Seoul in 2 days is the palace, Bukchon, Myeongdong, Namsan core, not a DMZ run or an Everland detour bolted on for the sake of it, and it holds up on roughly KRW 60,000-100,000 a day if you’re not shopping hard. Day 1 stays in the historic north: Gyeongbokgung in a rented hanbok (free palace entry, a real perk, not a gimmick) and Bukchon’s hanok alleys. Day 2 is Myeongdong street food into an N Seoul Tower sunset.

Seoul is South Korea’s capital, priced in won (KRW), not yen and not yuan, and it runs on a T-money transit card, not Google Maps, which barely works here for walking directions. Most US, UK, EU, Canadian, Australian and Japanese passports currently skip the K-ETA entirely under a waiver running through 31 December 2026, so check k-eta.go.kr rather than trusting old visa copy. Three days is the honest minimum for the palace-and-Myeongdong core plus a real second act: this plan stays entirely inside the city, no DMZ day trip bolted on to pad the page count.

Four days in Seoul is enough to get past the palace-and-Myeongdong postcard and actually live in a few neighborhoods: Hongdae’s noise, Gangnam’s glass towers and the Starfield Library, Dongdaemun’s overnight markets, a jjimjilbang night, and real food time instead of snacks squeezed between sights. Everything here stays inside the city; the DMZ, Nami Island and other day trips are a different itinerary’s job, covered on the Seoul and South Korea side of this site.

Seoul is the capital of South Korea, a city of roughly 9.6 million people on the Han River where centuries-old Joseon palaces sit a few subway stops from some of Asia’s densest, most advanced infrastructure. Pay in Korean won, load a T-money card on day one, and put Naver Map or KakaoMap on your phone before you land, because Google Maps still will not route you on foot here. Most travelers from the US, UK, Canada, Australia and much of the EU can currently skip the K-ETA outright through 2026.

Seoul is the capital of South Korea, not North Korea, and six days here covers the city in real depth without doubling back on a neighborhood: three of the five grand palaces, Hongdae’s noise, Gangnam’s polish, Dongdaemun’s night markets, Seongsu’s converted warehouses, and a proper chimaek evening on the Han River. Load a T-money card on day one and pay in won, not yen or dollars. Google Maps still cannot give you a working walking route here, so put Naver Map or KakaoMap on your phone before you land.

Seven days in Seoul does not need a single day trip to feel complete. Skip the DMZ pack tour and the Everland shuttle this time (that is the job of our seoul-south-korea itinerary ) and spend the whole week in the capital instead, covering all five grand palaces, six genuinely different neighborhoods, and one full jjimjilbang evening without repeating a single district. Load Naver Map or KakaoMap before you land, because Google Maps still will not route you on foot here, buy a T-money card at the airport, and check whether your passport actually needs a K-ETA before you book the flight.

Seoul is South Korea’s capital on the Han River, and three practical facts matter more than any sight on this list: the currency is the won (KRW), not yen or yuan; Google Maps is functionally broken here for walking and transit directions, so put Naver Map or KakaoMap on your phone before you land; and most major passports, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ and Japan, currently need nothing but a passport to enter, a K-ETA waiver that runs through 31 December 2026.