ummatravels

Hiking Bukhansan: Seoul's Mountain Is Closer (and More Beautiful) Than You Think A complete guide to hiking inside the city limits — trails, tips, and where to eat after your legs give out. I want to show you something. Stand anywhere in central Seoul and look north. Past the apartments, past the highway overpasses, past the Han River — there are mountains. Actual mountains, with granite peaks and pine forests and Buddhist temples tucked into the folds. That's Bukhansan National Park, and it sits entirely within the city limits of Seoul. This is one of those facts about Korea that sounds made up until you're standing at the summit looking down at a city of 10 million people. The capital of one of the most densely urbanized countries on earth, and it has a national park with 836-meter granite peaks running along its northern edge. I have lived here my whole life and it still gets me every time. Bukhansan is not a casual stroll. It is a real mountain with...

Seoul's Nature & Views: Namsan, the Han River, and the City From Above Get off the streets for a day. Seoul looks completely different from up here — and from down by the water. There's a moment that happens to almost every first-time visitor to Seoul, usually somewhere around day two or three: they look up from their phone, step back from a menu, pause mid-street, and actually look at the city around them. And then it hits them — this place is enormous. It goes in every direction as far as you can see, mountains ringing the edges, a river cutting right through the middle of it, towers and old walls and forested hills all coexisting in a way that doesn't quite make sense until you're standing in it. Seoul has nature woven into it in a way that most major cities don't. You're never more than a few subway stops from a real mountain, a real river, a real forest. And the views from those high points — especially Namsan — are the kind that make y...

Chill & Aesthetic Seoul, Part 2: Hannam-dong, Itaewon & Haebangchon Chill & Aesthetic Seoul, Part 2: Hannam-dong, Itaewon & Haebangchon Quiet money on the hillside, the most international street in the country, and a pojangmacha-alley market that never really changed — and that's exactly the point. If Seongsu-dong is Seoul at its most forward-facing, then the triangle of Hannam-dong, Itaewon, and Haebangchon is Seoul at its most layered. These three neighborhoods sit almost on top of each other on the south slope of Namsan — you can walk between all of them in twenty minutes — and yet they feel completely different. Old money and quiet boutiques in Hannam. The whole world squeezed onto one main street in Itaewon. And then Haebangchon, still a little rough around the edges, still a little local, still doing its thing despite everything that's happened to the neighborhoods around it. I've had some of my favorite Seoul meals in this ...

Chill & Aesthetic Seoul, Part 1: Seongsu-dong & Seoul Forest Brick warehouses, dinosaur-sized concept stores, Pokemon hiding in the trees, and the Seoul that actually lives and breathes. Every city has a neighborhood that feels like it's running about five years ahead of everywhere else. In Seoul, right now, that place is Seongsu-dong. Ten years ago this was a light industrial district — leather workshops, shoe factories, small machine parts suppliers. The buildings were low and gritty and functional. Rents were cheap enough that artists and café owners started creeping in. Then the concept stores arrived. Then the pop-ups. Then the flagship brands. Now Seongsu has a 14-story spaceship of a building sitting on one of its main streets, and there's still a shoe repair shop two doors down from it, and somehow that contrast is exactly why the whole neighborhood works. I come here a lot. Sometimes for coffee, sometimes for something specific, sometimes j...

Youthful Seoul: Hongdae, Seodaemun & Yeonnam — The Neighborhood I Used to Visit at Night, Now With Kids in Tow in the AM Street art, dinosaur bones, a waterfall café, and the best fried eggplant in the city. Yes, all in one neighborhood. I'm going to be honest with you: Hongdae is the neighborhood of my past life. In my twenties, I knew which clubs had the best lineups, which pojangmacha stayed open until sunrise, and which streets sounded like a live concert at midnight on a Saturday. I wasn't thinking about stroller-friendly paths or where to find mild food for a tired five-year-old. And then I became a mom. And now when I visit Hongdae, I'm there by 10am, I leave before 9pm, and I'm mostly looking for a good museum and somewhere the kids can run around. The funny thing is — I actually love it more now. Because this part of Seoul isn't just about the clubs. Hongdae and the surrounding neighborhoods (Seodaemun-gu and Yeonnam-dong, which ble...

Modern & Trendy Seoul: Your Family Guide to Gangnam, Apgujeong & Cheongdam K-drama streets, Michelin-starred dinners, cult cafés, and yes — you can absolutely bring your kids. Let me tell you something that surprises people: Gangnam is actually great with kids. I know the reputation — sleek, expensive, high-heeled, the kind of neighborhood where everyone looks like they just stepped off a runway. And yes, that's real. But underneath all of that is a genuinely fun, endlessly walkable part of the city with incredible food, world-class cafés, beautiful parks, and a lot of things to see that your children will absolutely lose their minds over. I'm talking about beautifully designed dessert cafés. Jeju black pork grilled at your table by someone who actually knows what they're doing. Bagels with a two-hour queue that somehow still feel worth it. And a Michelin two-star restaurant where my kids sat through a full tasting menu and behaved better than some ...