Best Places to Visit in Seongsu
A photo diary of my favorite spots, from cute cafes to the fun entertainment activities locals enjoy in their daily lives.
You’ve probably seen all sorts of videos of South Korea on social media nowadays. ‘Best Cafes to Visit in Korea’; ‘Best Places to go in Seoul’; What to buy, what to eat, what to do, etc.
Recently, South Korean culture has blown up on the internet. Everyone posts about their exciting experience shopping, eating, and spending time having fun.
Most people like to visit areas in Seoul, the city blooming with modern technology, delicious food, and of course, shopping. After living in Korea for a little over a year, I’ve visited many of these places recommended on the internet, as well as places where my friends (who’ve lived here for years) like to hang out.
Through visiting countless areas in Seoul (Gangnam, Dongdaemun, Hongdae, etc.), I’ve found that especially for teenagers my age (although people of all ages can enjoy), Seongsu is the best place to go to experience the cute cafe culture and shop for all the viral products online. Although on most days (especially the weekends), it is very crowded, all the activities and shops are worth visiting.
In this blog post, I’ve gathered some of my favorite spots to visit in Seongsu, from cute cafes to the fun entertainment activities locals enjoy in their daily lives.
(Tip: I recommend saving these places in Google or Naver Maps, so that you can visit shops in order from closest to farthest from the station.)
Cafe & Desserts
This is my favorite cafe to visit whenever I’m craving sweet pastries and a nice place to cool down. The cafe is near Seongsu Station (subway), so this is a great place to go if you want a little dessert before you explore the rest of the neighborhood.
Once you enter the cafe, you can pick out the pastries from the back and pay at the counter, where you can also order your drinks. The cafe is fairly large, so you can find seats in the main building first floor, the second floor (located outside the cafe; not many people go there), or the second building (located right next to the main building; most people find seats there).
(Top: Vegan Strawberry Latte; Midde: 딸기바라기 (Strawberry Lover) Front: Green Grape Croissant
However, this cafe is usually very busy (especially on the weekends), so it takes a while for the drinks to be ready. It may also be difficult to find a seat, so coming with more than 4 people is not recommended.
Most pastries and drinks here are very sweet (as well as a lot of desserts in Korea), so for those who aren’t looking for sugary snacks, it’s best to skip this cafe.
This place is where I get a small, cold snack while walking around Seongsu in the summer. Last year, it was popular for their new Dubai Chocolate Ice Cream (which is VERY sweet). I usually visit this place once in a while, whenever I’m craving ice cream and a place to cool down.
The interior decoration of the ice cream shop.
This shop is very small in size (there are about 6~8 chairs), so when it gets busy, you won’t be able to find a seat.
Each small sized ice cream ranges from ₩5000 ~ ₩8000 ($4~$6), and a bigger size costs around ₩10000 ~ ₩15000 ($7 ~ $11).
(Left: Pineapple Greek Yogurt | Right: Dubai Chocolate | Menus may vary according to season)
Shopping
Nyu Nyu (there is also a Nyu Nyu House)
This shopping store went viral for its cheap trinkets, bags, clothes, and accessories. Here, you can find all the cutest keychains to match with your friends, accessories for your outfit, and simple but stylish clothes, bags, and hats, all for the price range of around ₩2000 to ₩30000 (~$1.50 to $20).
There are 3 locations of Nyu Nyu at Seongsu.
1. Nyu Nyu House
This place is the closest to the station. It may look small, but there is a basement floor, as well as a 2nd and 3rd (maybe 4th?) floor that are filled with shelves of all the little necessities.
2. Nyu Nyu Wholesale
This is the main store, but it has items similar to Nyu Nyu House. If you’re only looking around, then I would suggest Nyu Nyu House rather than this store, since it is pretty far from the station. However, this one is very close to Brandy Melville Seongsu, so you might want to take a little peek.
3. Nyu Nyu Lab
This place is right next to Nyu Nyu Wholesale. It mostly sells glasses, which you can find in the other stores as well.
Nyu Nyu Wholesale Photo Credit: interpark global
Nyu Nyu Store at Gangnam Station
First and foremost: this store is kind of hidden. As you keep walking to the location, you’ll see a little bear sitting on a chair. Enter the little tunnel (little opening) and you’ll find the store.
This place is a trinket store that sells the cutest tableware, jewelry, keychains, stationery, and dolls! This place is more pricey, but the aesthetic layout of this shop is always worth a visit. If you’re into cottagecore or a coquette aesthetic, you won’t regret looking around here.
There is also a 2nd floor, so don’t forget to take a look in there too!
The kitchenware in this store (shown above) carries the coquette and cute style that will be perfect for gifting a friend or relative. There are also little sauce dishes that will be the cutest addition to your dining table!
Now, we’re getting into makeup. If you’ve visited Korea, you’ve probably been to an Olive Young store, either because your mom dragged you there or because you wanted to pick up some K-beauty products. Olive Young N Seongsu is one of the biggest stores in Korea. It has 3 floors, all organized into different sections. The first floor is where it introduces new events and a sneak peek at some of the products.
Olive Young N Seongsu: The Korea Herald
Now, the second floor is where it begins. This floor mainly contains makeup products, as well as luxury brands and a perfume section. This is also where you pay for your items. There are also areas where you can get those viral color analysis tests (where you can find your personal color that looks the best on you) and makeup done.
Second Floor of Olive Young N Seongsu: The Korea Herald
The third floor is where all the skincare items are. There are sinks if you want to test out cleansers. You can also find hair products and lip balm collections next to the skincare section. The interior is very sleek and modern, and they have a very clean aesthetic with all the little plants and the glass walls.
Third Floor of Olive Young N Seongsu: Korea Navigator
This store is a mix of makeup, perfume, and desserts. Starting from the first floor, where you enter, are rows and rows of every dasique product (with some that can only be bought here or online).
Dasique is a Korean makeup brand that is quite popular when it comes to their high-quality products, with its elegant and minimalistic packaging.
The flagship store includes both their dasique makeup products, as well as hand creams and perfumes from their sister brand, After Blow.
The first and third floors of this store include all of their makeup products. There is a lot, so take your time looking around. The third floor is also where all the events happen. It varies based on the season, but a recent one gave customers 2 random products for free if they’ve paid a specific amount in the store.
The second floor is a cafe, where they sell drinks and ice cream desserts. They are on the pricier side (ranging from ₩9000 to ₩14,000), however, and if you don’t like sugary foods, I suggest skipping this cafe, since they’re more on visuals than taste.
However, the cafe does have aesthetic decorations, where you can enjoy yourself wherever you sit. My personal favorite is the window seating, as it has the perfect lighting and decorations for pictures.
Tip: The Matcha (left) is pretty good, other than the fact that it is very sweet. My friends who tried the Blue Soda Ade (right) found it too sweet for their liking.
Entertainment
Photobooths
Whenever my friends and I go out to hang out, we always take a photobooth picture. For me, it’s a way to keep those memories to look back on in the future. I always looks for photobooth inspiration from Pinterest and Instagram, but most of the time I just go with any poses I’m feeling at the moment. Whenever I take one with a friend, it’s always a theme to do a silly picture for the last cut.
If you’re visiting Korea, I highly recommend taking at least one to keep as a little souvenir. They’re usually not expensive at all, as they range from ₩4000 to ₩6000 depending on the size and place.
One photobooth place I always visit when I go to Seongsu is Photogray. This is my personal favorite, because of the perfect quality pictures and the minimalistic photostrip design. There are many other places with similar benefits, but I always go for photostrips from Photogray.
However, one thing to take into account is that many of these photobooth pictures come out very whitewashed. There are options in some places to change the skin tone lighting, but many places do not have that.
If you come around the busy hours (2-5 PM or the weekends), then you might find that the line for Photogray is long. An alternative place to go would be Photoism or Life Four Cuts, since it is very close to Photogray.
Karaoke
Korea has a huge culture of noraebangs, AKA karaoke rooms. There are places all over the city, but I’ve found that mostly coin noraebangs are best for teenagers to go to. There is a variety of music to choose from, including popular songs from all around the world.
However, many noraebangs are not foreign-friendly (no English-support), so it may be difficult to figure out how to work things out.
The Million Coin Noraebang (밀리언 코인노래연습장, located on the 3rd floor of the building) in Seongsu is a place that attracts many Korean visitors, especially teenagers. The payment is run by a machine right by the door when you enter (usually, there won’t be a person at the counter). There is an option to translate everything to English as well. However, when you enter the room and try to choose a song, it may be difficult because the device (a giant remote looking thing) will have everything in Korean.
While this place does not have a lot of support for English or foreign language speaking visitors, the experience is very fun, especially when you’re around friends. The price is very cheap as well (depends on the place, but usually ranges from ₩3000 to ₩15,000).
I recommend coming here if you have a relative or a friend who has been to a noraebang and knows how to work it out.
Cafe Hangout
There is a comic book cafe in Seongsu called Beoltoon (벌툰만화카페) where you can eat, play games (there are board games, as well as Nintendo), read comic books, watch Netflix, or just hang around with friends or family. It’s right next to the subway station, so you can easily have this as your final activity to just wind down and relax.
This is always my go-to hang out place whenever me and my friends need a little rest and a sit down from all the activities we do. This place has its own little tiny rooms where you can watch movies (Honey Box 허니박스 room; you can select rooms when you first enter) or play nintendo (there is a separate nintendo room). They also have a kiosk where you can order any food you want, ranging from french fries, to hot dogs, to tteokbokki and ramen.
And of course, as a Comic Book Cafe, Beoltoon has a wide range of popular manhwas (comic books) that many teenage students like to read. However, everything is in Korean, so I would recommend reading some of these books if you are comfortable reading in Korean.
The place is very clean and has an aesthetic interior where you can take all the photos you want. Overall, I would say it’s very cheap, as it was only around ₩7,000 to ₩10,000 ($5 to $7) for one hour + drink, excluding the food from the kiosk. You can also stay for longer than the original hours you chose, with ₩600 (depending on the place) added to your final cost for every additional 10 minutes you stay.
The downside is that similar to the Noraebang, this cafe does not have a lot of English-support, so it may be difficult coming here without a friend or relative who knows how to speak Korean. Otherwise, all you need to tell the worker at the counter are the hours you’re staying, if you’re getting a drink, and what room you’re going to stay in. After that, you can just enjoy the experience with everything to your liking!
I’ve also spent countless hours scrolling on social media, looking for the best places to go, where to shop, and what to eat. After visiting many unique places over the past year and a half, I have to say Seongsu is, and will always be my go-to recommendation if you’re looking for the Instagram-worthy Seoul experience.
