A wonderful start to 2026, eating and drinking my way through Seoul.

Seoul, as seen on my walkabouts around town.

Plenty of cocktails were had over two visits to ZEST SEOUL | @zest.seoul. Many thanks to Danny | @danny_youngmin_park for getting me a spot at the bar on my last afternoon in town.

Lunch at ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Mingles | @mingles_restaurant which was most assuredly one of the best lunches I’ve ever had. The food was phenomenal, the plating impeccable, and the service overwhelming (in a good way) even if did they mispell my name on the menu.

For the cost of 42,000 World of Hyatt points (entirely transferred over from Chase Ultimate Rewards), I was able to spend two nights in the very swell Park Hyatt Seoul | @parkhyattseoul. Category 5 is pretty low for the Park Hyatt brand but I won’t complain as this was a very solid redemption.

The cocktails at Bar Cham | @bar.cham are categorized by regions in South Korea; five in total. That meant I had to have one from each, right? Right.

On our way back to Seoul from the DMZ, we stopped at the Majang Lake Suspension Bridge, the longest towerless suspension bridge in South Korea.

I’m gonna acknowledge from the jump that this tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is told from a South Korean perspective and, try as they might, there are inherent biases in their descriptions/depictions.

With that out of the way, I’d definitely recommend doing this tour if you have a morning and afternoon to kill as it’s the only legit way you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of North Korea, a place that’s almost suspended in time.

For my first night in Seoul, I stayed at the Courtyard Seoul Namdaemun | @courtyard_namdaemun, for its convenient location and to burn my last FNA. As Courtyards go, this was a standout amongst the brand (definitely nicer than the one I stayed at in Osaka) - decidedly not fancy but more than adequate and a decent-sized room, which is also an indication I was no longer in Japan. I arrived on New Year’s Eve and went to sleep before 11 pm as it’d been a long day but was “treated” to fireworks at midnight to ring in the New Year.

Seoul, as seen on the coldest run of this trip.

On the grounds near 국립민속박물관 National Folk Museum of Korea | @tnfmk, the 70’s and 80’s, Streets of Memories “recreates what the streets and alleys of a typical neighborhood in Seoul may have looked like during the 1970s and 1980s.“ 2/2

Took a walk back in time along 국립민속박물관 National Folk Museum of Korea | @tnfmk 70’s and 80’s, Streets of Memories. 1/

The grounds at Gyeongbokgung Palace | @gyeongbokgung_palace_official are sprawling and there is A LOT to see. If you go to the outer edges, you’ll avoid the larger crowds, and might even find a few serene scenes. 2/2

Spent an afternoon walking the grounds of Gyeongbokgung Palace | @gyeongbokgung_palace_official, where there was just about zero refuge from the sun.

The observation deck of N Seoul Tower has the distance to major cities marked on the glass. Managed to get a shot of just about every city I’ve visited so far in my travels (missed the SF/Chicago window) but there’s one in this post that I’ve yet to visit but will hit later this year. Can you guess which one?

Spent my first afternoon in Seoul walking through Namsan Park and up Mt. Namsan, finishing it off by taking in the views of the city from N Seoul Tower. 1/

Waited over two hours to get into Geumdwaeji Sikdang | @gold_pig1982 - totally worth it. Friends, some 🐖 was had.

Seoul, as seen on my torturous run up to Namsan Tower.