Seoul’s Hannam-dong district is a hipster hang-out packed with cool cafes, bohemian boutiques and an array of artistic attractions. Easily combined with neighboring Itaewon, Hannam-dong is one of the best Seoul neighborhoods for a day of culture, coffee and retail therapy
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From decadent desserts at Passion5 to beautiful ceramics and artworks at Yongsan Crafts or Leeum Museum, there is much to hanker for at Hannam-dong in Seoul.
Full of bustling side-streets, trendy stores and some amazing food joints, here is our ultimate guide to Hannam-Dong in Seoul.
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How to get to Hannam-dong in Seoul
To reach Hannam-dong in Seoul, we took the subway to Hangangjin station and then took exit 2, walking downhill to Hannam-dong to start at Passion5 or Leeum museum.
Alternatively, you can take the subway to Hannam Station on the Gyeongui-Jungang Line and head north.
Remember to use a T-Money card on the Seoul Metro – you can buy one in advance from Klook >
Nearby hotels to Hannom dong
Mid-range ($$)
Imperial Palace Boutique Hotel
A modern hotel with fashionable rooms, the Imperial Palace Boutique Hotel has an air of independence and very different from your usual chain hotels – it is also a short walk to many high-end fashion stores like Gucci.
Check out prices and availability on booking.com / agoda.com / expedia.com
Luxury ($$$)
Grand Hyatt Seoul
A 5* Seoul hotel, the Grand Hyatt is close to the Han River and offers views of Mount Namsan. It has 7 restaurants, 2 bars plus an indoor and outdoor pool complete with a spa.
Check out prices and availability on booking.com / agoda.com / expedia.com
Hannom dong Things To Do
1. Yongsan Crafts Museum
Our first stop on the Hannam-dong itinerary is Yongsan Crafts Museum, a sublime showroom of lots of pretty things, from ceramics to glassware, jewellery to woodwork.
This is a brilliant place to see crafts and wares made by Korean artists – or they also offer classes like ring making workshops where you design your own rings.
Other Korean workshops at the Yongsan Crafts Museum include hanbok design, making traditional paper dolls plus designing traditional Korean accessories like a mother of pearl necklace.
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2. Leeum Museum of Art
One of Seoul’s most famous museums and galleries, this is one of the best things to do in Hannam-dong at any time of the year – even the architecture and cool mirrored sculpture outside are magnificent.
As well as temporary exhibitions by world renowned artists, inside you’ll find two main sections at the Leeum Museum of Art, a traditional Korean gallery plus a section dedicated to more contemporary cultural pieces and paintings.
Whilst the permanent exhibition of ancient art is free to visit at Leeum Museum of Art, other exhibitions have a small fee.
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3. Passion 5 Bakery
A blinging bakery spin-off from the more pedestrian Paris Baguette chain, this upscale utopia of a cake shop and patisserie palace often has lines out of the door.
Passion 5 is the perfect place for some sweet treats after visiting the Leeum Museum of Art across the road and offers such decadent desserts as teddy bear shaped cakes or Christmas themed treats – others rave about their bulgogi sandwiches.
Honestly, we popped by for a couple of pastries and just browsing all the dessert cabinets is part of the epic epicurean experience.
Honestly, this is one of the nicest bakeries in Seoul we’ve ever been to – from matcha croissants to Dubai chocolate desserts, make time for a sweet treat at Passion5.
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4. Blue Square (블루스퀘어)
A quick mention of Blue Square as it is mainly for attending musical performances in the evening – however, if you are going to Hannam-dong via Hangangjin station, Blue Square is right next to the exit plus is home to Book Park, a cafe with a cute terrace and over 50,000 books, novels and magazines to browse.
At night, there are two theaters here that host big touring musicals or live music performances – check out the official Blue Square events guide here >
5. Sounds Hannam
Hannam-dong’s trendy shopping complex with a courtyard terrace, Sounds Hannam is a modern mall with shops, cafes and fashion boutiques.
From Saint Laurent to Ralph Lauren, Aesop to Ororo, this is a nice place to shop til you drop and a cut above the usual Seoul shopping malls.
We visited one weekday afternoon and the outside terrace area was fulls of suits sipping cappuccinos – we also had one of our most surreal Seoul experiences here as we stumbled across hundreds of K-Pop fans trying to get close to Chanee from The Boyz – AKA The Boy with The Beret.
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6. Hyundai Card Music Library
We did say Hannam-dong was a hive of hipsters (try saying that after several sojus) – part recording studio, part vinyl cafe, Hyundai Card Music Library is one of Hannam-dongs more unique caffeine stops.
As well as vinyl, there is a cassette and CD selection and headphones are available to listen to beats with your brews – Hyundai Card holders can visit for free.
Outside there is a striking mural and a viewpoint looking out over Hannam-dong’s shopping side-streets – this is definitely worth a diversion.
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7. Fashion and beauty shopping in Hannam-dong
One of the best things to do in Hannam-dong is go shopping – you’ll find lots of trendy cosmetics stors and boutique fashion stores frequented by Seoul’s youth (plus there are thrift stores for those less wealthy students and tourists).
Some of the more well-known fashion and beauty brands we spotted in Hannam include Kolon (a Korean apparel store), Diesel, Musinsa, Tamburins, Labo Perfumery, Aesop, Superdry and Rockfish.
Most of these can be found on the main streets whilst the smaller / independent boutiques can usually be found in the side-streets.
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8. Kinki 킨키로봇 한남
One of the coolest collectible shops in Hannam-dong we visited was Kinki (map).
It has a massive blind box and blinged BearBrick selection and a lot more unusual items than say ArtBox or PopMart – it also hosts regular pop-up exhibitions.
When we were there, there was a temporary Care Bears gallery and several collectors were snapping up super cute items.
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9. Gourmet 494 Food Court
Could this be Seoul’s most glamorous food court? As visited by RM from BTS, Gourmet 494 Food Court in Hannam is located below the Nine One Hannam, a modern apartment complex where many of Seoul’s rich and famous live.
This food court is much more sleek than anywhere else we’ve been in Seoul – the antithesis of say Gwangjang Market or Kalguksu Alley – but then the prices are a lot higher too!
We had lunch in Gourmet 494 Food Court one weekday afternoon so it was pretty quiet but we’ve read it gets very busy at the weekend (maybe it is people eating and wanting a meeting with K Pop stars who live upstairs)?
As well as classic Korean food, there are lots of international stalls like burgers and Italian – we opted for Vietnamese which was really rather good plus some tacos from Queen’s Blvd.
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10. Hannam Korean Photo Booths
One of the most fun things to do in Hannam at night (or any time of day really), Korean photo booth stores are dotted all around the local area, including Photoism, Haru Film, Photogray and Don’t Lxxk Up.
Selfie kiosks in Itaewon are neon-infused photo shops (usually unmanned) where you can borrow clothes and fun props (like vegetable hats, big sunglasses, animal paw gloves etc) and then pose for selfies or take photos in booths for a small fee.
You might like our guide to using a Korean photo booth >
11. DogDogDog Hannam 도그도그도그
You won’t go hungry in Hannam-dong; there are so many food options at all times of the day.
After much consideration and an afternoon of exploring, we stumbled upon Dogdogdog, an American style hotdog kiosk that looked fun.
We walked in and ordered two classic hotdog combos using the ordering tablet – a few minutes later, our dogs were ready and we wolfed them down (‘cos exploring Seoul is hungry work).
You can elevate your hotdogs with your toppings including a Mexican dog, LA Dog or go for everything on the Dirty Dog – recommended!
Our final thing to do in Hannam-Dong
12. Coffee Culture
The coffee shops in Hannam-dong are plentiful and you are spoilt for choice where to get your caffeine fix – forget Starbucks in this instance and head to a cute coffee shop.
Some of the more popular / trendy coffee shops in Hannam dong include Lick Sip, Lilion, Low cafe Hannam, Milestone Coffee and Anthracite.
And as a sign of how quickly trends and things changed, one of the best looking dessert shops when we visited. Bianca Gelato has already closed down since we were there.
Full disclosure – we had our sweet treat fix and coffee / cake session in Passion8 at the start of our Hannam-dong day so didn’t go to any more cafes but you may want to hold out for later and try one of these.
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