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Where To Stay In Hongdae: Best Hotels, and Guesthouses in Seoul!
Hongdae is one of the best areas to stay in Seoul if you want easy airport access, lively streets, shopping, cafes, and nightlife all in one neighborhood. Centered around Hongik University, it’s popular with both tourists and locals, and after living around Hongdae for more than a decade, I’ve helped plenty of visiting friends and famil figure out where to stay here. Is Hongdae a good place to stay when you visit? It sure it! Now you just have to decide where to stay. After that, here is a list of what to do in Hongdae from brunch to evening. Where do you want to stay in Hongdae? Skip around…
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Best Brunch In Hongdae: Local Picks For Pancakes, Bagels and Build-Your-Own Sets
Brunch places galore. It seems like that’s what the Hongdae vicinity has become, and it’s pretty stunning to me because I’ve been living in the area for the past nine years and for most of that time, good brunch spots were nearly impossible to find. A few would pop up and then disappear. Now they are in full force, and deliciously so. If you’re in the area and want good food in the morning, I highly recommend coming over early, when the night crowd has skedaddled and the coffee drinkers have taken over. The streets feel different before noon in Hongdae and it’s one of my favorite ways to experience…
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Best Cafes In Hongdae: Themed Spaces, Great Coffee and Seoul’s Most Creative Neighborhood
Cafe hopping is one of the great pleasures of living in or visiting Seoul, and nowhere does it better than Hongdae. Known for its youthful energy, creative vibe, and streets that seem to reinvent themselves every few months, Hongdae is packed with themed cafes, beautifully designed coffee shops, dessert spots, and concept spaces that make it easy to spend an entire day just wandering from one to the next. The neighborhood has been a creative hub since Hongik University drew art students and musicians here decades ago, and that energy runs directly through its cafe culture. You won’t find the same polished minimalism you get in Gangnam or the traditional…
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The Soul of Seoul | Operation High Jinks Recap
This past weekend I hosted an AMAZINGLY fun event called “Operation High Jinks”. A bit Amazing Race missions, a bit Running Man hysterics and a bit scavenger hunt clues, it was a race planned to introduce attendees to Korea of today in a fun way. Not only did teams get to meet local Koreans and cook Kimchi jeon (Kimchi pancakes), they got to meet a local photographer and get a photo, meet some local expat entrepreneurs and more. (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking. Thank you for your support.) Finding things unique to Korea like dressed…
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The Trickeye Museum: Augmented Reality
[TRICKEYE in Hongdae is CLOSED] The Trickeye Museum in Hongdae, Seoul recently updated their already 3D fun space with augmented reality that literally brings the awesome paintings to life and I just had to see it for myself. While the paintings on the walls are the same as they were when I visited at the end of 2015 with my daughter who was just 1, they’ve been given new life with a new app that shows off the augmented reality of the paintings. For more pictures of the paintings, check out that older post about Trickeye revamped. Basic Info Address: 357-1 Seogyo-dong Mapo-gu, Seoul (서울 마포구 홍익로3길 20) Directions: Go to…
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Vineworks: Interactive Wine Tasting in Seoul
Looking for a wine bar in Hongdae? A great place to have a wine tasting in Seoul to learn about wines? When it comes to wine, Ian Ashworth is not only knowledgeable but he is super enthusiastic in making wine as approachable as possible and that’s why he founded Vineworks. If you’re on the lookout for a Seoul wine bar, Vineworks is a fabulous place to try different wines, learn about wine, and eat delicious food whether you’re going to an event or attending just for dinner with some friends. Learn about Vineworks, a Seoul wine bar that does tastings and more: (This post contains affiliate links, which means I…
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15 Hot Spots In Mangwon-dong For Eats & Treats
Mangwon-dong in Seoul, Korea sits just a subway stop away from the night out artsy district known as Hongdae. The districts around this university art and music neighborhood have been getting more and more hype because cool places are moving out of Hongdae, likely due to high rent prices, and moving into Mangwon and other nearby districts. Yeonnam-dong is another nearby neighborhood that has experienced a boom in the past couple of years. The area is now host to a beautiful park as well as foodie hot spots and neat cafes. Mangwon is Yeonnam’s understated little brother, but he’s piping up for attention! Since my husband has had a studio in the area…
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caFACE: A Selfie Obsession Of The Latte Variety
In a selfie obsessed world, why not dive in and start sticking that face on every other thing under the sun including the latte that you savor in the cafe up the road? I’m not anti selfie, do NOT get me wrong. I’ve been known to take a few. Hey, I took a selfie of myself holding a latte with a selfied photo of me in this here post. How often can one even do that? I dare say the chances are slim that most will ever be able to do this but if you’re in Seoul, then you’ve got better chances than most. A Seoul cafe with the sole…
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Shopping In Seoul: The Best Districts, Markets and Malls
Shopping in Seoul can be fun, frenzied, and in the hustling bustling shopping neighborhoods, Seoul seems anything but calm. If you’re in the market for K-beauty products, Korean fashion, or just some fun Korean souvenirs, there are plenty of areas you can go. Shopping is a pastime for many a local and some tourists come to Seoul with the sole purpose of filling up their luggage with Korean goods. From flagship fashion districts to underground bargain tunnels to traditional markets with vintage finds, here is where to go and what you’ll find. For a dedicated guide to Seoul’s shopping malls specifically, read the complete shopping malls in Seoul guide. Get…
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Yeonnam-dong Seoul Guide: Things To Do, Where To Eat, and the Best Cafes
Yeonnam-dong, a neighborhood near Hongdae (a hotspot for live music, bars, and a local busking scene), has quietly become one of Seoul’s most loved areas to wander. The first six years I lived in the area, it was under construction and no one wanted to cross the street to walk the area. That all changed when Gyeongui Line Forest Park opened. Locals quickly nicknamed it Yeontral Park, a playful nod to New York’s Central Park, and suddenly Yeonnam-dong became a place people wanted to linger. Today, Yeonnam-dong is filled with cafes, restaurants, creative studios, and a long, thin green park where locals picnic, walk dogs, and rest between errands. If…
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The Cutest Thing in Hongdae: The Hello Kitty Cafe
Hello Kitty is one of those characters that everyone knows of even if they’ve never seen the actual show. The cute and lovable Japanese character that was created in 1974 has grown to proportions that creator Yuko Yamaguchi likely never imagined. There’s a cafe in Hongdae that has the most fun pop-ups and this is one of them. (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.) Basic Info The Hello Kitty Cafe is no longer in Hongdae, but this building is still run by Sanrio and is now…
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Seonyudo Park: One Of The Best Kept Secrets In Seoul
Seonyudo Park sits on an island on the Han River in Seoul, Korea between Hapjeong and Dangsan and is one of the best kept secrets in Seoul. The island, only accessible by foot bridge, walking, or bus, used to house a water treatment plant but in the effort to bring green space back to Seoul, it was released back to nature. Just south of the popular art and live music district known as Hongdae sits Seonyudo Island. There are only a few islands on the Han River that are accessible and this park is one cool one to find. Crossing the bridge from Hapjeong Station to Dangsan Station, I’ve seen…
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Crazy Multiply Art Collective: Malaise in Seoul
The Crazy Multiply Art Collective was at it again this past weekend with an intriguing show titled Malaise. While I had previously been a curator and worked with the ever impressive Amy Smith for Crazy Multiply, I had decided to take some time off as my schedule has been filled with lots of baby time. The babe wouldn’t stop me from supporting the lovely, now, foursome that has taken the reigns though. Current curators for the collective include Amy Smith, Unmaru, Kaleena Carter, and Miss Baik and boy did they put on a show. (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase…
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The Vault: A 5D Fun Frenzy
(CLOSED) Food, drinks and a game that includes mystery, intrigue, clues, lasers and puzzles? My kind of night out. The Vault is that something different you’ve been looking to do with your friends this weekend. As a competitive person as anyone in my family, friends or my camp coworkers can attest, this was right up my alley so when the owner Huw-Morgan Evans invited me over to test out his 5D reality escape room, I couldn’t pass it up. (This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a certain percentage of a sale if you purchase after clicking at no cost to you. Thank you for your support.) Basic Info Address: B2…
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A Crazy Multiply Sketch Night Is a Hit!
The Crazy Multiply Art Collective once again hit it big with the recent Transcribe/ Coalesce sketch night. With Crazy Multiply Transcribe/Coalesceeverything from musicians, installations, performance art and craft beer to boot, it would have been difficult not to enjoy the people and the space.
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Underground Art & Music with Crazy Multiply!
The Crazy Multiply Art Collective had yet another fantastic show bringing together artists and musicians under one basement roof in the Hongdae area this past weekend under the title of 쪽, “Jjok”. This show focused on line and direction and if the title of the show is confusing, just say what you normally say to your taxi drivers in your head a few times and you’ll figure out where the “jjok” is coming from. The show was not only quite successful, they brought in 175 people continuing to improve on their numbers with every show, but it was also a “goodbye” and “we’ll see you later” as two of the…
