Bongeunsa Temple
Seoul, South Korea
Bongeunsa is a 1,200-year-old Buddhist temple hidden in the shadow of Gangnam's glass towers — a spiritual enclave of wooden halls, stone pagodas, and ancient trees that provides the most jarring contrast in a city full of jarring contrasts.
Changdeokgung Palace & Secret Garden
Yulgok-ro, Seoul, South Korea
Changdeokgung is the most beautiful of Seoul's five palaces and the only one inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site — recognised for the way its architecture adapts to the natural topography rather than imposing a grid on the landscape, as Gyeongbokgung does.
Changgyeonggung Palace
Changgyeonggung-ro, Seoul, South Korea
Changgyeonggung is the overlooked palace — the fourth of Seoul's five Joseon palaces and the one most visitors skip in favour of Gyeongbokgung or Changdeokgung, which makes it the most peaceful and least crowded.
Deoksugung Palace
Sejong-daero 20-gil, Seoul, South Korea
Deoksugung is the most accessible and unusual of Seoul's five palaces — a compact compound in the heart of the business district where traditional Korean palace halls sit alongside Western neoclassical buildings, reflecting the turbulent period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when Korea was being pulled between Asian tradition and Western modernity.
Gyeongbokgung Palace
Sajik-ro, Seoul, South Korea
Gyeongbokgung is the largest and grandest of Seoul's five Joseon dynasty palaces — built in 1395 as the main royal residence and the seat of government for a dynasty that would rule Korea for over 500 years.
Gyeonghuigung Palace
Saemunan-ro, Seoul, South Korea
Gyeonghuigung is the secret palace — the fifth and least known of Seoul's Joseon-era palaces, hidden behind a modern government building and visited by a fraction of the tourists who crowd the other four.
Jogyesa Temple
55 Ujeongguk-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul
Jogyesa is the head temple of Korean Zen Buddhism — the administrative and spiritual centre of the Jogye Order, which oversees the majority of Buddhist temples and monks in South Korea.
Jongmyo Shrine
Jong-ro, Seoul, South Korea
Jongmyo Shrine is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the most sacred Confucian site in Korea — a royal ancestral shrine where the spirit tablets of Joseon dynasty kings and queens have been venerated for over 600 years.
Namdaemun Market
21 Namdaemunsijang 4-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul
Namdaemun is Seoul's oldest and largest traditional market — a sprawling labyrinth of 10,000 shops and stalls that has been operating for over 600 years, making it one of the oldest continuously running markets in the world.
National Museum of Korea
137 Seobinggo-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
The National Museum of Korea is the largest museum in Asia — a massive glass-and-stone building in Yongsan housing over 400,000 artifacts that trace 5,000 years of Korean civilisation, from Palaeolithic stone tools to Joseon-era celadon and modern art.
War Memorial of Korea
29 Itaewon-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul
The War Memorial of Korea is the most comprehensive military history museum in Asia — a massive complex in Yongsan that traces Korea's military history from ancient kingdoms through the Japanese colonial period to the Korean War and beyond.
Explore history in Seoul
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