Korea with Kids

When we were scoping out cities to travel to in Asia with our young kids, Seoul was consistently coming up in search results as one of the top locations to travel to. A quick flight from Tokyo and Osaka, Seoul ended up being the perfect addition to our trip in late May/early June.

When we think of South Korea, we usually think of K-Pop, the excellent skincare, and the opportunity to venture out to the DMZ. After extensive research on a day trip to the DMZ, we opted to forego the visit, but during our research of day trips from the Seoul area, we did find and partake in some other really fun experiences.

First and foremost, we sincerely believe staying in Myeongdong is the best location for families. There is so much to do in the area, and is a great central location for transportation (trains and buses for day trips). We chose to stay at the G2 Hotel Myeongdong which was a convenient 10-minute walk to the popular Myeongdong shopping street. We had not done a lot of research of the area aside from looking at “experiences” via Klook, but we were pleasantly surprised about the bustling area that included amazing stores and street vendors.

Day 1

After 4 days in Tokyo, we departed on a 3:05 PM flight and arrived at the Seoul airport at 5:05 PM. We opted to book transportation from the airport to our hotel primarily due to convenience (didn’t want to haul all our luggage on public transportation) and safety (didn’t want to use a taxi due to lack of car seats). We brought along convenient, inflatable booster seats for the girls, and they worked out perfectly for day trips and transportation to and from the airports.

After an hour drive from the airport to our hotel, we dropped off our luggage, changed out of our airport clothes, and walked across the street to Wonder Bread. This restaurant was excellent for a quick bite to eat. We recommend stopping to get the cookie bread, sun-dried tomato ciabatta, and a vanilla latte. You also cannot leave this place without trying their garlic ciabatta. You’ll find mixed reviews about the garlic ciabatta online but *queue drooling*, it was sooo good.

After our quick snack, we ventured over to the Myeongdong shopping street which is the location for the Nanta show. We highly, highly recommend going to this show when visiting Seoul. This experience alone ended up being one of the top experiences we did in the entire 18 days we were in Asia. Our 6-year old was belly-laughing the entire show, and she actually had others around her laughing because of how much she was cackling.

As of the publication of this post, the Nanta show is nearing 30 years on stage and has drawn the largest number of audiences in Korean stage history with over 15 million spectators at over 50 thousand shows across the world. This show has been debuted at 326 cities across 61 countries and regions. The synopsis of this show is that three chefs begin their day’s work and find out that they have to prepare a list of dishes for an unplanned wedding party in only an hour. Knives and other kitchen utensils are used as musical instruments, and you’ll find yourself clapping and laughing along to different beats throughout the performance.

After the show lets out, you can go immediately out to the Myeongdong shopping street to grab food from one (or more) of the many street vendors that line the streets. We partook in corn dogs, gyeran-ppang (egg bread), baby octopus, grilled cheese, candied fruit, bulgogi.

While exploring the area, we also ran into the Hello Kitty Apple Cafe which naturally, we had to check out. This cafe is a 3-story building with the bottom floor being the cafe, second floor with additional seating, and the third floor housing a gift shop. Just be aware the prices at the gift shop are heavily inflated. Our oldest picked out a small purse and when converted to USD, was $45. No thanks. Sorry, kid.

Day 2

The following day, we walked to our meeting point for our day trip to Alpaca World, Gangchon Railbike Tour, and Nami Island. This day trip was booked through Klook, as were the majority of our transportation and experiences throughout our trip.

After about a 2-hour drive on a charter bus, we arrived at Alpaca World. If you plan on making a stop here, make sure you arrive, have paid, and entered the facility by 10:00 AM for the “alpaca run”. Prior to entering the gated area, you’ll be given a handful of food to feed the alpacas once they’re in the pen with you.

Pro tip: be sure to use the food sparingly. The alpacas don’t care about the pictures you want to take with them. If you don’t have food, they won’t be paying you a visit.

After Alpaca World, we hopped back on the bus and headed over to the Gangchon Rail Bike. Prior to getting on the rail bikes, we stopped at 준섭이네닭갈비 for stir fry chicken. It was DELICIOUS. We had the non-spicy stir fry, potato pancakes, and rice wine (adults only, obviously).

After lunch, we made the 2-minute walk over to the rail bikes. This was a really unique, fun experience, but know that you will break a sweat if going in the summertime. You can choose a 2-person (book in advance or they will sell out) or 4-person rail bike. These rail bikes are self-pedal for about two miles. The scenery is stunning, and the various tunnels you go through are so fun! The more memorable tunnels included bubbles and a full-blown dance party. After the 2-mile pedal, you’ll stop a rail station for a quick snack before boarding a train that takes you another mile to the pick-up area.

The final stop on our scheduled day trip was to Nami Island, or Naminara Republic, which was made famous by the Korean hit series, Winter Sonata. This island actually declared its cultural independence from the Republic of Korea and has its own diplomatic and cultural policies. It’s a beautiful island that we were fortunate to spend 2 hours walking around and exploring. Although beautiful, there wasn’t anything spectacular or particularly unique about it to the naked eye. If you’ve seen Winter Sonata, then I believe you’ll have a little more pull to the island than we did as a family.

Day 3

After a busy second day in Seoul, we decided “why not tack on another crazy day by going to a theme park?!” Once we woke up, we took a train over to Lotte World which is home to an indoor and outdoor theme park, as well as an ice skating rink. A huge plus is that the park had a Pokémon theme during our time there and our girls are going through a huge Pokémon phase right now.

There was also an entire section within the park that only our 4-year old could participate in, which is rare because usually she’s battling the height minimum. She felt special knowing she was the only one that could ride or participate in certain activities. We split off and had great one-on-one time with each of the girls; completely necessary after almost a week of being around each other full time.

One of the big fan favorites for our youngest was the Under Sea Kingdom playground. This playground included plenty of things to climb and build, as well as a cool feature that allowed kids to color a sheet and then project it onto the wall. She loved watching her pictures come to life. She’s also going through a major climbing phase and was climbing everything in sight during this trip. This playground was the perfect place to let out some of that energy and gave mom and dad some piece of mind within this contained space.

Day 4

We had absolutely nothing planned during our last day in Korea and the day turned out great. Once we woke up, we decided to head over to Gyeongbokgung Palace which is the former royal palace in Seoul. Upon our arrival, we saw a large number of people dressed up in hanboks, or traditional Korean clothing. We followed the direction everyone was coming from and came across several hanbok rental stores so naturally, we had to participate! The girls were excited to dress up and get their hair done. Dressing up also allowed us free entry and the opportunity to skip the line into the palace grounds.

On the same grounds as the palace, you’ll find a children’s museum. This was a great stop after, in the word’s of our 6-year old, a “boring” walk around the palace. This museum also had an area where kids could color and watch their creation projected onto the wall, so we were happy our 6-year old was able to experience this since she wasn’t able to at Lotte World.

After visiting the palace grounds, we attempted a walk over to the Bukchon Hanok Village, but unfortunately, started butting into a very much needed nap time for both of our girls. Walking over in the heat with hanboks ended up turning into quite the scene. They were bribed with caramel candy, and our youngest ended up just falling asleep on her dad’s shoulders. We finally stopped at a nearby restaurant called Cafe Four M so the girls could catch a quick nap out of the heat. We did enjoy the food and drinks so recommend a stop here if in the area.

After returning the hanboks, we hopped back on the train to Myeongdong and went to Myeongdong Mongvely Korean BBQ. We loved this place, especially the bulgogi. Our oldest also had a really good time helping out with cooking the meat and vegetables. If we’re ever in the area again in the future, we will be going again. After dinner, we ventured back out to the Myeongdong shopping street, got mochi for dessert, and danced on the street to songs by the street musicians.

Final thoughts

We loved Seoul and the surrounding areas. If we had to do it over again, we would have probably spent another day or two in the area, as well as traveled to other areas within the country including Jeju Island and Busan. The food at both street vendors and restaurants in Seoul were incredible, Korean skincare is topnotch, and everyone we interacted with was so kind. We think Seoul is a great place to visit with young children and hope to make another stop here in the future!