Bukchon Hanok Village

It’s only open to tourists from 10:00 to 17:00 to avoid disturbance to the locals. If you want to enjoy the quietness and take photos with fewer people around, it is suggested that you reach there slightly around 10:00 in the morning. It is pretty beautiful when it’s snowing. After that, you can enjoy tea and desserts at Osulloc.

This is one of the main attractions in Seoul if you go by all the travelling guides. However, I didn't find it particularly exciting. Sure it has some nice and interesting houses in ancient style and the streets are steep and winding but as a whole it's not worth all the hype it gets. It only open at 10 AM, so be careful when the guides tell you to be there very early in the morning.

This is a charming traditional Korean architecture village that still exists as local's homes, now mixed with modern current lives as we could see many cars that don't fit in their garages, and many delivery packages on doorsteps. The houses are located along the alleys barely fit a car on steep elevations. Since people actually live there, visitors are expected to be quiet and to respect its visiting hours, which is 10.00-1700, and it's also closed on Sunday. Can you imagine your house as tourist destination? Everywhere you go, there are tourists ready to snap pictures, and their vehicles have to carefully navigate between pedestrians. So yeah, be respectful. Some of the houses are used for small business like tea house, cafe, art gallery, cake shop, which seemed charming although some are expensive. There is also a local riding bicycle selling traditional pumpkin snake which is some kind of sweet. The taste reminds me of similar Australian honey snack, it's sweet but I kind of like it. On the entrance there are more commercial shops selling souvenirs, nice postcards, toys, etc.

Free to walk around, there is no ticket to purchase. Couple of blocks with traditional buildings which is currently used as residential or business fronts. A lot of coffee shops, restaurants and hanbok rentals you can find there. Also there are hidden collectible stores in the side alleys. Enjoy the architecture, too crowded, nothing much.

I visited this place on the weekend. It’s a bit far from the MRT/metro/subway, and not really elderly-friendly since the roads are quite steep, so it can be tiring to walk around. But Bukchon Hanok Village itself is really beautiful! Just a heads-up, you can’t be too noisy here since it’s not a fully public area—people still live in these traditional houses. Free entry!

What a calm, serene and beautiful place it is. The traditional Hanok’s have been preserved very thoughtfully and the surroundings are very clean. My room was in Myeongdong and I could walk down to this place very easily. I visited this place early in the morning to experience the silence and empty streets of this famous village. There are end number of cafes in and around this village. Be mindful as people still stay in these Hanok’s.

I must visit if you're in Seoul. Spread over a hillside these traditional Korean houses (Hanoks) would have at one time blanketed the city. It is a restricted residential area with weekday visiting hours between 10.00am and 5.00pm, and local volunteers are there to enforce this as well as ask you to visit quietly. Now, I would recommend going by yourself, not as part of a group tour. The group tours crowd into one of the main streets to take all their photos before disappearing. But go by yourself and you can get away from the crowds and find quiet and beautiful parts of this village where you're almost alone. Inevitably, a number of more modern buildings have encroached a little onto the outer parts of this area, I think that's called progress, isn't it 🤔 . Do walk to the far side of the village, over the hill, where you get some good views north of the national park.

A nice cute little village near the city centre. Steeper elevation and a lot of tourists around. Opening hours are from 10:00-17:00 whilst closed on Sundays. There are residential houses so please be mindful and respectful of this when visiting. You can also rent a traditional costume and get a few pictures. Small souvenir shops are located at the start of the village too, albeit, most things there are pricier than usual. Can recommend including the village into your itinerary, but try to get there by the opening times if you want to take pictures without people around (might still be difficult due to opening times being at 10:00).