10 Reasons why Insadong is Seoul’s best neighborhood
When you look up “best neighborhoods in Seoul to stay at” during your vacation planning, Insadong comes up quite frequently on top. We decided to stay here for our most recent visit, the last week of July 2022, when South Korea was starting to open its borders to tourists.
Here are the 10 reasons why we stayed in Insadong (and we’re glad we did):
Reason Number 1: Central, Walkable location
Insadong’s location, together with its charm, makes it the perfect hub to walk to a lot of the tourist attractions north of the Hangang river. Here’s a sample of a day’s itinerary starting from where we stayed in our hotel Sunbee. For this day, from Insadong, we walked to Gwanghwamun Square, Gyeongbokgung Palace, National Folk Museum, and Bukchon Hanok Village.
Additionally, from the neighborhood of Insadong, you can see the following tourist spots below and the details of the walking tour can be found here.
- Central Temple of Cheondogyo
- Jogyesa temple Insadong Street
- Cheonggye Plaza & Stream
- Alive Museum
- Kyungin Museum of Fine Art
Reason Number 2: Lots of Traditional Tea Houses
Reason Number 3: Beautiful alleys
One of the major features of Insadong is the extensive and maze-like alleys. There are lots of good restaurants hidden in them. They’re also very beautiful!
Reason Number 4: Art scene
Insadong is filled with art galleries waiting for you to step inside!
Reason Number 5 - Local artisans
Insa-dong is my favorite place in Seoul to shop traditional Korean souvenirs, crockeries, masks, stationeries , antiques, art products and so much more!
Reason Number 6: Lots of Restaurant Choices
Insadong hosts a plethora of restaurants to choose from – from temple food to toppoki to all of your favorites like bibimbap and Bulgogi in between! For our favorite restaurants in Seoul, check it here.
Reason Number 7: Old feel of Korea in a beautiful network of alleyways
Reason Number 8: Insadong’s cute cafés!
Insadong hosts a plethora of restaurants to choose from – from temple food to toppoki to all of your favorites like bibimbap and Bulgogi in between! For our favorite restaurants in Seoul, check it here.
Reason Number 9: Modern X Old
The juxtaposition of the modern malls and traditional stalls in Insadong street is also interesting to see.
Reason number 10: Ssamzigil
Where we stayed in Insadong:
We stayed in Hotel Sunbee and highly recommend it. They have an excellent location in Insadong and have good beds and bathrooms for the price, plus they have on site laundry. We paid $75/night when we stayed here the last week of July to the first week of August.
Tips:
- Insadong street bursts with life on the weekends, especially towards the evening. Daily lunch hours for most restaurants start at 11:30am.
- The subway stations nearest Insadong are Anguk & Jongno 3-ga station.
- These apps will help you in navigating your way around Seoul(from left, clockwise: Papago translation app, Subway Korea, and Kakao Metro Subway Navigation). Based on our experience, however, Google Translate worked great, if not better.
Regardless of where you stay in Seoul, you will discover South Korea’s heritage and pride not just through its preservation of history with the palaces, temples & museums, but also through its culture, both past and present.