Are you a person who has an interest in small alleys like Samcheong-dong, Itaewon,ย Bukchon, and Ihwa-dong? There’s a place in the heart of Seoul where you can visit without regret. It’s called “Ikseon-dong”.ย If you are looking for something old but new, a different texture this place is the best to go.
Discovering Ikseon-dong: The Snap-Shot of Seoul
Ikseon-dong was also called “Nudong Palace” where the royal family resided.ย This place is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city of Seoul. Despite being old, it’s been like a hidden treasure inside. Just as they always say “Don’t judge the book by its cover”, and that’s Ikseon-dong. It is distinctly shining and attracting a lot of businesses, entrepreneurs, tourists, and even locals.
The place consists of small alleys with different kinds of businesses like restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques,ย fashion houses, and flower shops with a combination of a cafe. Tourists and locals are gathered here all the time because of the famous restaurants that serve delicious kinds of menus.
Ikseondong is just near to Gyeongbukgung Palace and Insadong but taking the subway going to Jongno3-ga and exit at gateย 4 or 6 is the easiest. After getting out of the subway just across the street and you’ll there. It’s like a maze of small alleys and a lot of visitors come all day.
Cafe hopping and dining into restaurants are not just the common things you can do at Ikseon-dong, you can also do the shopping for beautiful and stylish Korean fashion clothes. Aside from that, you can also experience the Korean retro clothing rental experience like those clothes in the drama Mr. Sunshine.
Ikseon-dong Hanok Alley
Discovering Ikseon-dong was a great experience for me because in a modern place like Seoul you can still find and feel the presence of the past snap-shot of Seoul. This kind of place is pretty cool and nothing to leave behind. This place was featured also in Korean dramas like the “Hotel Del Luna”, “Black Knight”, “Where the Stars Land” and “True Beauty“. Not just Korean dramas but some variety shows filmed here with famous Korean stars.
How to get here?
Jongno 3(sam)-ga Station (Seoul Subway Line 5), Exit 4. โ Cross the street and walk straight for approx. 300m along Donghwamun-ro 11-gil Street. (Approx. 3 min)
Address:
Supyo-ro 28-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul (์์ธํน๋ณ์ ์ข ๋ก๊ตฌ ์ํ๋ก28๊ธธ ์ผ๋)
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Xoxo, Hyejinย 
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I love your pics..
thank you so much <3
This is a very positive, full of life post! I feel like visiting the place because of the colorful photos you posted. That would be a great place to take memorable photos. Fo sure, it is considered as one of the most popular tourist spots in Korea!
My first visit to Seoul was too short, I didn’t get to explore places like this. Looking forward to going back and discovering more about their culture.
Wow, I agree with you. I’ve always pictured Seoul to be too city-like or too urbanized, but this is a nice place to visit when we go there. I’d love to see where royalty once resided.
So much beauty and culture to see here. I can’t believe there are places like this in the vibrant, modern city of Seoul. I canโt wait to one day visit this place!
I guess small alleys like those in Seoul, and Japan are places I wouldn’t mind visiting coz they always have interesting shops, and they are safe! I wouldn’t dare doing that in many alley place in Manila.
Wow, all of those places are super satisfying to look at! Miss traveling and taking pictures already huhuhu
The place does looks classic. I wonder if they have coffee shops here. It’d be nice to tambay here while enjoying the classic vibe of the place.
They have coffee shops too and super nice.
such a cute little place. one that would surely be visited by people who love to take instagrammable photos! btw where did you get your ice cream at the end! yum!
saw this on your page too, sobrang ganda ng place!!
This is a nice place to visit
I also like taking pictures of small alleys when I travel! Ikseon-dong is so beautiful! I love the colors <3
Wow naman. Napaka ganda namn po dito..
This is interesting, would love to take photos here. Showed this to my husband and he was like ” dagdag mo yan sa itinerary natin”