On our second day in Seoul, we wanted to visit the traditional part of the city which meant visiting one of the old palaces and the famous Bukcheon Hanok Village. If you are unfamilar with this, ‘Hanok’ is what the traditional Korean houses are called. And village is more like a district in the busy city, Seoul. But I think it’s amazing how it’s like a step back in time. Luckily, the village is situated right between two palaces so you get the best of both worlds as it’s all in good walking distance.
How to get to Bukchoen village: Take Exit 2 of Anguk Station (Line No. 3). Walk straight as soon as come out from Exit 2 for 300m
From then on you will most probably have seen enough signs to find it. We also got a little map of the place we rented the Hanbok from. The map even showed us the “hot spots” for taking photos. You would probably get one as well if rented a Hanbok, but even without that I recommend to just kind of roam around the area. You really don’t need a map to tell you where you can appreciate the beauty of this little village.
I used this guide to help me get to the Bukcheon village. It has pictures and descriptions that were really helpful for lost people like us!
First of all, I really recommend renting a Hanbok. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this word. ‘Hanbok’ is the traditional Korean attire. Although it is old, it is still considered as formal to semi-formal attire for the respective occassions.
I don’t know if there are special winter Hanboks, but I believe most Hanboks for rent are the summer type. (It’s very thin, veil/silk-like material.) So we are able to just drape the dress over our own clothes (even over my sweater and wool skirt haha). They also gave us matching scarves and this “jacket”.
I went in the middle of December, and I survived despite the coldness… and so can you! Of course, it’s not a must. Surely, you would look just as beautiful without a Hanbok. But I do think that it is a cool opportunity to celebrate the beauty of Korean culture and you don’t have to feel self-concious walking around with the dress in this area, as it’s quite common here (for tourists at least). Moreover, entrances to the palaces are free when you are wearing a Hanbok. (I hope this is not considered cultural appropriation since I do really appreciate the history behind this beautiful dress and I think it’s amazing that people still wear it to some events.)
Where to rent a Hanbok: Honestly, once you arrive at the station you will probably already see some shops with Hanboks for rent. Once you get out of the exit and walk towards the village, there are plenty of other shops you can choose from. (I would recommend ours but I can’t find it on the map.)
How much does it cost to rent a Hanbok: I believe that in most places they have different price classes depending on the design (the embroidery and fabric). The place we went to started at 15,000 KRW (around 15$) 1-2 hours for the simplest ones. The ones we rented were 50,000 KRW for the whole day, which is honestly quite affordable considering that we got the fanciest ones and hair and accessories included. (With the lower price classes, hair do’s and accessories come at extra costs.)
In most places, if you don’t rent the dress for the whole day, accessories, hair styling and even the underskirt can have extra costs (5$ each).
If you are on budget: In the metro station, you may get the whole package for just 15$. So look out for that!
I think one of the funniest things that happened to us, was when a Chinese tourist thought we looked really nice and wanted to take a photo with us and there was no reason why we shouldn’t… until other random tourists also started to take photos of us? They weren’t even asking us anymore if we would mind at some point. After one finished their photo, another person quickly came between us to take another, and so the cycle continued. My sister said that it was because we looked too beautiful as if we actually lived here. But I honestly think it’s a bit strange.
Just imagine that there are strangers out there, showing photos to their relatives of me and other strangers. It’s a little weird you have to admit, no?
Okay, so here is one interesting thing we noticed as we were going through the palace. There were a lot of high/middle school students (I am going to guess as a field trip). First of all, really cool and funky how everyone owns a penguin jacket. Second of all, I found that many of the girls were really just out here at 0 degrees celcius in a skirt? (With nude tights at most, honestly) This isn’t supposed to be criticism or anything but I just couldn’t imagine how they were surviving in their mini skirts (kind of ehm really short), while my feet have turned into ice blocks at this point. But hey, yah know I gets it. Gotta do what you gotta do to stand out in your school uniform, am I right?
Quite frankly, quite a few people on the streets were out in skirts like that in negative degrees. They didn’t even need to be students. So, fashion goes before anything else for some of us which is cool too, unless they get sick of course. (Would be kind of sucky idk ’bout u.)
I think it’s so beautiful how they keep their traditional houses, despite the rapid development of modern architecture you find in the Gangnam District. Because unlike most of Europe, you see a bit of both sides in the same city. I am not quite sure how to express this, but sometimes it’s just so beautiful to see how things used to be and how much care people must have taken to maintain it this way.
12/10 would recommend you to check it when you are visiting Seoul! You don’t need to spend the whole day there. You don’t need to wear a Hanbok. And you definitely don’t have to take a crazy amount of photos the way we did, but I suggest you to appreciate the beauty of. it. I have to say that we were really lucky to have gone on such a sunny day. (Because I think most days weren’t so sunny on our trip D: )
