Gwangjang Market
The country's oldest covered market, its mung bean pancakes and its beef tartare.
Duration
1 hr – 1 hr 30 min
Best time
Between 11am and 2pm
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
Gwangjang opened in 1905 and is the country's oldest permanent covered market. The upper floor sells textiles and silk; it is the ground floor, with its three hundred cooking stalls, that made its name.
You sit at the counter facing the person cooking. The two dishes of the place are bindaetteok, a fritter of stone-ground mung bean, and yukhoe, beef tartare with pear and egg yolk. You order by the portion and pay as you leave.
Getting there
Subway line 1, Jongno 5-ga station, exit 8, or lines 2 and 5, Euljiro 4-ga. The market entrance is right there.
Rules on site
Many stalls take cash only and prices are not always posted: ask before you sit down. Yukhoe is raw beef — skip it if your stomach is delicate.
Other places in Seoul
- Gyeongbokgung PalaceThe great royal palace of the Joseon dynasty, and the changing of the guard twice a day.
- Bukchon Hanok VillageSix hundred lived-in traditional houses, between the two royal palaces.
N Seoul TowerThe Namsan mountain tower, and the city through three hundred and sixty degrees.
- Demilitarised ZoneThe most closed border in the world, fifty kilometres from the capital.