Seoul, a sleepless megacity that’s home to approximately 10 million people is South Korea writ small. It is a place with serene temples, exquisite Joseon palaces, throbbing nightlife districts, sprawling trade centres, shimmering high-rises, purring scooters, neon-lit food courts, whizzing metro trains, and enterprising business folk and hipster students alike. Even more, it’s all set beneath the looming peaks of Bukhansan, Gwanaksan and Namsan and across from the scintillating beaches of Yeongjong Island.
As any Seoul tour guide will tell you, there is plenty to do here. Culture vultures will head straight to the Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung palaces, UNESCO-attested Namhansanseong or to Insa-dong. Wanderers will travel to the ginkgo-peppered parks of Namsan and to bustling Yeouido; view-seekers to the soaring Seoul Tower; shoppers to the endless marketplaces at Namdaemun, Dongdaemun and Myeongdong; and history lovers to the old city gates and National Museum of Korea. Others will opt to explore Seoul’s steamy holes-in-the-wall serving bulgogi fried rice, its pumping electro clubs, and even the heady night markets.  More still will try and leave the fray altogether, travelling to Busan, South Korea’s second largest city, or to the traditional mountain towns of Gapyeong County.