Day Two in Seoul

Itinerary

• 10am-1pm: Korean War Memorial
• 1.45pm-2.30pm: Changdeokgung Palace
• 2.30pm-3.30pm: Guided tour of Secret Garden (Huwon)
• 4pm-4.45pm: Namdaemun Market
• 5pm-6.30pm: Namsan Tower

The Details

The first activity on day two in Seoul was the Korean War Memorial. We got on a bus headed in that direction. We stayed on a couple stops past the memorial to end up in Itaewon. In need of coffee and a pastry, we went to Starbucks. I wanted to see if it was different than an American Starbucks. The menu and decor were very similar but the pastry selection was way better than any Starbucks I’ve been to in the States. After getting a latte and several pastries between the two of us, we got on a bus to head back to the War Memorial.

Contrary to what I assumed before arriving, this museum covers way more than just the Korean War of the 1950s. There were exhibits and information on Korean history and wars, all the way back to prehistoric times. The museum was so educational and interesting that we ended up spending more time there than anticipated. We eventually did have to leave to make it to our scheduled tour of the garden within Changdeokgung Palace, which can only be visited by guided tour.

The Secret Garden:
If you plan to visit Changdeokgung Palace, make sure you tour the Secret Garden (Huwon). Tickets for this tour are separate from the tickets to enter the palace grounds and can be purchased online seven days in advance. Buy tickets ahead of time since the tours are limited to 50 people per time slot.

We arrived with some time to explore the palace grounds before the garden tour. It is set up similar to Gyeongbokgung Palace, which we saw the previous day. There are many buildings, all set apart from each other, and each has its own purpose. It’s like a house that has been disassembled and had the rooms all spread apart.

At 2:30 it was time for our Secret Garden tour. When the palace was in use by the royal family, only those permitted by the king were allowed to enter the garden. This was where the royal family would spend their free time relaxing or studying. The garden is full of trees, ponds, buildings, and pavilions. It was very peaceful but I can only imagine how beautiful it would be in the spring.

After Changdeokgung we went to Namdaemun Market. The narrow, crowded, and maze-like streets of this market were quite overwhelming so we didn’t stay too long. We spent a while browsing the shops and sampling some of the street food before heading to Namsan Tower. To get to the base of the tower you can either walk or take the cable car. There was a wait for the cable car but we still opted to take it. The walk up is quite a hike and it was too cold for my liking.

At the base of the tower there are some shops and restaurants near the booth where tickets to go up the tower are sold. Even though it was a hazy day we decided to go up the tower with the hope that we would get a good view once the city lit up for the night. The view ended up not being great due to the haze but it still made us appreciate just how truly massive Seoul is.

The last important stop of the day was ice cream. We took the subway back to the Mapo-gu area to stop at Fell & Cole. This San Francisco inspired shop has some unique flavors and a cozy ambience. I had the lavender honey ice cream and thought it was amazing, but I am a tad obsessed with lavender flavored anything. For dinner, which was obviously secondary in importance to ice cream, we stopped at a nearby noodle place before heading back the the Airbnb to prep for our early flight out the next morning.