Winter in Seoul ❄️ 4 Days in the South Korean Capital

Winter in Seoul ❄️ 4 Days in the South Korean Capital

Annyeonghaseyo, JHMedium here. Today I am in Seoul, South Korea. Good morning from Seoul, South Korea. While this is not my first time in the country, it’s my first time on the actual Korean Peninsula. I’ve only ever been to Jeju when I was a little kid, so I’ve never visited Seoul before. I’m visiting when the Korean Won is the weakest it has been for a very long time. So why not come right now? This time I’m here in South Korea for another solo trip. Unfortunately, Rika wasn’t able to get her Korean visa. Even though I definitely prefer traveling with Rika than traveling alone, I still think I can make the most of it. We have so much to see in this beautiful city. My first stop today in Seoul is the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Admission costs 3000 Won. But if you wear a traditional hanbok, it’s actually free to enter. Since Rika is not here, we can’t take photos of each other. I decided just to buy a ticket and go in. Finished in 1395, Gyeongbokgung literally means the palace greatly blessed by heaven. Back then, it was the centerpiece of the Joseon Empire, the ruling dynasty of the Korean Peninsula. The palace flourished for nearly two centuries. However, during the Imjin War in the late 1500s, the original palace was completely burned down and destroyed. The complex remained largely unused for over 200 years. Efforts to rebuild only began during the latter years of the Joseon Empire. Gyeongbokgung has since gradually been reconstructed, with the latest phase following a restoration plan developed in 1990. Even today, work is still ongoing. So this one we see right here today was actually the one restored after 1990. I really like this hall that surrounds this palace. The pillars just go on and on forever and it looks really cool. Almost everyone here is wearing hanbok. I guess that kind of makes me look like the odd one out. The centerpiece of the palace is without a doubt Geunjeongjeon, the throne hall. During the Joseon Dynasty, it was used for royal ceremonies. But I think the intricate patterns inside can be a bit dizzying to look at. Walking through the main area, I originally thought this palace was quite small. But it turns out there’s a whole garden surrounding the area, and it’s a lot bigger than I expected. I guess this garden will look better in the warmer months when there’s actually leaves on the trees. Right now, it does look kind of barren, but it has its own style to it. Or maybe when it snows in the winter, it should look really beautiful as well. But it almost never snows here. So before I leave the palace, every day at 10AM and 2PM, there is a changing of the guards ceremony, and I’m gonna go catch the 2PM one right now. After standing in -5°C weather for a while, it’s good to come inside for some hot lunch. I got myself a kimchi jjigae. When she served it to me, it was boiling hot. Literally boiling. After a warm afternoon meal, it’s time to go explore more of the city. It’s around 3:30PM right now, and since most of the tourist sites close at 5PM, I’ll save sightseeing for another day. Instead, I’m going to spend the afternoon checking out some artistic little shops and getting some souvenirs. It’s nearly sunset, which means it’s time to go find a viewpoint. So I’m heading up towards Namsan Seoul Tower. I don’t think I’m going to go up the actual tower, but hopefully I can find a good viewpoint up the hill. And now I’m finally making my way down again. That was definitely not an easy hike, especially because I’m not feeling 100% today, but the view makes it totally worth it. I mean seriously, look at how steep this portion is. If you don’t want to hike, of course you can also take the cable car, but I think it’s quite expensive. I’ll put the price somewhere on the screen. And now I’m going to make my way all the way back down to Myeongdong and find somewhere to eat. Day 2 in Seoul, and my first stop today is Ikseondong. This is a hanok village, which basically means it’s made up of traditional Korean houses. It is converted into a neighborhood with many restaurants, but it’s most famous for its cafes and small bakeries. Today for lunch, I’m eating at a place where you will spot immediately when you enter the area. It’s a pot rice restaurant. I’ve never had this type of Korean food before. Visually speaking, it looks like a dish where they give you a rice pot, and after you eat the rice, you pour the hot broth inside. So you eat the second part of the dish as a soup dish. It looks like this is the hot broth that you’re supposed to pour in afterwards, and then you got the actual rice pot here. I got the eggplant one. It looks really interesting because it’s like two dishes in one. So it seems like I’m supposed to scoop the rice into the stone bowl to eat. And then pour the hot broth into the rest of the scorching rice. Okay, I got my broth soaking, and I’m going to try the rice now. Oh, that is awesome. The eggplant soaks in the chili and the flavors so well. And actually, this is not a vegetarian dish. There’s still some minced meat in the eggplant. Eggplant is such a great ingredient because it literally acts like a sponge. So it soaks in that gochujang, soy sauce, a little bit of garlic flavor, and it even has some sweetness to it. And you also get a little bit of that scorched rice in this bowl. So the rice is not just soft. You also get that crispy, crunchy rice as well. I really like this dish. The pot rice itself kind of feels like a bibimbap, but then because of the broth and the additional dish you can create with the broth, it’s very unique. Now it’s time to have the soup. It was clear before, but the gochujang made it all red already. I’m gonna try a spoonful. The rice is all very soft now, but there’s still a lot of that spicy flavor. Actually, it kind of feels more like a congee. This dish really makes use of every bit of sauce and flavor because the broth captures all the sauce remaining on the pot, and then you drink it all down. Well, that was a very nice meal. And at around $8, it’s not expensive either. Afterwards, they gave me a small like Yakult drink type of thing for dessert. This place is so popular. It’s nearly 3PM right now, and there’s still a line outside. It feels like the lines at the bakeries here are even crazier than the restaurants. I don’t want to line up anymore. As I really love architecture, right now in the afternoon, I’m here to check out one of the coolest buildings in Seoul, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. This building was designed by Zaha Hadid and Samoo Architects, and it is a cultural center. Seriously, just look at this design. I can’t tell what the shape reminds me of. It really is such a cool design. It’s not all just curves. There are also many angles as well, but somehow it blends together in harmony. This building is a museum and an exhibition center with different events going on. Like there’s some sort of interactive design showcase right now. Looks like there’s many of these AI photo booths here. I’m gonna go try one of them out. I think it actually did quite a good job. Even recognized the way I tied my scarf. But the eyebrows are a bit strange though. The sun is nearly setting, and that means it’s time to go hike up to another viewpoint. Today, I’m heading to the Naksan Park. If you want to do the entire trail, it’s almost 20 kilometers long following the old city wall. But I think I’m only gonna hike a short section. This is directly opposite from the Namsam Seoul Tower I was hiking up towards yesterday. And it looks like the sun is about to dip out from the clouds. If I’ll be honest, I think the Namsam view from yesterday was better. But at least here, you don’t have to hike up as much, and you still get a perfect view of the sunset. It’s a different perspective. A new day in Korea. I was hoping for another bright sunny day, but I got the complete opposite. Good morning from Seoul, and as you can tell, it is snowing today. The landscape is completely different from the sunny past few days. In the past November and December, Seoul had record amounts of snowfall. It’s so beautiful. But while it is really beautiful when it’s snowing, it’s still quite inconvenient and uncomfortable to walk around outside. So today, I’m gonna find some indoor activities to do. Right now, I’m here at the National Museum of Korea. But before I go into the museum, I gotta check out this beautiful park in the snow. It really is winter paradise right now. Surprisingly, it’s actually warmer today than the past few days. It’s -1°C right now, when it was like -6°C yesterday. And because of that, as you can see, the lake is not actually frozen. When the snow falls down and melts really quickly. The National Museum of Korea is free to enter for everyone, so that’s really appreciated. So I think I’m gonna go explore the museum for a few hours. After exploring the museum in the morning, I made it over to Myeongdong, and I’m finally gonna have some Korean barbecue. Thank you to my friend Brian for recommending this restaurant to me. It’s actually quite a simple barbecue shop. It’s all you can eat. It’s mainly pork belly. You get unlimited pork and unlimited soup. But you have to pay for other dishes. The price here is usually 17900 Won. But if you’re going alone, solo traveling, it’s 2000 Won more expensive. 19900 Won. Unfortunate that it’s more expensive, but I really do want some barbecue. So I’ll accept. Okay, I’m gonna start grilling the meat. I’m so excited. I’m gonna start cutting up the meat. This already smells so good. All right, it is time to try the pork belly. Pork belly has so much fat inside that you really don’t need any additional seasoning for it to be super delicious. But of course, in Korean barbecue, we can always use some lettuce to make it slightly healthier. I’m just lying to myself. This isn’t healthy, but it’s so delicious. And here in Korea, I gotta have barbecue at least once, right? Grilled pork belly, it’s such a simple dish. I mean, there is no other ingredients to it, but yet it’s so good. I don’t understand why. Sometimes it’s easy to be satisfied. Time for round two. I’m also gonna try some lean meat this time. I wonder what defines a barbecue as Korean barbecue. Is it the sauce? Is it the way it’s cooked? Is it the fact that you eat it with kimchi? I don’t know. But either way, I love it. I think I may have cooked the lean meat a bit too long, so now it’s dry. The pork belly definitely tastes better, so that’s what you should get when you come here. That was a very satisfying meal. I guess the upside is that it’s quite affordable. I mean, it’s even more affordable if you come with two people or more. But the downside is that there’s not that much variety. There’s only pork belly and this leaner cut of pork. So if you don’t eat pork, this is a no-go for you. And there’s not that many side dishes either. It’s just some lettuce. So now I think this is a good time to come explore around the Myeongdong area. This is one of the biggest shopping areas in all of Seoul. And let’s see what sort of stores I can find. I just went into a K-pop store. I mean, I listen to K-pop casually. I’m not a diehard fan of any group. But wow, I didn’t expect idol culture to be so big here. They have stickers, poker cards, photo cards, and just all sorts of different accessories of these idols. And there was another store with many posters of the different artists. And I think fans will write sticky notes on them with messages for the artists. Judging by the number of sticky notes on a poster, you can tell which groups are the most popular. Because of all this slush on the ground and this cloudy weather, I think I’m gonna leave Myeongdong, call it a day early, and head back to my hotel. Today is my last day in Seoul. And for the first stop in the morning, I got to visit the War Memorial of Korea. Here I’m walking through all of these old planes that fought during the war. I mean, obviously we know that planes are big. But standing underneath them, it’s still very staggering. This one right behind me is a US Air Force B-52 bomber. Obviously, we learned about it in school. But I feel like my general knowledge of the history of this period is very basic. I think there’s also a museum here, so I’m gonna go inside and learn about the period of time that shaped the Korean Peninsula into what it is today. Oh wow, you can see all the bullet dents on this ship. But I think they’re just dents and the ship itself has not actually been punctured, so it’s bulletproof. Just like the National Museum, the War Memorial is also free to enter for all visitors. It turns out that while the memorial is dedicated towards the Korean War, the museum in here is actually about many battles and wars throughout all of Korea’s history. For example, this battleship behind me is actually from the 1500s. Since this isn’t a history video, I’m not going to give you a lesson about the Korean War. But if you want to learn more about the history of the peninsula, I think this museum is even better than the National Museum and definitely more engaging for children. Now I think this is probably the coolest hall of the entire museum. This hall is the two presidential vehicles of the presidents of North and South Korea back then. We have this Cadillac that belongs to the former president of South Korea, Syngman Rhee. And also the Soviet-made car that belonged to Kim Il-sung, the first president of North Korea. This Soviet-made limousine is actually a seven-seater. It has three rows. But of course, it can also be configured into two rows and four seats for there to be more room. The War Memorial of Korea is a great place to spend an entire morning, especially if you don’t want to be outside in the freezing cold. And now it’s time for lunch. I’ve made my way to Gwangjang Market. This is probably one of the most famous markets in Seoul. It’s a fresh market where they sell fish, produce. But the most famous thing here are its little food stalls in the middle of the market. The stalls seem to sell more or less the same thing, but they’re all really full, from gimbap to tteokbokki, different sort of Korean street food. I have to go try some as well. In the end I got myself some steamed dumplings and a bowl of warm fishcake soup for the cold weather. I’ll have some of the soup first since it’s really cold outside. On a cold winter day, this steaming hot soup is just perfect. It really warms your soul. The fishcake is soft, slightly bouncy, and full of that umami seafood taste. The Korean dumplings, mandu, come in two different flavors, pork and kimchi. I’m guessing the red one is the kimchi filling. Both are delicious even without the extra sauce, but I prefer the kimchi one. It still has some pork filling. The hint of sourness and spiciness just make it taste so much better. Well, that was a good little lunch. But it has to be said, the food in here is not cheap because it’s of course tailored towards tourists. Those two dishes added together was 9000 Won. You can find similar dishes in outside food stalls for a lot less. But it’s all about the vibe, the environment, and the experience of coming into the market. So I still think it’s worth a go. The lady at my stall also spoke English, Japanese, and Mandarin. And it seems like she was able to tell which tourist is from what country. So it’s really interesting how she can immediately say that language to the person walking by. Very welcoming and friendly. I think that’s why so many people are eating at her stall in particular. Some other popular items include tteokbokki, which is a spicy rice cake. And of course, gimbap, the seaweed rice roll. But since I’ve already had both of these on this trip, I’ll skip them in this market. Other than the food market, there’s also a fabric market here that sells all sorts of different textiles, clothes. And it just goes on and on forever. I’ve been walking for a long time already and I still cannot see the end of it. I made it to the south side of the river. And it really seems like all the snow melted overnight already. The weather really is not cold enough for the snow to stay here. But that’s also good because the sun is out and there’s no slush on the ground anymore. So I can finally walk around peacefully again. I made it over to Gangnam. Yes, just like the famous song Gangnam Style. It’s really cool that they have a statue here showcasing the Gangnam Style hands. I mean this really was the biggest thing back in 2012, I believe. I remember back in high school, we even made a short parody of Gangnam Style ourselves. It was such a big pop culture moment back then and I can still remember those days. In front of the statue, there’s actually a video panel where you can play the song. And now I’ve made my way inside the Starfield COEX Mall. And of course, the centerpiece of this mall is the very stunning Starfield Library. I think it’s actually quite difficult for the camera to capture these sparkly lights. It looks much better in person than on a camera. Everything in here is so sparkly and gold. I wonder what it will look like when it’s not the holiday season. This part of Seoul and Gangnam, south of the river, really feels completely different from the north side. Here you have all the financial buildings, the high-rises. It feels like a modern CBD rather than an old cultural center. Before heading to the final stop on my Seoul trip, I found a post office in the mall to send out some of my postcards. The sun is starting to set, and for my final stop in Seoul, I made it over to the Banpo Hangang Park. I guess during the winter, this is not a popular area to be in. And I think it’s starting to snow again. There are these white things drifting in the air. But at the same time there’s still some blue sky. There’s like a patch of dark clouds right over here in front of me. Even though there’s nobody else here, under the backdrop of the golden sunset with flurries in the air, this might just be the best way to end my trip here in Seoul. Coming to Seoul in the winter has its downsides. It’s freezing cold and there’s no greenery. I still think it’s a magical time to visit. This season made me see a version of the city that other travelers may not have experienced before, and I highly recommend it.

Winter is usually considered the low season for travel in Korea, with temperatures dropping below freezing. But when the city turns into a white wonderland, the cold is worth enduring. Join me on my first-ever trip to Seoul, and we’ll check out famous sites like Gyeongbokgung Palace, Namsan Park, and the National Museum of Korea. I’ll also share some of my favorite Korean dishes like Sotbap, Kimchi Jjigae, and of course, Korean BBQ.

Visited During: January 2025

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#seoul #korea #southkorea #winter

PRESENTED and SHOT BY:
Jeffrey: https://www.instagram.com/jhmedium

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VIDEO CHAPTERS:
00:00 – Gyeongbokgung Palace
05:50 – Namsan Park
08:24 – Ikseondong Hanok Village
11:45 – Dongdaemun Design Plaza
13:22 – Naksan Park
15:08 – Snowing in Seoul
17:44 – National Museum of Korea
18:32 – Myeongdong and Korean BBQ
22:27 – War Memorial of Korea
25:06 – Gwangjang Market
27:45 – Gangnam & Starfield Mall
29:56 – Banpo Hangang Park

GEAR:
Main Cameras: Fujifilm X-H2s, DJI Pocket 3
Lenses: Fujifilm 35mm f2, Tamron 11-28mm f2.8
Phone: iPhone 14 Pro
Sound: DJI Mic & Deity D3 Pro