Postcard from South Korea - Seoul and Incheon
My sister and brother-in-law moved to Incheon, South Korea, a little over a year ago. So when Ben and I were planning our Japan trip, we knew we had to add on a trip to visit. There is so much to see, eat, experience, and learn that we barely scratched the surface. But we tried to see as much as we could and already have a wishlist for a second trip. I really want to get to Busan and Jeju Island the next time, and if we go later in spring or the fall, I would love to get some hiking in.
Did you know how many amazing museums there were to see just in Seoul? I only had the Leeum, Bongeunsa, Olive Young, Gyeonbokgung Palace, Bukhansan National Park, and some vegan restaurants on my list. Since we only had five days there, I was trying to be realistic and also have time to see other things. We were staying outside of Seoul in Incheon, so there was a lot of travel time each day.
Museums we visited:
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art
The Leeum Samsung Museum of Art:
We went for the Tino Sehgal exhibit. We couldn't take any photos, but it was such a fantastic exhibit.
We went for the Keysook Geum Dancing, Dreaming, Enlightening Exhibit.
I went thinking that my food options would be really limited. I had a few temple food spots and vegan and vegetarian restaurants saved. But my brother-in-law really expanded my options. When we were wandering on our own, he circled dishes at different restaurants that were meatless for me. There were lots of English option menus, but they don't list the ingredients, so it would have been really hard to branch out on my own. I loved everything, and I plan to make a few of the soups and banchan recipes at home. It was still really cold when we were there, so we loved finding tea shops, coffee shops, and bars to take breaks in to warm up, get off our feet, and plan our next steps.
Restaurants, coffee shops, and bars we loved:
This cocktail bar has no menu, you just chat about what you like and they can make you a fantastic cocktail or mocktail. The bar is inside a beautifully renovated Hanok and was definitely a highlight on our trip. We loved it so much and will definitely go back again.
My sister is getting here PhD in Incheon, and she recommended this place to us. It's another one we will definitely come back to. We tried their seasonal coffee, and it was so good.
This was another Incheon coffee place my sister guided us to. It was too busy to sit down and enjoy the food and coffee, but we took it to go.
We really needed a place to warm up and figure out where we were headed for dinner and Coffee Nine really hit the spot. Everyone loved what they got and it's another one place I'm sure we will return to.
ARTMONSTER Brewery:
This was a fun spot overlooking the Red Road known for their award winning craft beers, pizza and chicken. They have a bunch of other locations too.
Bar Catalyst:
We needed a break and a little quiet after walking around Red Road and found this bar. It was another great spot to sit down and plan our next steps.
This was on my vegetarian food list of places to try. It was in the Insadong neighborhood. It was a great spot for takeout or a quick lunch. Everything is vegan so you can try a bunch of different things and trust they are vegetarian.
We were looking for a place to stop for tea or coffee when we were walking around the Bukchon Hanok Village and saw the sign and decided to try it. They were sold out of a few things, but we loved what we had, and getting to relax and enjoy the location was another highlight of our trip.
I didn't mark some of the other delicious places we ate at, but the food was sooooo good.
Ben also had a list of buildings he wanted to see since he's an architect. We didn't make it to many of them, but here are a few from his list.
Buildings:
Ewha Womans University by Dominique Perrault Architecture
The Leeum mentioned above was designed by architects Mario Botta, Jean Nouvel, and Rem Koolhaas
Saemoonan church by Seoinn Design Group + Lee Eunseok
I also got the best facial I've ever had, and it cost so much less than any I've had here. So now I only want to get facials in Korea. We went to Dr. Evers. I didn't make it to any of the big giant Olive Young stores, but I still came home with some fun new things to try and some gifts for friends and family.
Other places we visited:
We all dressed up in traditional Hanbok and spent the day wandering around the palace. If you dress up, you get free admission. We planned to have lunch at the Michelin guide Samcheong-dong Sujebi, but the line was intimidating, so we went to another great restaurant nearby. Sujebi and miyeokguk are just some of the Korean soups that I'm hoping to recreate soon.
We were going to skip this, but it ended up being fun to wander around for a bit. There were more crowds here, so we popped in to Zamyung Seosil for tea and treats. Then Chaceremony caught our eye, and we tried some tea and picked up tea and treats for gifts to bring home.
Insadong:
This area was so fun to wander around. There were great restaurants, galleries, artisan shops, and more.
Red Road
We were worried about traveling around Japan with too much luggage for the second part of our trip, so we didn't bring home as much as we wanted from South Korea. Next time, we definitely want to bring back more art, a handmade tea set, ceramics, even more skincare, and some fun gift ideas that didn't make it back with us this time.
Places we hope to visit next time:
This museum was under construction, so you had to make reservations, and we missed our time.
Songeun Art & Cultural Foundation
Jogyesa Temple
Bukhansan National Park
Bongeusa Temple
Jeju Island
Busan
Icheon Ye's Ceramics Village
