Where to stay in Seoul

I just got back from a week long vacation in South Korea. It was my first visit so it was more exciting than a regular vacation. I'm a little mentally disorganized right now but I think it'll work out if I keep the topic of the posts narrow.

I'm one of the many tourists from Singapore going to Seoul so I decided to use the collective knowledge of those who have gone before to help plan my trip. The general consensus seemed to be to get a hotel in Myeongdong. Reasons? It's conveniently located to shops and food. Slight digging on the internet will reveal that Myeongdong is overrun by Chinese tourists, which may be a good or a bad thing for you.

Just for brief orientation, the older part of the city is north of the Han river, which is where you find the palace and the old gates. The new part of Seoul, south of the river (or Gangnam) was built only relatively recently. The government pushed the population south by moving a bunch of good schools down there. If you learn your Korean history through dramas like me, you'll remember the fields of barley that the alien dude from You From Another Star bought that became highrise expensive areas.

I ended up picking a hotel near Jongno 3(sam) ga, and I'm pretty happy with my decision. In fact, I'll probably go back to said hotel for future trips.Here is a brief analysis of why Jongno 3 ga is different and maybe better than Myeongdong.

1. Jongno is not right next to all the skincare shops but it doesn't need to be. Those skincare shops are all over Seoul, in the subway and above ground. Consolidated shopping isn't really necessary for skincare products, unless you're looking for a more elusive shop like Boots which is only at Myeongdong and Gangnam. 

2. Local food is readily available at Jongno 3 ga. In fact, exit 14 leads you to the famous gool bossam alley, which is also home to soondae guk restaurants, sullongtang, samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) and some stragglers of other food. Over at the next street, they have a bunch of red tents serving street food. They don't ensure that all the food you want to try are present, but anything there is cheaper and just as good (specifically gyeran bang, the egg bread, is 1000won locally and 3000won at Myeongdong). The Jongno 3 ga area seems to be a local eating spot, so they mainly serve Korean people, but they are not shy to tourists. Tourism is a big part of the livelihood in Seoul, and people are not shy to try engage you in Chinese or in English. Chinese proficiency seemed a little higher on the street, and it probably has to do with the number of Chinese tourists.

A 28,000 won meal for two at the gool bossam alley includes gool bossam, 

gamjatang and a grilled fish.

3. Now we move to other considerations like transportation. Myeongdong is only served by subway line 4. That means you probably have to switch lines whenever you want to go somewhere. Jongno 3 ga is served by subway line 1, 3 and 5. I was actually in between Jongno 3 ga and Euljiro 3 ga, which also gave me access to subway line 2. This means I can take a direct subway line or change once to get to most places like Apugeong/Sinsa (line 3), Ehwa/Sincheon/Hongdae (line 2), Jamsil (line 2, and one transfer to Olympic Park), Seoul station (line 1), Gwangjang market (line 1) etc. 

4. For me, there is also a more nebulous factor, namely Jongno felt more real. Myeongdong is a modern place, clearly set up for tourists. I consider it a Seoul equivalent of Singapore's Gluttons Bay. I didn't find it much different than any other bustling modern city like Tokyo or Singapore. Jongno is an old part of town, where electronics and jewelry are sold and non-tourism sector workers can actually be found. That is not to say that there are no tourists in Jongno -- there are hotels -- but it's less blatant.

So here you have my take on where to stay while in Seoul. I think a second location to look at would be south of the river -- our Seoul friends and family were surprised by our choice of hotel. But the touristy stuff is mostly in the north so if you're visiting for the first time, the north is clearly superior. The south is more for the locals.