Sunday 19 May 2013

Seoul, Korea Day 1 - Namdaemun, Myeongdong, Woori Garden

The recent trip to Korea was really amazing and an eye opener. There were so many things to discover & realised when we travel out in this world. We spent a total of 8 days in Seoul in April' 2013. April's a great period to travel to Korea w cherry blossoms everywhere but the coldness & dryness can be quite harsh.



We took the Airport Limousine (6002) to our hotel which was at Jongno 3(sam)ga station. It costs 10,000KRW per person. The journey to our Hotel (GS Hotel Jongno) took us about an hour.


Directions: After alighting, turn left & you'll see Shinhan bank at a T-junction. Turn right at that junction & you'll see Seoul Theater (right side). Go straight & turn right at the Pharmacy & Udon Restaurant. About 50m, you'll see the hotel on the left side.

GS Hotel Jongno Address: 87, Gwansu-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-420 South Korea
                                                Korean Address for Taxi Drivers: 서울 종로구 관수동 87돈화문5-5
    

Walking distance to Jongno 3-ga Station & allow guests fast and easy access to nearby attractions like Gyeongbokgung (Palace), and Namsan Tower or to some of the major shopping districts like Namdaemun Market, Dongdaemun Market, and Myeong-dong.  Complimentary toast, cup noodles, cereal is served for breakfast! 

Credit to utravelnote. 

Very comfortable stay, clean & packed w all the necessary amenities. We booked the deluxe room which comes with a double & a single bed. So we decided to placed all our luggage on the smaller bed. The room comes w heated floor and bed and it was really essential as the temperature drops below 5 while we were there in the night.
What's best was the big TV screen and a desktop for us to check our work mails and do our itinerary research. Every room has their own wireless port (upon check-in, you'll get the pw) means SUPER FAST WIFI CONNECTION! :D


Very worth for about 90SGD per night for a Deluxe room. If you wish for a bigger room, go for the Executive Room which is twice as big & comes w a double bed & a jazcuzzi bathtub for about 130SGD per night. If you don't wish to spend a bomb on your accommodation, GS hotel is the one for you. It's about 3mins walking time to Jongno 3(sam)ga MTR station which interchange 3 lines. After checking in, we set off to Namdaemun Market & Myeongdong for food & shopping.


Purchase your T-Card here for your MTR rides. It's quite user friendly, they've certain machines in English.
Alight at Hoehyeon MTR station & there'll be signage to direct you to Namdaemun Market.



You can never get hungry in Seoul. Food is everywhere! :D



Namdaemun Market is a tourist spot and the prices tend to be steeper than local places. We didn't spend long here as most of the stuff are not meant for Youngsters :P


My fav travel companion of all time! After, we head over to Myeongdong for shopping & dinner.


Shopping paradise! Cosmestic brands are everywhere in the streets of Myeongdong and Seoul itself.



Walked over to check out Myeongdong's Cathedral. The sculpture's really beautiful inside as well. We didn't managed to take a photo inside as there were ppl doing their quiet time so we left quickly (:




Street snacks were the best in Seoul. You just can't miss them! Afterwhich, we head over to Woori Garden Korean BBQ for dinner. It was recommended and ranked quite on the top of TripAdvisor so we decided to try it out. I've to say it tasted really good w the condiments & plently of side dishes! 

Directions: Get out of Exit 8 of Myeongdong and it's located at the basement of that building. There'll be signage.

Address: 65-6 Chungmuro 2-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul. 100-861 KOREA.



The beef brisket were sliced into really thin pieces & the Grilled pork loin were really well marinated. The prices vary depending on the weight of the meat you ordered. It's not really cheap while dining in Seoul, especially in restaurants. Woori Garden is definitely worth the try when you're there. Visit their website for more details and print their online coupon to get 10% discount off your total bill. http://www.woorigarden.com/



Dropped by Lotte Mart for some local snacks at Seoul Station and called it a day. There are many outlets selling local snacks in Korea but lotte mart has a big variety of it.

Thanks for reading. x

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17 comments

  1. Good read... Please update Day 2 and places of Interest that you went... Thanks...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ronald Sam, I've updated the links in the different post of my trip to korea. I've included the link to Day 2 in this post. Hope that helps! Cheers!

      Delete
  2. hi jacq,

    thanks for sharing. BTW , how did you travel from airport to hotel?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi John Taylor, thanks for reading too (;

      From incheon airport, you can take the airport limousine number 6002 which cost 10000W per pax - alight at the stop named Jongno 3(Sam) ga. It will be at the exit 15 of Jongno 3 (Sam)ga subway station. The journey from airport will take you about an hour. When you've alighted, turn left and walk towards a bank at the T-junction. Give it a right turn after you passed the bank, walk down the street about 2mins, you'll see a pharmacy or noodle shop, turn right and reached GS Hotel. There'll be signage to guide you. Have fun!

      Cheers,
      Jacq

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    2. Hi Jacq,

      Do you have the email address of the hotel you stayed in?

      Thanks!

      Delete
    3. Hi there,

      I've just updated the post w more details to the hotel. I tried emailing them twice through the contact in the website below but there weren't any replies though. You can try or give them a call (:

      http://www.hotelgs.co.kr/

      Cheers,
      Jacq

      Delete
  3. Hi may I know how did you book the hotel? Direct from the website or through hotel booking sites like http://www.trivago.sg/seoul-101629/hotel/gs--jongro-2199266 ? Am considering staying there when I am there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Tom, I didn't book through their website as most of the words are in Korean and I mailed them an equiry before booking but didn't seems to get a reply after weeks. So I booked thru backick.com which has now merged with Expedia and it's cheaper than agoda that's why I booked thru that (: sorry I didn't came across this booking website trivago before so I've no idea. But if it's reliable and cheaper than Expedia, do ahead and book! (:

      Cheers,
      Jacq

      Delete
    2. Great! Thanks for the info! :D

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    3. Hope that helps! Have fun in korea! :D

      Delete
  4. Can I check when did you book the airport limousine?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi there, We didn't booked. We bought it straight at the airport upon arrival (:

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  5. I have a friend in Seoul, but I didn’t stay in their house when I went there. I’m lucky to find a list of Cheapest Hotels in Seoul by searching Google and asking for my friend’s recommendation.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello there! I came across your blog while searching for Korea trip blogs.
    May i ask what flight did you take to Korea and how much was it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey there! Thanks for reading! I took Cathay pacific from Singapore to Korea but transit at HongKong. I stay over hk for 4 days before gg to Korea for a week. Total flight about $670 SGD (;

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