Seoul
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital and largest city of South Korea, and the largest city in the whole of Korea.
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital and largest city of South Korea, and the largest city in the whole of Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's sixth largest metropolitan economy in 2022, behind New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Paris, and London, and hosts more than half of South Korea's population. Although Seoul's population peaked at over 10 million, it has gradually decreased since 2014, standing at about 9.6 million residents as of 2024.
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What Wikivoyage says to see
Seoul is a vast, vibrant cityscape, set against an airy backdrop of mountains. It includes a standout collection of attractions with a blend of old and new. While Seoul today is mostly known as a super-modern mega-city that is home to skyscrapers, malls, and millions of electronic-mad Koreans, the city contains over 2,000 years of history. The city contains
From Wikivoyage: Seoul, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Things to do
Enjoy hiking in the mountains around the city. Up to 800m (3,000 ft) is accessible by public transport, with courses ranging from easy to difficult. There are Bukhansan Mountain, Gwanaksan Mountain, Samseongsan Mountain, Inwangsan Mountain, etc. (Mostly [Seoul/North]). If you don't like mountains, walk along Cheonggyecheon Stream.
From Wikivoyage: Seoul, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Where to eat
Much of Korean social life revolves around food and the city is packed with restaurants, so you would have to be determined to starve to death in Seoul. This fate may still befall you if you insist on English menus and meals consisting only of easily identifiable, familiar ingredients, so see South Korea#Eat for a quick Korean menu reader.
From Wikivoyage: Seoul, CC BY-SA 4.0. Not yet checked by us.
Getting to Seoul
- Airports
- Seoul Gimpo (GMP), 18 km · Incheon (ICN), 49 km · Cheongju/Cheongju Air Base (K-59/G-513) (CJJ), 104 km
- Cheongju → Seoul113 km · quickest by road, 2h 38m · ₩15,450–20,550
- Gonghang-ro → Seoul318 km · quickest by air, 4h 12m · ₩117,480–182,230
- Daegu → Seoul237 km · quickest by road, 4h 26m · ₩31,850–42,500
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for Seoul
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for Seoul. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get inThere are ferry services to various points in China from the neighboring port city of Incheon.
- Get inNo services run from Japan to Seoul; many Koreans take the coach, KTX or SRT trains to Busan, where several ferry and hydrofoil options are available.
- Go nextMany tour companies offer DMZ tours which is a day trip from Seoul, the highlight of which is a village lying in the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.
From Wikivoyage: Seoul, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 0154 km
- 021,261 km
- 031,427 km
- 041,497 km
- 051,666 km
If you know how people move in Seoul – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to Seoul
Seoul is 14 km from Gwangmyeong, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.