Neighborhoods in Seoul, and their vibes 2

In this article, I will walk you through Mapo-gu, Gangnam-gu and Yongsan-gu, all of which are representative commercial districts in Seoul, as well as some of the most desirable residential areas. Many celebrities live there.

Most people who visit the areas are determined to have fun. The three districts are very well organized and developed due to gentrification a long time ago. They are called Big Three Areas for their clubbing and are filled with popular coffee shops, restaurants and art galleries. Each of these neighborhoods shows off its unique attractiveness.

Expensive, luxurious housing is clustered in Gangnam where most of those with new money live. Gangnam is arguably the best place to live in Seoul for quality of life. The very best products in the world can be found at stores and department stores at Gangnam. It couldn’t be easier to find luxurious stores in Gangnam.

There are extravagant high-rises and never-ending neon signs on Gangnam Daero and Teheran Street. It is interesting to look around them, as well as the crowd on the streets. My favorite areas for shopping within Gangnam are Apgujeong-dong, Cheongdam-dong and Sinsa-dong. I strongly recommend you try shopping in these neighborhoods.

You can find a range of different stores there: atypical boutique shops, massive stores with the most modern and luxurious looks imaginable, cross-brand clothing stores selling the hottest brands in the world before anybody else in Korea and luxury car dealerships. It is fun to see luxurious sports cars and people dressed up in premium brand clothes. Valet parking is available almost everywhere in Gangnam. If you want to explore the streets by car, it is definitely possible. Valet fees, in line with overall costs of living, are pretty high though.

Gentrification in Gangnam started first in Apgujeong. Apgujeong was developed according to government plans and saw an influx of self-made rich people. Many of the new money sent their children to study abroad. These kids, after coming back to Korea, started creating a unique culture of their own in Apgujeong. People called them the orange tribe. These young kids with rich parents splurged a lot of money in the Apgujeong area, demonstrating an old Korean proverb to “spend money as if it is tap water”.

Apgujeong was initially known across the country for these young, spoiled folks. Ironically, they created a boom in commercial activities in Apgujeong and expanded it to Cheongdam and Sinsa.

Cheongdam has fancy mansions, art galleries and luxury brand flagship stores. There are many upscale restaurants as well. The cost of living in Cheongdam is the highest in Korea. In contrast, Sinsa positions itself as a place for ordinary young folks. There are many cute stores in Sinsa and you will have a lot of fun shopping small, cute items around Garosugil.

Let’s take a peep at clubs in Gangnam, Mapo and Yongsan. The age distribution in clubs in Gangnam is the most diverse among the three districts, ranging from clubbers in their twenties to late thirties. Many clubs in Gangnam have somewhat picky dress codes. You’d better pay attention to your look as it is not uncommon for them to deny guests who do not meet the dress codes.

As in other clubs in modern capitalist societies, the strict dress code suddenly loosens when you get a table (a.k.a. spend a lot of money). Well, I don’t like it but that’s understandable as that’s how these clubs make money. It is inevitable for them to cut some slack for the guests who make them money.

Clubs in Gangnam look quite similar to traditional nightclubs in Korea. By the way, clubs and nightclubs are not interchangeable in Korea, interestingly. They are very different in many ways. Most people in the clubs are in high heels and nice clothes. It seems obvious they come to the clubs to dance while showing off their appearances and checking out other well-dressed clubbers, rather than for the music! Clubs in Gangnam feel more decadent and elevated than clubs in the other two districts. Electronica has dominated Gangnam clubs for a while. Most of them are located under hotels and have massive spaces.

If you cross the Hannam bridge from Apgujeong, you’ll get to Hannam-dong in Yongsan.

Hannam was a rich town where renowned politicians resided. As the commercial district in Itaewon grew exponentially, entrepreneurs and young celebrities moved to Hannam-dong as well, including BTS, G-Dragon and Jun Ji-hyun.

Hannam is a superrich town with luxurious townhouses and mansions located next to a poor residential area on a steep hill. It is a strange view. Poor and rich artists live together in Hannam, which highlights the economic inequality issues more obviously than any other place in Seoul. Nevertheless, Hannam-dong has a very easygoing atmosphere in general.

Itaewon is a place where people used to go to play HARD. Some areas in Itaewon and Hannam are designated as special tourist districts. However, until the early 2000s, Itaewon was not popular with the majority of locals. Itaewon was considered a place for foreigners, US soldiers and LGBTQ clubs. Restaurants run by expats in Korea from all around the world were popular with other expats in Korea. But Koreans did not go to Itaewon as frequently as they do now.

Local people used to view Itaewon as a dangerous neighborhood. Many foreign embassies and international schools in Itaewon only emphasized that Itaewon was primarily for expats, not for locals.

Back in the day, exotic clubs and pubs that used to be clustered deep inside of small alleys were new and full of free spirits. There were also long-standing jazz and hip-hop clubs with a pure focus on music. Cheap drinks and food, as well as many open structured clubs that allowed anyone who wanted to only enjoy music and dance to freely come and go without a charge, attracted young people to Itaewon. The cultural diversity in Itaewon also appealed to those curious about various cultures as international travel was not that easy back then.

Itaewon is very diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic class. It is the center of LGBTQ culture in Korea, which is generally perceived as slick and modern even to those not familiar with it, and has a lot of famous LGBTQ bars.

Itaewon has gradually taken the place of Hongdae, which was long considered the number one place for clubbing. There are top clubs in different genres now located in Itaewon. There are huge clubs like those in Gangnam (e.g., Club Made), lounge bars and jazz bars, which are for those who consider themselves too old for clubs (you will never be though!) while techno and hip-hop clubs are popular mostly with the youngest folks.

Hannam seems to have become a new Apgujeong for young and rich kids from new money families. Hannam has the energy of young influencers who trailblaze new cultural trends aggressively and with a strong passion.

Hannam is one of the most modern neighborhoods preferred by young people to live in. Unique coffee shops and restaurants with enough spaces can be easily found in Hannam. Also, young designers have been opening showrooms in this neighborhood and so you can have a unique shopping experience here.

When the sun goes down, spend some time in the areas around Noksapyeong station called Haebangchon and Gyeongnidan-gil. These areas once used to be archetypal ghettos in Seoul. But cheap rents and the geographic advantages of being close to Itaewon drew young people and foreigners altogether.

And then, small boutique restaurants opened gradually and the neighborhood ended up having the artistic atmosphere it has now. Costs of living are not as high as Hannam and the vibes are much more casual. Haebangchon and Gyeongnidan-gil are hills, offering a wide-open city view. Cakeshop, a famous hip hop club, and Volnost, a rising techno music club, are here. The clubs, which feel dark and deep, are crowded with well-dressed and energetic young people. Near Hannam, there is a cool place too called Beton Brut, which is an art gallery, bar and a techno music club at the same time.

What differentiates Yongsan from Gangnam and Mapo is that each neighborhood in Yongsan is diverse and has outstanding characteristics of its own. It’s exciting to experience different views and atmospheres as I move across different neighborhoods in Yongsan.

The popularity of Mapo-gu initially started from areas around Hongik University, known as Hongdae, and indie cultures. It is now a gigantic commercial district, but used to be filled with artistic, anti-commercial spirits driven by art students at Hongik University, which has one of the best art colleges in Korea. The art students once rented empty parking lots cheaply and converted them into ateliers.

Back in the day, underground musicians for minor genres such as punk and rap were active in Hongdae. There were many hippies too. All free spirits in Seoul gathered in this area. Hongdae was like a utopia with shops that heavily reflected the tastes of their owners who wanted to express their imagination without constraint, as well as clubs and live music bars armed with underground spirits that covered a range of minor music genres.

Prices were pretty cheap in Hongdae as well. When the night came, young people would drink on the streets; young musicians would sing and play guitar at the corners of the streets; young artists who held a thick novel or carried drawing tubes instead of boring backpacks infused fragrant scents into the air in Hongdae. It was not commercial at all, but extraordinarily artistic. Artists in various genres lived together in this neighborhood, attracting huge interest from the majority.

Its popularity was just insane. Rents in Mapo, which was nowhere close to rich neighborhoods, skyrocketed and eventually crowded out these young artists outside of Hongdae. They first moved out to Sangsu-dong and Hapjeong-dong, which were quiet residential neighborhoods. They rented residential spaces and set up cool shops and stores there. Streets where these stores clustered quickly became popular, resulting in increases in rents again. So, the young artists moved even further this time to Mangwon-dong, where rents were still cheap as it was susceptible to heavy rain flooding.

Simultaneously, some of them settled in Yeonnam-dong where many Chinese people resided. As the artists kept spreading out, commercial areas ironically kept expanding to follow them. Some of the artists moved far away to Mullae-dong or Hannam-dong, outside Mapo-gu.

The exponential growth in this trend led to accelerated conversions of many residential neighborhoods in Seoul to commercial areas. Young artists who started in Hongdae moved to different neighborhoods based on their personalities.

Yeonhui-dong has been historically a rich residential neighborhood whereas Mangwon-dong was a poor area that got repeatedly damaged by flooding every summer. One commonality between these two neighborhoods is that there are many Japanese bars, restaurants and coffee shops in both areas. High quality Japanese restaurants, coffee shops and izakayas can be easily found in these areas. Street vibes in these two neighborhoods are similar but unique. But there is a theme that connects these two different neighborhoods.

Yeonnam-dong starts from Gyeongui Line Forest Park right out of Hongik University subway station. Further inside the park, there’s Yeonhui-dong. People started flocking to Yeonnam-dong first, and then artists in search of a tranquil ambience opened showrooms, workshops and bakeries in Yeonhui-dong. Cute stores with relaxing vibes were opened recently on the streets that had been exclusively occupied by large townhouses. These stores are set up in spaces between the townhouses and mingle well with old stores that have been in the neighborhood for a long time. So, Yeonhui-dong still has its calm and residential vibes despite the new stores and increased commercial activities.

Yeonnam is louder and more vibrant than Yeonhui. There’s a club called Channel 1969 which represents the atmosphere of Yeonnam. Music bands and DJs play live performances there. It is an independent cultural space, a bar that is like a club. Channel 1969 still keeps the original Hongdae spirit better than any other place. Admission is for free when there’s no live performance. This is the club where you can enjoy yourself in whatever way you want. Nobody cares about how you have fun, your age, gender and your appearance and clothes. You can even put on an old T-shirt with a stretched neckline and slides. You will probably be an outlier if you dress too nicely. Drinks are cheap too.

Hongdae, the biggest downtown in Western Seoul, still remains a holy ground for indie music mania and maintains the pure spirit of underground musicians deep in its roots. Hongdae neighborhood came down from its peak a long time ago, but the spirits embedded in the land are still alive.

There are a number of small live performance theaters where indie bands play live music: Gimbob record (a record shop) where you can find hot indie music albums from all around the world, club Vurt which is a Jerusalem for underground techno music and beloved by hardcore techno music lovers, and Mudaeruk, a cultural place that has been loved by hipsters across generations. These places and many more like them keep the pure, artistic spirit in which Hongdae is rooted.

There are many bars on the streets that start right in front of Hongik University and continue to Yeonnam-dong. Most of them are open all night and you can hang out with your friends as late as you want. If you stroll down the alleys around Sangsu and Hapjeong, you will run into big coffee shops where hipsters and artists work together. These areas are relatively quiet and good for a walk.

Charming Mangwon-dong is famous for delicious bakeries and dessert places while Yeonnam-dong for authentic Chinese food given its historical residential demography. In Yeonnam, there are various types of bars as well. From Nopos where Soju tastes better than in any other bars to solid wine or whiskey bars to fried chicken places where you can grab a beer with fried chicken to Japanese izakayas. Yeonhui-dong is a perfect neighborhood for tasting traditional Korean food. Most Korean restaurants in Yeonhui-dong have been there forever, boasting a long history.

Mapo-gu has way friendlier and more casual vibes than Gangnam or Yongsan, which are luxurious and sometimes too hip. You will probably feel more relaxed in Mapo-gu. Even after the sun comes up and subways and buses resume services, and even when the sun is at its highest point at noon, the liveliness that rocked the streets the night before still has its residue on the streets. It is spectacular to see so many people hanging out outside and many bars still packed with people at dawn. It makes me so excited to just think about having fun with friends all night with various food and drinks.

These three areas, Gangnam, Yongsan and Mapo, are vibrant all night long and ideal places to fully enjoy the nightlife in Seoul. You can also experience the latest trends in these three districts.

In the following articles, I will step deep inside each neighborhood and explore attractive places with you. I hope to show you the diverse attractions and uniqueness of these neighborhoods.

People usually choose where to settle based on their personal preferences and personality. So, artists and owners of various places usually have consistent vibes with the neighborhoods where they live and run their businesses. It will help you have a better sense of these districts to take a deep look into interesting places in these areas.