3 days in Seoul - the ultimate itinerary
In September 2025, I was heading to Mongolia to go on a trip of a lifetime with my mom. As I was booking flights, I realized there was no good way to get to Ulaanbaatar - either I had to include 2+ layovers or a 15+ hour long layover, both of which sounded not great! So luckily, Korean Air offered a stopover for $200 extra, and I decided to spend 3 days in Seoul before heading to Mongolia.
I am so glad I did! South Korea was not on my radar, but I had the most amazing experience and I really want to come back and see more of the country.
Here was what I did on my trip to Seoul. Note that if I were to visit specifically South Korea, I would stay at least a week and preferably longer. There is so much to see, and I feel like I barely broke the surface just in Seoul.
Travel logistics:
I flew into and out of ICN. To start, ICN is really, really far from the airport (over 1 hour, depending on where you are staying in Seoul). There is another international airport called Gimpo, which is only 20 mins from Seoul station by train.
How do I pay for things?
When I arrived in Seoul, I expected everything to be card and to go cashless. I learned that there are situations where certain places will reject your credit card if it is not a Korean bank or issued card. I personally didn’t have that issue, but I heard it from other travelers. Additionally, some of the transport kiosks only take cash. When I had to buy my T-Money card, you could only use cash and I had to find an ATM. So long story short, use your credit card at larger restaurants or shops, but always have cash on you for public transportation and if you want to buy anything from a street market. I took out about $70 USD and it was more than enough for my 3 days in Seoul.
How to get around?
At the airport, you should buy a T-Money card. This is how you can pay for all transportation, and you can reload it with money at any metro station. I was able to buy one for 5,000won ($3.6) at the airport. It will make your life much easier.
The bus and metro system is really easy to navigate. With your T-Money card, you just tap on and off each mode of transportation.
How to get from ICN to Seoul?
Public transit in Seoul is absolutely incredible! At any hour of the day you can get where you need to go. For airport transportation, below are my recommendations:
All stop airport train (6,000 won), 1 hour 8 mins from T2 to Seoul Station. This is by far the cheapest and easiest way to get to the airport. No matter where you are in the city, you can take a bus or metro to Seoul station and jump on this train. It runs every 10-15 mins starting at 5:20AM to midnight. For the price and accessibility, I did this both ways to and from the airport.
AREX express airport train (13,000 won), 55 mins from T2 to Seoul Station. There is an express train option, but compared to the all stop train, I didn’t think it was worth it. My main reasons were: it only saves about 15 minutes, it costs over 2x of the all stop train, and it runs less frequently (nearly ever 30 mins). So depending on when you arrive at the train, you might wait and still arrive at Seoul station at the same time.
Buses (17,000 won during “day”, 18,000 won at night), 1.5 hours. There are a myriad of buses that go from the airport to where you need to go. The buses are great if you are traveling at weird hours, namely between 12-5:20am. I almost took the bus to the airport because I had an 8:10am flight but decided to take the train (more on that below). The pro here is you don’t need to transfer to another mode (I.e. metro to train), but the cons are it’s 3x more expensive than option 1 and it still takes a long time, so metro and train is typically faster.
How long do you need at ICN Airport?
Coming from the train, going through security and customs took me 1 hour. I arrived there at 6:25am. Part of the reason it took so long was the airport staff only had 20% of the bag scanners open, so I’d say it was more of a staffing delay than anything else.
Depending on how much time you want to have at the airport, I would arrive at least 2 hours ahead of your flight (but I am the type of traveler that likes to walk onto the plane and not wait at the airport!)
Note that I did not have a bag to check and I also had my boarding pass already, so I went straight to security.
How to Navigate?
I always buy an e-SIM when I travel! It makes life so much easier, and if you ever get stuck in a place, it’s nice to be able to get public transit on a whim. I use Airalo, one of the leading providers in this space. Make sure your phone is e-SIM compatible before purchasing anything. I bought 2GB for 3 days in Seoul and used about 75% of the package.
Note that South Korea has privacy laws where you cannot download an offline Google Maps of Seoul. They use different apps for map and transit tracking, namely KakaoMap. That being said, Google Maps was really accurate for me and I kept using it.
Hostel (4 nights): 171,800 won / $124.50
Palaces & secret garden: 11,000 won / $8
Food: 84,000won / $61
Transport: 31,000 won / $22.50
Spa: 62,000 won / $45
Souvenirs: 10,000 won / $7.25
Cost
At the time of this post, $1=1,380 won. My total cost came out to be $268.25 for 4 nights and 3 days in Seoul. Note that I did stay at a hostel (and genuinely, it was one of the nicest hostels I’ve ever stayed at), which made my costs lower. I did not skimp on the food or spa experience though!
Day 1
Morning run on the Cheonggyecheon River
Covering over a 10k, this river path is perfectly located near the center of Seoul. It has a path below the streets away from cars, and is very tranquil. You will find lots of people out and about early in the morning.
Breakfast at Gwangjang Market
The market has most everything, ranging from blankets, full fish, clothing, handbags, etc. And, a ton of food stalls. You can get noodle soups, dumplings, garlic bread treats, smoothies / fruit, bean pancakes, Gimbap, among many other things. I got steamed dumplings and Gimbap for just under $6, and it was very filling.
Wander around Ikseon-dong village and Insa-dong
Two very trendy street areas, which are typically very alive at night, are great souvenir and food spots. It’s definitely worthwhile to take a stroll and see all the fun artwork and smell the restaurants.
Jongmyo Shrine - guided tour
For just 1,000 won (less than $1), you can visit the spiritual UNESCO site from the late 1300s. During the week, you are required to take a guided tour to see the temple which runs every 2 hours and lasts 1 hour. The temple honors past kings and queens, and the grounds are beautiful!
Note that you can get admission to 6 cultural sites for 6,000 won ($4.50) - I highly recommend this route when you purchase your tickets!
Changdeokgung Palace & secret garden
This palace is gorgeous, but the true gem is the secret garden in the back. For an additional 5,000 won ($3.5), you can stroll through the zen and massive garden.
Changgyeonggung Palace
To top off an epic sightseeing day, this palace is right next to the secret garden. It was essentially where the queens and concubines lived along with a lot of other accommodation / military base. It’s worth a stroll through for some older buildings, although many were destroyed in the early 1900s from Japanese occupation.
Day 2
Gyeongbokgung Palace
If you’re going to visit one palace, this is absolutely the one. The largest and most influential of the palaces, Gyongbokgung is an enormous campus with an entrance gate, palace, residential buildings, shrines, and gardens in the back. You can spend a lot of time here and get many steps in, if you so please! The three highlights for me that made this palace stand out from the others on day 1 were:
Changing of the guard ceremony: twice per day (at 10am and 2pm), there is a display of the changing of the guards that lasts 20 minutes. It is outside the palace, so you don’t need an entrance ticket to see it. The ceremony walks through traditional ritual with people dressed up and narration. Note that, while normally re-admission is not allowed, you can stamp your ticket to attend the changing of the guards and return to continue exploring the palace
Hyangwonjeong Pavillion: located at the center of a pond, this structure is just breathtaking and reminded me a lot of the secret garden. Arrive early and head straight to the back of the palace to get the place to yourself
Gyeonghoeru Pavillion: similar to the Pavillion above, it is situated on the water and is a larger, open air exhibit. It’s very popular for photos and larger than Hyangwonjeong
Bukchon Hanok Village
Only open from 10a-5p daily due to residential protections (don’t make the mistake I did and arrive earlier than 10 - there was security blocking literally every single street), this village showcases traditional Korean architecture and is super cute. It gets extremely crowded with people taking pictures. I even saw a film crew there(?!). Worth a walk through if you’re in the area, but a but to touristy and crowded for my liking. Beware that the streets are super steep and not for those who are not ready to walk uphill.
Korean War Museum
This free museum outlines the history of Korea, focused mainly on the Korean War from 1950-1953. The bottom floor has exhibits of the history of Korea pre-world war 2, floor 2 is the Korean War, and floor 3 is post Korean War through to modern day. I learned a lot about Korean history here and I believe this is a must do while in Seoul. I spent just over 2 hours here but if you love history, you could stay for 4+ hours.
Lightshow under Gwanggyo Bridge
A special art fixture for 2025, this is a super cool spot to sit and watch the colors on the water. The show loops every 20 minutes and runs from 6-10pm daily. I really enjoyed it!
Day 3
Deoskugung Palace
This was my last stop on the palace packet book that I got on day 1. It’s much less crowded and worth visiting if you want a place to take pictures without people crowding. While similar to Changyeonggung (served as housing and a temporary palace), there is also a small museum on Korean independence during Japanese rule and a contemporary art museum (costs extra). Worth visiting if you bought the packet, but a bit redundant to the other palaces!
Namdaemon Market
This is a huge outdoor market with everything you can imagine! Deals on clothing, bags, hats, kitchenware, souvenirs, plus food vendors selling meals and snacks. I got lost here for over an hour exploring. It’s a popular place with the locals as well! Worth a stop if you’re in the area.
Starfield Library
The GangNam district is very large, but heading to the Starfield Library is a good central spot to explore some of the top highlights. The library is part of a mall, and is aesthetic although not practical to actually road a book. If you want to spend extended time here, there is a cafe and I would recommend bringing your own book. Other places you can visit via a short walk from the library is the GangNam sculpture and a Buddhist Temple called Bongeunsa Temple.
Korean Spa
Finally, I ended my Seoul experience by spending nearly 5 hours at the Korean spa. They have literally everything you can ask for - hot tubs of different temperatures (even one that was “green tea infused”), a salt water bath, steam / infrared / hot clay / super hot / magnesium saunas, cafe and full meal room, snack bar, outdoor hang area, 2 sleep rooms, tv watching rooms, for an extra price - massages, manicures, body scrubs, waxing… need I go on?
The entrance fee was 22,000 won, plus I decided to get the body scrub for 40,000 won which was wonderful and gross all at the same time. The ladies really go to town to get you clean. It was a great way to spend the last afternoon in South Korea, and I wish I could have stayed longer! I’m not sure the typical time people stay, but you can stay for 12 hours until they start charging you 2,000won per hour. Genuinely, this is the key if you need a cheap place to sleep for the night. I will definitely look this up if I’m stranded somewhere and need a cheap night!
Top 3 Best foods:
Bibimbap
Bimbap / steamed dumplings
Pork bulgogi
Honorable mention: fried chicken, though it was more expensive than I was expecting and hard to eat as a solo traveler! This was a half order and I definitely couldn’t finish it.
