Gwangjang Traditional Market in Seoul, South Korea

Gwangjang Market is the oldest traditional market in Seoul (established in 1905). During this time, Korea was under Japanese rule and took over Namdaemun Market. Koreans wanted to create a market that wasn't under Japanese rule, so wealthy merchants got together and bought the land for W100,000. It was formally the Bae O Gae Market and they originally named it the Dongdaemun Market. It was later renamed Gwangjang Market in 1960. It became the first permanent market to be open every day of the week.


On the first floor, you have many stalls that sell various kinds of Korean food.

The most common food here is bindaetteok which is a Korean pancake made from mung beans, vegetables, and meat. You can see the people making them here in the picture below. Don't the pictures make you want to try some of this food?

You can even get various soups. It looks as if the older man in the picture above is eating red bean soup. In all honesty red bean isn't my favorite, but some of my non-Korean friends enjoy it.

You can be really adventurous and try raw beef , yukhoe (pronounced yook-hwae-육회), or you can get the normal dishes from a couple of friendly ladies serving kimbap (김밥), mandu (meat or kimchi dumplings-만두), ddeokbogi (rice cake with spicy red pepper paste) sundae (blood sausage) odeng (오뎅). 

This will give you an idea of the variety of fresh vegetables that are used. And many of these dishes are very cheap, yet very delicious.

The picture below shows you how big this place is. Many foreign visitors flock here even on weekdays. But it's definitely packed on weekends because it's so popular.

On the second floor, you can find all of your silk, satin, and linen bed sheets. In total the shop has 5,000 venders and an average of 20,000 visitors on a busy Saturday or Sunday. You can get your own custom made Korean hanbok if you're planning to get married! They're not cheap, but they're beautiful. Korean couples can also buy "yedan" here, which are gives from the bride to the groom's family.

Gwangjang Market can be reached on Line 1 at Jongno-5-Ga Station. You can take Exit 7, walk for about a minute and turn right. Or you can take Exit 8, walk two minutes and turn left. It's open from 9:00am-6:00pm, and a few shops are open until 7:00pm.

Also, if you have time, you can visit Cheongyecheon which is just outside the south entrance. It's not the best part of the stream that flows through the city, since I think the area near Gwanghwamun is a bit nicer. However, you can walk there if you like. It would take you from 30-45 minutes!


Scott Worden (L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy