi Hanguk" Seoul series. You can read everything in order like a mini book, or jump straight to the part your heart is shouting for first – shopping, history, winter lights, day trips, or just food survival.​

Please share your feedback in the comments or reach out to us through our channels; we genuinely look forward to hearing from you and learning how Seoul treated you in return.​

Travel, Mi Amor