RECIPE: How To Make Dakgalbi
Spicy chicken stir fry dakgalbi hails from South Korea and is a really easy dish to make. We cook it regularly and it’s an excellent weekday dish, because it requires little effort – just chop the ingredients, mix everything together, let them marinate, and then cook. This is a dish that is warm, spicy and surprisingly sweet, and the multitude of ingredients ensure that it will have delicious complex flavours. It is often served inside salad leaves as ssam, which means wrap – whereby the dakgalbi is wrapped in the leaves. However, we often serve it with rice. We can usually cook the dakgalbi in the time it takes to cook the rice. Here’s our dakgalbi recipe.
These days we find it very easy to buy gochujang, the spicy fermented chilli paste that is characteristic of so many Korean dishes. Even our local supermarket stocks it. Gochujaru and rice syrup might be a little more difficult to obtain. We are lucky to have a Korean supermarket in our town but if you can’t find these ingredients you can easily substitute them.
Rice syrup, known as ssal-jocheong, is made from rice and barley malt powder which is cooked up with water to create a thick, gloopy syrup. It has a lovely sweetness which adds another dimension to the dish and complements the spiciness. If you can’t get this ingredient, you can use golden syrup.
Gochujaru is another quintessential Korean ingredient and basically comprises flakes of red chilli which provide the spiciness for this dish. If you can’t find it, you could easily substitute dried chilli flakes or even chilli powder, although chilli powder is much finer in consistency than gochujaru.
Dakgalbi Recipe
Serves 4
Dakgalbi Ingredients
1tbs gochujang paste
1tbs soy sauce
2tsp sesame oil
2 tsp gochujaru (use dried chilli flakes or chilli powder if you can’t get this)
1 tsp curry powder
1 tbs rice syrup (golden syrup if you can’t get it)
2 plump cloves of garlic
1 Carrot
1/3 white cabbage
1 onion
1 sweet potato
500g chicken breast or thigh (you can make this dish vegan by substituting the chicken for another 3 sweet potatoes)
Vegetable oil for cooking
Dakgalbi Recipe Method
Dice all the vegetables into similar-sized chunks – between ½ – 1cm cubed. The idea is to get them to the same size – and quite small.
Cut up the chicken into small pieces. If you are using sweet potato, chop into cubes, a similar size to the other ingredients.
Mix the gochujang, soy sauce, sesame oil, curry powder, rice syrup together in a large bowl. Crush or micrograte the garlic. Add the gochujaru chilli flakes. You can add more if you want your dish to be spicy, less if you want it milder, it’s up to you.
Add the chicken and vegetables to the mix and stir to ensure everything is coated. Leave for at least half an hour to marinate.
Heat up the vegetable oil in a pan. Add the mixture and cook on a high heat to start with, stirring regularly to make sure all the pieces of chicken are getting seared, then turn the heat to medium after about 5 minutes.
Cook for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken and veg are cooked through.
You can serve with rice, which we garnished with sesame seeds and Korean celery leaves, which is a lovely comfort meal. Or, for a lighter option, wrap it in lettuce or perilla leaves to eat as ssam.
Related Posts You May Enjoy
- RECIPE: How To Make Dakgalbi
- RECIPE: How to Make Sushi Ginger – Gari
- RECIPE: How To Make Elderflower Champagne
- RECIPE Oyakodon Donburi
- Zero Waste Recipes Before Your Holiday
- RECIPE: Vegetable Biryani Tamil Nadu Style
- RECIPE: Vegan Wild Garlic Pesto
- Recipe: Venetian Pasta Sauce
- RECIPE: Biryani Raita Recipe
Lobster Dinner in Nova Scotia
What makes a luxury food luxurious? Is it exclusivity? A famous name? Limited availability? And why do many luxury foods look so unappealing? Oysters are grey and slippery, truffles look like muddy-mini-brains, and lobsters appear positively primeval. Sometimes it’s easy to see why food is considered to be luxurious. Kobe beef, for example, is reared to exceptional and very precise standards and there is limited availability. Seafood is considered to be a luxury food by many in the UK, an island nation with a long history of fishing. But ingredients such as lobsters, scallops and oysters are enormously expensive. The north-eastern coastline of America and Canada is famous for seafood. And when we visited Canada one of our top priorities was to enjoy a lobster dinner in Nova Scotia. Or more…
What Makes Fine Dining Fine?
We recently celebrated a significant wedding anniversary and treated ourselves to lunch at a Michelin-starred restaurant. It was expensive but it was a place that we had long wanted to visit and, if you can’t treat yourselves after 30 years of marriage, when can you? But… while the food was nothing short of divine, we didn’t really enjoy all the other ‘stuff’ that goes with luxury dining.
The wine was eye-wateringly expensive (and not that amazing), we were requested to comply with a dress code, a hefty automatic service charge was added to the bill (we could have asked for it to be removed) and we just felt, well, not fully relaxed. The service felt kinda overly stiff and formal. It was a lovely experience, just not as sublime as we’d hoped it would be.
Our local city has a fine dining restaurant which is much more up our street. Owned by a chef who has worked in amazing kitchens all over the world, the food is exquisite but it is served in a relaxed, informal environment. You can dine in a t-shirt and jeans if you want. Bring your own booze and become your own sommelier. You share a table with the other guests and enjoy lively conversation and usually a laugh. As you say your goodbyes you get a hug from the chef’s wife (this is optional!). And did we mention how exquisite the food is?
Seafood and Eat It!
We’ve recently returned from a road trip to Nova Scotia, one of Canada’s eastern maritime provinces, located on the Atlantic coast. We travelled in a ‘figure 8’ around the peninsular, hugging as much of its beautiful coastline as possible, and with a firm determination to scoff as much seafood as we could. We ate like kings every day. But what we loved most about Nova Scotia’s seafood was how down-to-earth it was. No pretentious plating, no fiddly processes, just good honest food.
Nova Scotia’s Lobster Fishing Industry
The town of Lunenburg is around an hour’s drive from Nova Scotia’s capital city Halifax. It’s a beautiful UNESCO heritage town with colourful buildings lining the gorgeous coastline and harbour.
The Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic in Lunenburg is extensive and absolutely fascinating. It’s the perfect place to discover Nova Scotia’s maritime history, particularly in the context of its fishing industry. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable and give talks about lobsters and fisheries throughout the day. We really enjoyed interacting with them.
Canada has very specific rules about catching lobsters. All fishermen need a licence. These are issued by the government and each costs $1.25m CAD. Licences are issued for particular ocean regions, which mean that the fishermen assigned their locations are responsible for looking after their patch. There are very specific rules on what they can catch – undersized lobsters and females with egg-laying potential all have to be returned.
Dories and Lobster Pots
We learned about the history of fishing in the area and the evolution of the lobster pot.
Historically, fishermen went out to fish for lobsters using dories. These small boats would be stacked up in a schooner which would take the men to the fishing grounds. You can see the little dories in the photo below.
The dories would be launched and the catch hauled in. Interestingly, during both World Wars U-boats would torpedo the schooner although they would rescue the souls on board, destroying the main boat, but would leave the crew in the dories to make their own way back to shore.
Lobsters are caught in pots which are designed like wooden crates with internal netting. They are weighted down with rocks to keep the pot on the bottom of the seabed and a wooden or plastic buoy marks its location. Lobsters have a keen sense of smell and are attracted by bait – usually bits of fish – and they swim backwards into the pot. Then they become trapped inside the netting.
The older type of pot had a wooden catch which local seals learned how to open by rubbing their bellies on it. Then they could work their way inside to get a tasty snack – free food! They have been observed teaching their young pups to open the pots too. Modern lobster pot designs use a bungee catch which is ‘seal-proof’ but also incorporates a hinge that rusts away after 4 weeks or so, allowing lobsters to escape if the pot ever loses its mooring and drifts away to the sea.
Sometimes you may encounter a more unusual species in the pot!
The sea is as much a part of the fabric of Nova Scotia as its beautiful landscapes. The bounty from both land and sea are taken very seriously, but the focus is on enjoying the great ingredients.
Lobster? Food For Poor People?
When visiting Musée des Acadiens des Pubnicos in southern Nova Scotia, a museum which showcases traditional Acadian life, we got chatting to the boatbuilder who had been demonstrating how to build a dory over the course of the summer. He told us that when he was a child, lobster was considered to be poor man’s food. At school, the poorer kids who brought lobster sandwiches would try to swap their lunch for the baloney or peanut butter sandwiches that the richer children brought in.
And perhaps that is why that lobster, considered to be such a luxury food worldwide, is treated with respect but is not elevated to snooty levels here, it’s accessible to all. We ate lobster dinners in family restaurants and diners throughout our trip.
Best Lobster Dinners in Nova Scotia
Whole Lobster – a lobster on a plate. Simple. Classic. The lobster is cooked to perfection, the claws are usually pre-cracked and then you are given either crackers or scissors, and picks to extract the meat from the claws and tail. Some restaurants also give you a plastic bib and a card showing you how to extract the meat from the lobster. And a plastic pot containing melted garlic butter for dipping. Often accompanied with fries or salad.
Lobster Roll – another classic that we had long wanted to taste. Tender chunks of lobster meat in a soft roll with salad and dressing. We loved that different types of restaurant had variations that suited their style of cuisine. So an Italian restaurant in Halifax offered a scrumptious lobster ciabatta.
Even the Subway, a fast food restaurant chain, had lobster subways on offer in Lunenburg. They were very reasonably priced and pretty tasty too.
At the Grand Banker Bar & Grill in Lunenburg they take their seafood seriously. The Lunenburger is a smashed meat burger patty with bacon, cheese, rocket, aioli, and, of course, lobster in a toasted artisan roll. If that wasn’t enough, this juicy burger is topped with a bacon-wrapped scallop.
Lobster Mac ‘n’ Cheese – a humble comfort food made luxurious with the addition of succulent pieces of lobster. And nothing like the stingy lobster mac ‘n’ cheese we’ve had in the UK where you need a microscope to identify any pieces of lobster that may have somehow been incorporated in the sauce – here you get luscious chunks of lobster tail and claw.
Lobster Poutine – Poutine is Canada’s national dish and we were keen to taste it on our visit. It comprises chips (French fries) smothered in yummy gravy and topped with cheese curds. It sounds kinda wrong to an English girl who likes her chips with vinegar and a Dutch boy who won’t eat chips unless they are accompanied by mayonnaise. But poutine is surprisingly delicious. The key lies with the gravy – the best poutines we ate were served with a thick, rich gravy that was full of flavour. Lobster and traditional gravy doesn’t really work – gravy is really a sauce for meat- so lobster poutine tends to use a creamy sauce.
One of the things we most liked about the restaurants in Nova Scotia was that not only were the prices very reasonable, while the lobster may have been the star of the show, you would often be offered the main attraction as part of a full dinner. In Baddeck, on Cape Breton island, we enjoyed all-you-can-eat chowder, all-you-can-eat mussels, a choice of whole lobster or snow crab, followed by a dessert. All for less than the price that a UK fishmonger would charge just for a single lobster that you’d have to prepare yourself. Baddeck Lobster Suppers offers exactly what its name suggests. (And the all-you-can-eat was absolutely good to its word – if you fancied some mussels or chowder, even after finishing your dessert, you only had to ask for more.)
(We did choose the snow crab here, because we had eaten a lot of lobster by the time we reached Baddeck. And it was sublime.)
The food of Nova Scotia was an absolute delight and we thoroughly enjoyed our tasty road trip exploring all that this marvellous province had to offer. But it was the unpretentious deliciousness of the cuisine that stole our hearts. Food isn’t meant to be showy, it’s meant to be savoured.
Related Posts You May Enjoy
- Lobster Dinner in Nova Scotia
- Rivers and Rainforests – A Guyana Itinerary
- Best Time To Visit Machu Picchu 2024 Update
- A 2 Week Patagonia Itinerary
- Day of the Dead in Campeche
- A Galapagos Land Based Itinerary
- RECIPE: How to Make Costa Rica’s Gallo Pinto
- A Tasty Puebla Food Tour
- Costa Rica Wildlife Sanctuary – Caño Negro
Is the Copenhagen Card Worth It?
City cards are a popular way of sightseeing in many European cities – they often offer free or discounted entry to various attractions and also transportation. But they aren’t always cheap, so it’s worth considering whether they offer genuinely good value. We thoroughly researched our trip to Copenhagen to see whether the city’s tourism card was worth investing in. Is the Copenhagen Card worth it? We think it’s one of the best city cards around, and we have some handy hints on to get the very best value from it.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links. If you click through and decide to make a purchase we will make a small commission, at no extra cost to you, which will help towards the costs of running this site.
Different Types of Copenhagen Card
There are two flavours of card:
The Hop Card – this gives you access to the main attractions within the city centre. You travel around using the hop-on, hop-off buses. You can visit up to 40 places free of charge. The hop-on, hop-off buses take you around the city with common sites of interest.
The Discover Card – offers unlimited public transport (including the train from the airport), so you can use the buses and trains but you cannot use the hop-on, hop-off buses. Travelling around Copenhagen and also further outside the city is included. The Discover Card offers you far more attractions that you can go to see too, twice as many as the Hop Card.
Extra Benefits – if you are travelling with children, both the Discover and Hop cards allow two children to travel and visit the attractions for free with every adult card purchased. This is a fantastic deal.
In our opinion the Discover Card offers better value – there are more places you can visit and you have a greater amount of flexibility using transportation to reach them. But the Hop may be more convenient for you.
Practicalities of Using Your Card
You can buy your card online any time before your visit to Copenhagen.
There are various options for the length of time you wish your card to be active for:
Hop Card: 24, 48, 72 hours
Discover Card: 24, 48, 72, 96, 120 hours
There are a number of things to take into account when you use your card. The first is the misnomer that it’s actually a card because it is electronic, so you will need a mobile phone or another portable device in order to use it.
It’s fine to download multiple cards on the same device.
Your card is activated as soon as you enter the first attraction or use the transportation system. You will need a wifi signal or mobile signal for the activation. Most museums we visited had wi-fi which we could connect to.
You are allowed to visit as many attractions as you can each day. But you can only visit each attraction once, with the exception of the Tivoli Gardens where you can re-enter the park on the same day only. If you exit the garden and wish to return you need to make sure that you get a stamp from the security guards. Also, while entry to Tivoli is free using the card, you will need to pay to go on individual rides. Just queue and tap your credit/debit card at the entrance to the ride. Or you can buy multiple ride passes at the ticket machines which can be found around the park.
Pro tip: If you’re worried that you might not have enough data on your phone or can’t get a wi-fi signal on public transport, take a screenshot of the cards and you can show these as a photo whenever you need to enter any of the places you want to visit.
The card will count down the time until it expires, so you can always check how long you have left.
Choosing the Attractions
Copenhagen has an enormous number of fantastic places to visit. From a canal boat tour to historic palaces and castles, art and design galleries, science museums and the wonderful Tivoli Gardens, the city will have something to suit everyone.
In order to maximise your use of the Copenhagen card, have a think about what you would like to see and do. Copenhagen is delightful but it is an expensive city so we wanted to see as many attractions as we could. We did some research to find out which attractions were located close to each other and targeted those, so that we could maximise the number of places we could see in each day.
There are also a number of the attractions in the city that are free to visit and made plans to visit those after our cards had expired.
We spent one of our days outside Copenhagen city visiting Hamlet’s Castle at Elsinor and the fabulous Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. The train transportation was included on the card – we just had to show it to the train conductor – as was entrance to both of these fabulous places. So for us, the Discover Card made a lot more sense as we could use it outside the city.
Like many locations across the world, museums are often closed on Mondays so, if the timing of your visit includes a Monday, we recommend checking that the places you visit will be open on that day and plan accordingly.
Choosing When To Activate Your Card
We chose the 72 hour Discover card. We arrived at Copenhagen’s international airport in the afternoon and, although we could have activated it to allow us to travel into the city centre on the train, we decided to buy train tickets at the airport, not only because they are cheap (30DKK, or ~$4 each), but we knew that many museums would be closing by the time we had arrived at our hotel and settled in.
So we waited until the following morning before we activated the cards. We noticed that some museums local to our hotel opened at 9am and some at 10am. We had a leisurely breakfast on our first full day in the city and decided to visit the National Museum which opened at 10am. This initiated the 72 hour countdown. But on day four of our trip (71 hours in) we could still enter the nearby Museum of Copenhagen which opened at 9am. We were able to stay inside and enjoy the exhibitions, even though the cards officially deactivated at 10am.
Note: It’s fine to enter attractions just before your card expires – you won’t get ejected when the time is up. However, you can’t use your card if it is due to expire while you are using public transport – it should be valid for the full length of the trip.
How Much Can You Save?
Of course the saving you make depends on how many attractions you visit – the more you see, the greater the savings.
We did a calculation of how much money we saved with the card. Our 72 hour cards cost us just over £100 (~$120) each. It’s a fair amount to lay out. However, with all the transportation and places we visited, we managed to save well over £330 (~$400) in total! You can read about our trip to Copenhagen which shows the places that we visited, including those using the card.
We hope you found these insights useful. Below is a link to the Copenhagen card if you would like to consider buying one for your trip. (We may get a small commission at no extra charge to you.)
Related Posts You May Enjoy
Busan in Winter – Cold But Cool!
Busan is South Korea’s second largest city and also its southernmost on the Korean mainland. It is known as a summer city because it is located on the coast and has some fabulous beaches. But there are plenty of things to do in Busan in winter and many of the tourist attractions will be less crowded. Although the temperature can get pretty cold, the weather is often sunny, so we have both indoor and outdoor activities on offer here. So wrap up warm, here’s our guide.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links. If you click through and decide to make a purchase we will make a small commission, at no extra cost to you, which will help towards the costs of running this site.
Getting to Busan
South Korea’s rail network is fast and efficient and a good way to get around the country. If you are planning to travel by train through South Korea you might want to consider buying a KoRail Pass. These are passes that allow foreign visitors unlimited journeys on the rail network on particular days, either consecutive days or individual days within a defined time period.
If you’re into zombie movies, you’ll know the film Train to Busan. It gave us great joy to catch a train to Busan but we can confirm that no zombies were encountered along the way.
Where to Stay in Busan
The main station is central to the city. In the summertime many people will head to the resorts to stay in lovely hotels overlooking the beach. We chose to stay in a hotel near the station. It wasn’t the best area and didn’t have the greatest view but at less than $50 a night for large room with kitchen facilities, it was amazing value. And… who wants to spend all their time in their hotel when there’s a large and exciting city to explore? But, if you still want a winter sea view, the seaside hotels will still be open. There are plenty of accommodation options in the city.
Getting Around Busan
Busan is a large city and many of the attractions are located several kilometres from each other. Busan has an integrated transport system and we recommend using the metro or buses. For some of the locations further out of the city you will almost certainly need to use buses. If you are spending time in a particular part of the city you can walk between attractions.
We have given directions from Busan station for all the attractions we mention here.
We recommend getting a T-money card when you arrive in Korea. This link is for a T-money card which you can buy in advance means that you don’t have to queue. It means you can tap in and out of all public transport and also use it at convenience stores. There are machines available to charge up your card and you can also do this at convenience stores. Note you will need to use cash to charge your card.
If you don’t wish to use public transport you could hire a car. This would give you flexibility to travel between the various attractions more easily. However, we recommend checking parking availability.
Attractions to Visit in Busan in Winter
Nampo-dong Area
The Nampo-dong area is very central and has many things to see. We have a combination of indoor and outdoor activities.
Busan Museum of Movies
We love Korean cinema and adored the Busan Museum of Movies. We had so much fun in what is probably the most interactive museum we have ever visited. You don’t have to be a fan of Korean films but, if you are, it truly is a place of joy.
There are various types of ticket – you can get one that includes the optical illusions exhibition (fun if you have kids) or a ticket simply for the main movie museum.
The exhibits are largely in Korean but are highly visual. There is a history of the national cinema as well as the movie making process.
On entry you are given a plastic card which you can scan at various locations throughout the museum. This means that you can get involved in the filmmaking process yourself: want to fight a monster against a green screen? Knock yourself out! (Or, if you’re really good, you could try knocking the monster out!) Appear in a movie poster? Or maybe dub your own dialogue onto a classic movie scene and then add your own sound effects? Don’t worry if you can’t speak Korean – we created some very silly dubs in English. All your efforts will be recorded onto the card and at the end of your visit you can download them onto a memory stick.
You can reach the museum Exit 5 of Jungang Station Metro Line 1. Or, if you like walking, it’s only a 2km walk from Busan station which is perfectly doable, if a bit hilly.
Yongdusan Park and Busan Tower
You can reach the tower using Line 1 to Nampo Station, Exit 7 and then it’s a short walk to the pretty garden and tower.
There is a fee to climb the tower, just buy a ticket at the machines outside the entrance. The tower visit is highly interactive and you can download an app: if you solve all the clues in a quiz, you can win a prize. And even if not, the views from the top are spectacular.
Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) BIFF Square
If you are a movie fan, you can walk the street to see the handprints and footprints of many Korean and international directors and actors.
And if you’re not a movie fan, there are some fantastic street food stalls in the area. Make sure you try hottoek – a sweet pancake with azuki beans and seeds. Perfect for a cold winter’s day.
And if there’s any reason to return to Busan in the summertime, it’s the Busan Film and Food Festival. It’s like someone designed a festival especially for us!
Gwangbok-ro, or Fashion Street, is a pedestrianised street where you can explore a variety of establishments and shop till you drop.
Jalgachi Fish Market
The largest fish market in South Korea this is the place to discover the fruits of the ocean.
The ground (first) floor houses the extensive market, which is chock full of fishy goodies. Upstairs you can find restaurants which cook the seafood.
Special foodie tip: Don’t forget to check out the nearby fisheries street, where you can also pick up other foodie souvenirs such as gim (seaweed, like Japanese nori) and lots of dried seafood.
Lotte Department Store
If you like shopping, this department store has a huge variety of products from clothing to kitchenware to toys. You might not find a bargain but there is plenty of browsing to be had. You can go out onto the roof for views across the city. There’s no charge for this. And, if you’re feeling like your talents need to shine in the world of K-pop you can also sign up for audition training. We were tempted to pop our heads round the door – there’s definitely an untapped market for a couple of oldies becoming K-pop superstars, right?
And the Nampo Winter Lights festival runs from mid-December to mid-January where the Gwangbok-ro and Gwangbokjungang-ro streets are lit up with festive lighting.
Western Busan Attractions
Gamcheon Culture Village
This is becoming one of Busan’s major tourist attractions largely because it is delightful. Originally this was a part of the city where the local authority located working class people following the Korean War. It became a deprived area where poverty was rife. However, in 2009 it was revived as a cultural centre when the department of culture invited artists and residents to spruce up the area.
Nowadays you can visit this colourful town, with the buildings nestled into the mountainside. It’s a place of discovery where you can spend hours exploring to seek out artworks.
If you like collecting stamps (and who doesn’t?) you can get a map and find particular artworks and get a stamp to prove you found them.
Some of the artworks are really admired and you may have to queue to have your photo taken. The Little Prince and the Fox are particularly popular – with many young ladies sitting demurely alongside the prince and gazing at him adoringly.
And fans of K-Pop legends BTS will also enjoy murals of their favourite local lads.
From Busan Station take Line 1 in the direction of Dadaepo Beach to Toseong Station. Use exit 6. The village is around 1km away. You can either walk up a steep hill to the entrance or take a bus: , Seogu 2 or Seogu 2-2 will get you there.
Taejongdae Park
This delightful coastal route is named for King Taejong Muyeol of the Silla people who loved visiting the area.
You can buy a ticket to ride the cute hop-on, hop-off Danubi Train which makes several stops for you to admire views of the magnificent rocky seaside cliffs.
Or, if you just fancy walking, that’s fine too and the area is free to visit. The train stops at various locations including the Observatory Rest Area where you can view as far as Oryukdo Islets and Tsushima Island on a clear day.
Yeongdo Lighthouse is one of the most popular views. This lighthouse has been in service since 1906. There are some exhibits to visit here.
Bus 88 or 101 from Busan Station will take you to the Taejongdae Cliff bus stop. There are a whole bunch of restaurants close by where you can get a delicious and cheap meal.
Songdo Skywalk and Cable Car
As the winter evenings draw in and the sun sets earlier in the day, grab a ride on the Songdo Cable car and enjoy the breathtaking views of the city and coastline at sunset.
The other station is on an island with a park, which has some fun and eclectic sculptures – a great place to visit for kids and big kids.
There is a fee to ride the cable car. It costs a little more if you choose a car with a glass-bottomed floor.
If you don’t fancy taking the cable car, there is a skywalk that extends out to the sea and affords lovely views of the beach. This is free to use. It’s beautifully lit at night.
Take bus 27 from Busan station or Buses 6, 26, 30 or 71 from Nampo station (Line 1).
Further Out
Haedong Yonggungsa Temple
Located in the northeast of the city, this 14th century temple, located on the coast, is a must-see. Most temples are located in the mountains so the seaside setting of this gorgeous temple is not only beautiful, it’s very rare within South Korea.
The original temple was apparently built in 1376 by the Buddhist teacher Naong Hyegeun, but was sadly destroyed following the Japanese invasion of Korea in the 16th century. The temple is dedicated to the Sea Goddess Buddha of Mercy, Haesu Gwaneum Daebul.
On arrival you pass by statues representing signs of the zodiac until you reach a pagoda.
Then you descend 108 steps, passing by stone sculptures and lanterns to view the temple itself.
You may have seen this temple in Korean movies or dramas.
Because it is so famous and beautiful it is quite touristy, even out of season, so there are lots of stalls selling souvenirs and street food by the car park.
While you’re in the area, you could also visit the National Fisheries Science Museum or the Lotte World theme park, which is open all year round.
And if you are around in the evening during December and January you’ll be able to enjoy the Haeundae winter lights festival from Haeundae Beach to Gunam-ro main road.
It’s a bit of an effort to reach the temple: To get there from Busan Station, take Line 1 to Busan National University Education, change for Line 4 to Bexco, then take Line 2 to Haeundae. At exit 7 find the bus stop for Bus 181.
It’s about three quarters of an hour to get to the Haedong Yonggungsa stop on the bus – and the temple is a short walk away. Alternatively you could get a taxi from Haeundae which will be more expensive.
Indoor Activities in Busan
There are loads of other museums and art galleries to explore in Busan. Note that most of these are closed on Mondays.
Museum of Contemporary Art Busan (Metro Line 1, BEXCO) offers a large number of exhibits spread across multiple floors. If you’re interested in modern art from both Korean and international artists, this will definitely keep you occupied. It’s located next to the Busan Exhibition & Convention Centre.
Busan Museum (Metro Line 2, Daeyon) offers a history of the city and local area.
MUSEUM 1 (Metro Line 2, Centum City) is a digital contemporary art museum, a place where you will get fully immersed within the art.
Busan National Maritime Museum (Metro Line 1, Nampo ) Busan is a major port and it truly feels as though the ocean is a fundamental part of the city itself. This museum offers a highly interactive exploration of all elements of the ocean.
Day Trips
Because Busan is very large, and many of the sights so far away from each other, there are a number of companies that offer tours to the city’s main attractions. You will join a bunch of friendly people on a coach and be driven to many of the locations we’ve mentioned here, which is a great option if you are short on time.
Day Trip to Gyeongju
It is possible to visit the delightful city of Gyeongju from Busan. Although we recommend spending at least a couple of days in this fabulous historic city, if you are short on time, a day trip from Busan will ensure you see the main sites.
Busan For Foodies
Jalgachi Fish Market If you’re feeling brave you can buy live fish from the first floor (ground) of the market and then take it upstairs where one of the many restaurants can cook it for you. Alternatively, the restaurants have a menu (they are all the same) and you can order a meal from there.
We enjoyed blue crab spicy stew and grilled rock fish which was utterly delicious – it had such a sweet flavour. Saengseonhoe is sliced raw wild fish. The saengseonhoe was incredibly fresh but it had surprisingly firm flesh which gave an unexpected texture in the mouth. It didn’t have the melt-in-the-mouth softness that you would expect from sashimi.
Samjin Eomuk Busan Station Square Eomuk are fish cakes and they come in a variety of shapes, sizes and flavours. One of the oldest and most famous fish cake restaurants is Samjin Eomuk, located just outside the main station.
Just grab a tray and fill it with all sorts of fishy goodness. Pay at the counter. There is seating upstairs so you can eat in and they also provide microwaves for heating up the fish cakes. We don’t own a microwave at home so using one in Korean was a bit much for us!
Chickmaek What could be more comforting on a cold winter’s evening than fried chicken and beer? Chikmaek is a popular chicken and beer combo – hearty, filling, naughty and, of course, utterly scrumptious!
Dwaeji gukbap is another comfort food, perfect for colder days. It’s a pork and rice stew – the name translates as ‘pork, soup, rice’ – it does exactly as the name suggests. Another winter warmer, this is a popular Busan dish.
We loved our time in Busan and very much recommend it as a place to visit in all seasons. But, even though it’s ostensibly a summer city there are plenty of things to do in Busan in winter. We can’t wait to return!
Resources To Help You Plan Your Trip
Accommodation Options In Busan
Travel by train using a KoRail Pass
Transportation using a T-money card, which also comes with a SIM
Tours Available in Busan
Related Posts You May Enjoy
Cheers! A Guide To British Pub Culture
A major part of British life, pubs – or public houses to give them their proper names – are places where you can enjoy a tipple and socialise with your friends. They are licensed premises which can serve alcoholic drinks to the public. They are informal and relaxed – going to a pub is a bit like joining your friends in a cosy living room and enjoying a variety of beers together. Here is our guide to British pub culture and etiquette.
‘There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern.’ Samuel Johnson
Pubs differ from restaurants, where food is served, and bars, which are generally livelier, sometimes flashier and offer a greater variety of alcoholic drinks, such as cocktails. Although many pubs serve a reasonable range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, you would always expect beers and ciders to be served. If you don’t drink alcohol, soft drinks are always available at the pub and it’s often possible to get a cup of tea as well!
A Very Brief History of the Public House
The history of the pub derives from taverns, which date as far back as Roman tabernae from the 1st century CE, and alehouses from the Anglo Saxon era, both of which would offer food and drink to visitors. The term ‘public house’ appeared in the late 17th century but this name largely described a house that was simply open to the public, as opposed to a private residence. In the 17th century, people started to move around the country using stagecoaches, and inns were established to provide convenient accommodation on major routes. It was in the 19th century that public houses mainly became associated with drinking.
Community
In smaller neighbourhoods, pubs are often the heart of the community. It’s not uncommon to find tiny villages in the English countryside that don’t have shops but do have a pub.
Historically, pubs weren’t simply social drinking places, they were also venues where local people could do business. The Chapelfields district of Coventry has a surprising number of pubs for such a small area – just six short roads. But in the 19th century this was where local watchmakers lived and worked. The pubs were places where the gentry could meet the watchmakers and order their pocket watches.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, there weren’t many public venues outside major towns and cities and so pubs were also used to host auctions and even courts, where a local judge would hold ‘petty sessions’, prior to the instigation of magistrates courts. And, somewhat gruesomely, if a local resident died, their corpse would often be taken to the pub where the coroner’s inquest would take place.
‘In the end, in England, when you want to find out how people are feeling, you always go to the pubs.’ Martha Gellhorn
Some pubs are tied to a brewery so will have to sell at least some beer from that brewery, others are known as ‘free houses’ and they can source their beer from anywhere. For a beer connoisseur, the free houses are more likely to have a greater variety of good beers.
Pubs have evolved over the years and these days they may be also connected with brewhouses.
So, What is A Local?
‘A good local pub has much in common with a church, except that a pub is warmer, and there’s more conversation.’ William Blake
If you hear British people talking about their local, they’ll be referring to (one of) their favourite pub(s). It may be the pub most local to their home or it may just be a pub in their area which sells their preferred beer, or has a good range of beers, or the nicest atmosphere. It’s basically a pub that you attend regularly.
We meet our friends at our local every week. The staff know us and they also know what we like to drink so can make suggestions for good beer. And there will be other regulars who we don’t really know but we will see them often and so make small talk. And, because we’re British, it’s usually about the weather.
British Pub Etiquette
Ordering
Unlike many European bars and cafes you don’t enter a pub, find a table and sit down. If you do, you’ll be waiting for a very long time indeed. You order your drinks at the bar and pay immediately. Then find a seat and enjoy your drink. Or find your seat and then go to the bar to order – that’s fine too.
If you are well known at the pub it is sometimes possible to open a ‘tab’, which means that the bar will log the cost of all the drinks over the course of the evening and you pay the bill at the end.
Beers, ciders (apple wine) and perries (pear cider) are served in pints (568ml) or half pints. Sometimes beers are sold in 1/3 pint, especially if they are strong in terms of alcohol content.
Wines and spirits will also be available. Wine measures range from 125ml, 175ml or 250ml (a third of a bottle). Spirits such as vodka, whisky, rum or gin are sold in 25ml or 35ml measures.
It’s Your Round…
Sometimes everyone in a group will buy their own drinks, which is absolutely fine. If you’re drinking with friends then it’s common to buy the drinks in rounds. This means that one person buys all the drinks for the group and then, when the glasses are empty, someone else will buy the next round. And so on.
If someone buys you a drink it is polite to reciprocate. If you’d rather not get into buying rounds (which can get expensive if it’s a large group), that’s okay, just let people know you’ll be drinking at your own pace.
Last Orders!
Although pubs can be licenced to sell alcohol for 24 hours a day, many pubs shut up shop in the late evening, usually around 11pm. Last orders are called when you hear the bell ring. It means you can stagger to the bar and get the final round in – one for the road. You’ll then have around half an hour of drinking up time before being politely ejected and the pub will close.
If you return your empty glasses to the bar it will be appreciated but isn’t absolutely necessary.
Children and Dogs
Alcohol can only be served to adults over the age of 18. But many pubs are family friendly these days and children are allowed to enter pubs.
For older children, 16 and 17 year olds are allowed to consume (but not buy) beer or wine if they are eating a meal at the pub.
These days, if you are lucky enough to look young you may be asked for ID to prove that you are over 18. And if you are much older than 18, view it as a compliment if you are asked to prove your age!
Many pubs are dog-friendly and will welcome your pooch when you come in for a pint. They often have water available and some even have doggie biccies.
What Is Real Ale?
‘I would give all of my fame for a pot of ale and safety.’ William Shakespeare
The CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ales) society defines real ale as ‘beer…brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide.’ Which all sounds a bit formal but does reflect the quality of the beer offered.
You would expect pubs to sell a variety of draught beers, that is beer that has been pulled from a cask or keg, as well as bottled beers.
‘Good people drink good beer.’ Hunter S. Thompson
Beers generally fall into two categories: ales and lagers, but these have many, many variations. Pubs will generally serve both. There are a huge variety of beers available. British ales range from pale ales, bitters and IPAs (India Pale Ale, which has bitterness from hops), to dark brown beers such as milds, stouts and porters.
Lagers are not traditionally British, they originated from Bavaria in Germany. But they are very popular in the UK and are hugely refreshing on a hot day (if we ever get a hot day). Most British pubs sell lager as well as real ale.
And these days many pubs will sell also craft beers, ensuring that there are plenty of options for beer drinkers.
Feeling Fruity?
You would also expect alcoholic fruit drinks, such as cider (brewed from apples), less common perry (brewed from pears) or very unusual but quite delicious pyder (brewed from apples and pears) to be served. These will range from super-sweet to bone-dry, fizzy to flat, clear to cloudy.
Pub Grub
Some pubs don’t serve food but many do. Traditionally pubs would serve British fare such as fish and chips, a roast lunch/dinner, pie and mash.
The Ploughman’s Lunch is a traditional dish offered in pubs. It is a rustic lunch which comprises crusty bread, a variety of good cheeses, pickles and maybe a pork pie. It’s very evocative of a farmer’s meal as he takes a break from toiling in the rolling English countryside bringing home the harvest. But actually it’s not a traditional farmer’s meal at all! It was apparently dreamed up in the 1950s by a cheese marketing board as a way of selling more cheese! That said, a Ploughman’s is a cracking lunch and works very well with a pint – or two – of ale or cider.
Many pubs have diversified and often sell really good quality food as well. One of our favourite pubs has cheese night each month where they invite a local cheesemonger to set up shop and display a large variety of delicious cheeses. The pub provides a platter of biscuits, bread and fruit then you can buy whatever cheese you desire. We always buy extra to take home!
If you are ordering food, while some pubs have table service, most will take your order at the bar. Your table will usually have a number associated with it. It may be embossed into the table itself, so take a note of the number when ordering, or you may be given a table number with your order.
Posh Nosh
Some pubs have set themselves up as gastro-pubs, where they offer a variety of great food and are effectively a restaurant with beer. The food may be high-quality traditional British food or may offer different cuisines. Some of the best Indian or Thai meals we’ve eaten in the UK have been enjoyed at pubs where chefs take over the kitchen. A roast dinner is still one of the most popular pub offerings.
Pub Crawl
A pub crawl is a rite of passage for many students and younger drinkers. Find an area with a lot of pubs, then visit all of them, enjoying a drink at each before moving onto the next… and so on until the pubs close or everyone falls over. These days, more health-conscious students sometimes do pub runs whereby they sprint between pubs. Of course, there is still usually lots of beer involved.
‘Drinking beer doesn’t make you fat, it makes you lean…Against bars, tables, chairs, and poles.’ Gerard Way
Pub Games
Pubs are great places to interact with your friends or fellow drinkers. There are usually games to play – such as darts, dominoes or pub skittles. Many pubs host quiz nights to encourage punters to spend the evening drinking and answering fiendish questions. Some pubs also host regular music events where local bands play. You don’t usually have to pay to hear the music, as the pub will be quite happy selling beers throughout the evening.
‘If you can play your stuff in a pub, then you´re a good band.’ Paul McCartney
Pub Names
Another characteristic of pubs is that they have a distinctive name and a sign outside. In 1393 King Richard II passed a law requiring pub owners to display a sign outside the premises to indicate that this was a place for drinking and tasting ales.
Pubs can be named for many things. You often see ‘colour and animal’ combinations, like the Red Lion, the Black Horse, the Iridescent Chameleon (we made that one up). Names with ‘arms’ are often associated with occupations, so the Dyer’s Arms, Blacksmith Arms, Brewer’s Arms are generally named for the traders who used to frequent them. Myths, legends and literature are also good sources of pub names, as are heraldry coats of arms and even local landowners.
Pub Cricket
If you’re ever on a road trip through the English countryside (driving through lovely country lanes, not on the motorway) you can play the game of pub cricket with your fellow passengers.
The game approximates the rules of actual cricket, so one passenger is deemed to be ‘in’. They count the legs on pub signs until they reach a pub with the word ‘head’ or ‘arms’ in the name, in which case they are ‘out’ and the next passenger has a go at being ‘in’. So, the Red Lion will score 4, the Dog and Parrot will score 6. You might get lucky with The George and Dragon (2 for George, plus 4 if he’s on a horse and who knows how many for the Dragon?)! Tally up the number of legs at the end of the journey and the winner is the one with the highest score.
British pub culture is a major part of society in the UK. If you visit, and enjoy a tipple, do make sure you get a chance to visit a pub and enjoy a pint or more…
Related Posts You May Enjoy
Is Kanazawa Worth Visiting?
Kanazawa, on the west coast of Japan, became much more accessible to visitors when shinkansen (bullet train) construction reached the city in 2015. The city is now easily accessible from Tokyo. So, is Kanazawa worth visiting? We absolutely think it is. It’s has plenty of things to see – a lively market (which has some amazing seafood restaurants), interesting museums, a castle, a koji park and one of the top three gardens in Japan.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links. If you click through and decide to make a purchase we will make a small commission, at no extra cost to you, which will help towards the costs of running this site.
Where Is Kanazawa?
Kanazawa is located on the west coast of Japan’s largest island Honshu.
How To Get To Kanazawa
Kanazawa is easily reachable on the shinkansen (bullet train). There are direct trains from Tokyo which take around 2.5-3 hours. You can also travel from Kyoto or Osaka, changing at Tsuruga.
Where to Stay in Kanazawa
Kanazawa has plenty of accommodation options for any budgets. We tend to stay in cheap business hotels so the APA Hotel Ekimae was located bang next to the railway station, which was perfect for us. The room was tiny but had all the facilities we needed, including a fridge, so we could go to the local konbini (convenience store), pick up a cheap breakfast box and store it for the morning.
Is Kanazawa Worth Visiting – Things To See
Omicho Market
Stroll down Kanazawa Ekidori Avenue from the main railway station for around 15 minutes and you’ll reach Omicho market. This extensive food market has been operating since 1721 and sells all sorts of exciting foodie ingredients. Fresh fish, meat and vegetables are the star attractions here and there are also opportunities to taste some local specialities.
It’s fascinating wandering through the stalls to see the various products on display. There are lots of snacks and goodies to taste on the go. We enjoyed loach cooked in sweet soy sauce on a stick as a snack.
Beware, some of the stall holders are understandably not fond of a constant parade of tourists taking photos of their wares and there are ‘no photography’ signs on some of the stalls. We suggest that you enjoy the experience of observing delicious ingredients rather than try to snap that perfect market food shot.
Kanazawa Castle
You can walk to the castle from the centre of Kanazawa, beyond Omicho market, and through the castle gardens.
It’s only fair to point out that many of Japan’s castles are reconstructions, the original buildings having been destroyed (sometimes several times) by fire over the centuries and Kanazawa’s is particularly modern. Originally completed in 1583, the Maeda Clan ruled from this castle. The oldest part of the castle here is the gate, which dates from 1788. The rest of the building has been rebuilt over the years, some even in this century!
The castle is mainly free to visit (some of the turrets have a fee) and has some interesting exhibitions.
Walking further past the castle gates leads to the Kenrokuen gardens.
Kenrokuen Gardens
Japan has many ‘best 3’ attractions, the most well-known is the ‘top 3 views in Japan’. Japanese gardens are wonderful places to visit and Kenrokuen Garden is one of the country’s top three. We visited in winter, just after the New Year holiday and, although we probably didn’t see it at its most glorious, it was still a delightful garden to visit. The admission fee is 320 Yen (about $2).
It is huge and beautifully designed, with large lakes, rippling streams, hidden paths and stone lanterns. Kenrokuen means “The garden of six sublimities”, which are characteristics that define the perfect garden. The sublimities are: artifice (curiously), antiquity, spaciousness, seclusion, water courses and wide panoramas.
Visit Ohno Port
A little way out of town is a toy museum and miso factory, located at Ohno machi (Ohno port), which is a bit of a journey; you can catch a bus from the Kanazawa station area (ask for the location of the bus stop at the tourist information centre inside the station concourse – it’s a five minute walk away, actually just down the road from the Apa hotel) and the port will be the very last stop. When you arrive at the sea you are there. You’ll likely be the last people on the bus.
Alternatively, you can get a taxi. The journey from the station takes around 20 minutes but the cost is considerably higher than the bus. Then just walk over the bridge to the little island.
A Delightful Toy Museum
At the far end of the island is a charming museum of mechanical toys which has a brilliant hands-on exhibition where you can spend hours playing games and enjoy viewing antique toys. The staff were absolutely delightful and very much wanted to make sure we enjoyed the exhibits. They were also very helpful when it came to supplying a timetable for the bus journey back into the centre of Kanazawa.
There are many historic mechanical puppets – karakuri – on display. The museum is a memorial to Benkichi Ohno,a master craftsman who lived in the area from 1831. Many of his creations can be seen at the museum.
Some exhibits show you how the puppet mechanisms work.
Some dolls are cute(ish) which turn into scary. (Incidentally these words are, respectively, kawaii and kowaii in Japanese, be careful not to confuse the two!)
Around the circumference of the main building there are tables and chairs set out with all sorts of puzzles that you can try to solve.
It’s a really hands-on museum and it was lovely to see families with children of all ages sitting together and working out solutions to some of the puzzles.
This doll is 300 years old, from the Edo period. The craftsmanship is exquisite.
Just as we were leaving the park, the heavens opened and the rain started lashing down. We started to make a dash to our next destination, but a lovely staff member ran after us, brandishing an umbrella. We thanked her kindly but explained that we were British and were used to lots of rain. No, they insisted, and gave us a brolly so that we wouldn’t get wet. We’ve experienced this sort of kindness all over Japan, a welcoming generosity that just makes us love the country more and more.
A Delicious Koji Park
So, after a lovely diversion, it was on to the Yamato koji park, just a 10 minute walk (or 5 minute trot in the rain) away at the other end of the island. It’s part factory, part museum, part shop and part café. There weren’t any specific tours when we visited but the staff were super-helpful and directed us to a display where we could understand how miso is made.
Miso basically contains five ingredients: water, koji, soy beans, rice, salt. Koji thrives on the rice. Then it is mashed with the soy beans, salt and water. After about six months yeast forms. The miso flavour develops thanks to the interactions between the yeast and the koji. Fermentation can take as long as three years.
Soy sauce is made using a very similar process and ingredients to miso but uses wheat instead of rice. A mash is formed and then it’s pressed (like olives for olive oil). After fermentation, the resulting liquid is soy sauce. It was fascinating to taste the difference between pasteurised and unpasteurised soy sauce. Unpasteurised soy has a more complex flavour because some of the heady aromas are lost in the pasteurization process.
Some the the traditional fermentation vessels are enormous. This was over two metres in height.
You can also dip your hands into a koji hand bath which will, apparently, give your skin a soft and delicate sheen. It’s quite nice to be able to dip your hands into a warm bath, especially on a cold, wet day. Apparently two minutes is the optimum time – there is a timer so you can check. And yes, we can confirm that our hands did emerge from the bath silky-smooth.
Foodie Souvenirs
There is a shop with an extensive variety of products and you are able to sample before you buy. It was particularly interesting to be able to taste different sauces and compare the flavours.
Amazake is a sweet, low alcohol drink made from fermented rice and koji. Amazake literally means ‘sweet’ (ama) ‘sake’ (sake, which can be used to describe alcohol). You can buy the paste, mix with hot water and drink. It tastes sweet and has a smooth, creamy texture. And for a delicious dressing, you can mix amazake with ponzu soy sauce (ponzu is a citrus juice comprising Japanese fruits sudachi, yuzu, and kabosu and vinegar mixed with soy sauce to give an amazingly tangy, salty flavour) in the ratio 1:1.
And one of the best foodie souvenirs ever – for the adventurer who cannot travel without seasoning – portable spray soy sauce, conveniently packaged in a container that would even fit into your hand-baggage.
They also have a café and ice-cream maker. Amazake and soy sauce ice-cream were on offer and we tried both. Soy sauce ice cream sounds so wrong but it was delicious, full of rich umami flavour that complemented the creamy sweet ice-cream.
What was also rather lovely was that the CEO, Mr Yamato, was on site that day and came to say ‘hello.’ We can’t think of many companies where the boss would greet some very enthusiastic, albeit extremely damp, tourists.
We shopped for as many products as we could fit into our luggage. One particular packet that we were very happy to find was that of inoculated rice koji. It was also conveniently flat for packing and much cheaper than koji that we can purchase in Europe.
Making our very own miso was most definitely going to be one of our foodie missions on our return home. And this is how we made it…
Kanazawa For Foodies
Kanazawa is a fantastic location for foodies. Not only are the market and koji park great fun to visit, there are plenty of restaurants to suit all budgets, so eating out is a joy. Because Kanazawa is a port city the seafood is sublime – totally fresh and utterly delicious. We often find that you get the best quality – and often cheaper – seafood if you eat at a market.
We recommend visiting Omicho Market in the evening, after the stalls have closed. There are a number of restaurants which offer kaisendon sashimi bowls which are as beautiful as they are delicious. They comprise the freshest seafood, delicately arranged atop a bowl of rice. We ate at Yutaka which has a reputation as being one of the best in the area and it didn’t disappoint. It was extremely good value as well. This delightful bowl consisted of crab, prawn, squid, sea urchin, salmon roe, tamago, maguro, mackerel. To season, mix wasabi into a teeny bit of soy sauce, then pour it over the fish. It was accompanied by miso soup with fish and prawn heads.
Ice cream with gold leaf is another foodie treat. Why have an ordinary soft whip ice cream when you can cover it in gold leaf? We visited in winter, so didn’t indulge but we did bring home a great foodie souvenir of some gold leaf to adorn our ice creams at home.
When catching the shinkansen for onward travel don’t forget to pick up an ekiben – a bento lunchbox. Many ekiben are specific to the station you are travelling from. Kanazawa has a specialty seafood box. A thing of beauty and deliciousness!
Other Attractions in Kanazawa
The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art exhibits modern art in an incredibly cool building.
Ninjadera is a Ninja Temple complete with hidden rooms, secret tunnels, traps and labyrinthine corridors. Naruto fans will love this!
Kanazawa Yasue Gold Leaf Museum. Kanazawa has been producing gold leaf since 1593. This material is often used to adorn temples. It is real gold, beaten so thin that you can tear it apart just by touching it. This is a skilled craft. The museum offers a history of gold leaf craftsmanship in the area. If you are interested there are shops in Kanazawa that will offer the chance for visitors to have a go at applying gold leaf to various objects.
Out of Town
Kanazawa is located close to the Japanese Alps and, if you have a Japan Rail Pass, you can easily get around the region, although to get right into the countryside you will need to use buses or hire a car. We left our luggage at our business hotel, packed an overnight bag, and enjoyed a night away from the city in a traditional gassho farmhouse in the delightful country village of Ainokura. You can read about our gassho farmhouse stay in rural Japan.
Alternatively, day trips to these lovely villages are also available.
Related Posts You May Enjoy
- Is Kanazawa Worth Visiting?
- RECIPE: How to Make Sushi Ginger – Gari
- Kobe Beef in Kobe – Is It Worth It?
- Recipe: Simmered Shiitake Mushrooms
- How to Use Public Transport in Japan
- RECIPE Oyakodon Donburi
- Planning a Trip to Japan
- The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House
- Setsubun Food – Bean Throwing Day
Best of Beijing – A 3-day Beijing Itinerary
China’s capital city is a huge, sprawling metropolis but it still embraces and celebrates the country’s long and fascinating history. Our 3-day Beijing itinerary will ensure you see the essential sights of this remarkable city, so many of which are UNESCO listed. We also have some suggestions for things to do in the evenings.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links. If you click through and decide to make a purchase we will make a small commission, at no extra cost to you, which will help towards the costs of running this site.
When To Visit Beijing
Beijing can be visited all year round, although some times will be busier than others. Lunar New Year, also known as Spring Festival, will be very busy for travelling around China. Also, the first week in October is National Week holiday, so transportation is likely to be busy then as well. We travelled in the winter – just after the main New Year celebration but towards the end of the Spring Festival fortnight. New Year is a lunar event and its timing will vary from year to year. The first day falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, usually between 21st January and 20th February.
Travelling in winter was fantastic because the attractions were less crowded. Also, at the time of our visit, the air pollution wasn’t too bad (and Beijing is notorious for its poor air quality). But it was very cold so we recommend wrapping up warmly.
3-Day Beijing Itinerary – Day 1
Summer Palace and Hutong Alleys
Take the metro or a bus to the Summer Palace, a gorgeous landscaped garden and park that is a UNESCO heritage site. It was constructed as an imperial garden during the Qing Dynasty and completed in 1764.
The garden is formed around Kunming Lake and Longevity Hill. Although the vast lake looks natural it is completely artificial.
Highlights include the Tower of Buddhist Incense at Longevity Hill, a beautiful octagonal structure used as a place of prayer for the emperors and empresses.
The Seventeen Arch Bridge links to Nanhu Island. It’s the largest bridge in the palace grounds and is highly decorated, notably with beautiful carved lions.
The Long Corridor is 728m long and dates from the 18th century. It is a beautifully decorated covered walkway with artwork inspired by literature, folk stories, legendary heroes, historic figures, enhanced by intricate images of flora and fauna.
The Summer Palace is located around 15km from the city centre. You can take Line 4 to Beigongmen Station or a bus to Xin Jian Gong Men (Yiheyuan New Palace Gate).
Return to Beijing and spend the afternoon exploring the hutongs. These give a real insight into old Beijing. Dating back to the 13th century, they comprise a maze of winding alleyways behind which are single-storey houses set within courtyards. It’s possible to take a rickshaw ride through these areas. Some houses are open to the public so that you can peep inside and get to understand local life. Although modern architecture dominates the city a fair few hutongs remain and you can choose which you wish to visit.
3-Day Beijing Itinerary Day 2 – Great Wall of China
No trip to Beijing would be complete without visiting the Great Wall of China. One of the seven wonders of the modern world, this UNESCO heritage site is a triumph of engineering. The wall runs almost 20,000km from Gansu to southern Manchuria and was built over many centuries by successive Chinese emperors. It’s a myth that the construction can be seen from space, but who cares? It’s still unbelievably impressive.
The most popular sections of the wall that are easily accessible from Beijing are at Mutianyu and Badaling. We visited Mutianyu, which is about 45km away from the city. It takes an hour or two to reach it depending on the traffic (which can be congested in Beijing). You can catch a bus, get a taxi or go on an organised day trip. These days, the numbers of visitors are restricted to 30,000 each day, so pre-booking is essential.
At Mutianyu you ascend to the wall by cable car and can then walk along it. The views are nothing short of spectacular as you view it snaking across the undulating mountains as far as the eye can see.
When you’ve finished admiring the sheer magnificence of this amazing structure, you descend again by cable car. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can take a slide to the bottom.
3-Day Beijing Itinerary Day 3
Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City
Slap bang in the heart of Beijing is Tianenamen Square, Square of the Gate of Heavenly Peace. It is one of the largest public squares in the world. Tiananmen Square is big. Really big. Big enough to fit 1,000,000 people.
To those outside China the square is best known for the student democracy protests that ended with a catastrophic military intervention and massacre in 1989. Although the world was watching, many people within China are still unaware of what happened. There are often several plainclothes security officers in the square.
You can reach the square on Subway Line 1 – Tiananmen East or Tiananmen West. Entrance is free but there are fixed entrance locations. Security checks will take place, bags will be searched and we advise keeping your documentation with you. It is really important not to talk about the events of 1989 while visiting the square. We also recommend not wearing clothes that have political messages.
There are various monuments around the square, including the Monument to People’s Heroes and the Monument to Revolutionary Struggle at Mao Zedong’s mausoleum.
The China National Museum, which exhibits precious cultural artefacts, lies to the east of Tiananmen Square and the Great Hall of the People is on the western side.
To the north of the square is the Forbidden City.
This enormous complex is the former imperial palace of Chinese Emperors, from the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty until the end of the Qing Dynasty. Constructed between 1406 and 1420, it boasts 9,999 rooms (although they have since been counted and the total came to 8,886, which is still pretty impressive). It has a rectangular form, nearly 970m long on a north-south orientation and 750m wide.
Even though the site is huge, visitor numbers are now restricted to 40,000 per day so we recommend prebooking tickets for your visit.
The details in the architecture are remarkable. Many of the rooftops have a series of animals striding across them. Each animal represents something different – lions stand for power, dragons protect against fire and the phoenix should bring good fortune. The quantity of animals indicates the status of the building – the most important will have nine.
Many of the the gate entrances are protected by guardian lions – the male lion places his left paw on an orb and the female places hers on her cub.
And the imperial garden has lovely pavilions.
The Temple of Heaven
In the afternoon we recommend a visit to the delightful Temple of Heaven complex. The purpose of the beautiful buildings, set within a lovely garden, was for the Emperor to pray for good harvests. From the Forbidden City/Tiananmen Square, Line 1 then Line 5 to Tiantan Dongmen Station, Exit A, will get you to the East gate.
The Circular Mound Altar comprises three beautiful terraces, built for the Emperor to pray for good weather.
The Imperial Vault of Heaven was the repository for the tablets of the gods, used when making prayers.
The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests which, as the name suggests, was a place of prayer as the emperor would ask the gods for bountiful yields of food.
There are tea houses close by and this is a great opportunity to learn about Chinese teas and to have a taste. We have a post with more detail about the Temple of Heaven and tasting heavenly tea. Although beware, there are sometimes scams surrounding tea houses where a friendly local person may approach you and invite you to drink tea with them and they can practice their English. But then they disappear and you end up with a very expensive bill. Most establishments are absolutely respectable, but always check the menu and pricing!
Suggestions for Evening Entertainment
Visit A Food Street Or Night Market.
Wangfujing Food Market is one of the largest and most famous in Beijing. Located close to the Forbidden City, there are all sorts of delicacies on offer, including some that could be a challenge! Bugs and scorpions, anyone? Or maybe some wiggly seafood?
Guijie Night Market, in Dongzhimen, is open 24 hours and offers a huge range of traditional Chinese delicacies.
See An Acrobatics Show
Chinese acrobats are jaw-droppingly skilled. For a spectacular evening of thrills, we recommend an acrobatic show. From balancing acts to juggling to contortion to multiple crazy motorcycles zooming inside spherical cages (which had us on the edge of our seats) you are sure to be entertained.
Watch A Beijing Opera Performance
It has to be said that Beijing Opera can be a little challenging to the inexperienced ear. However, there is no doubt as to the skill of the performers, who can sing, dance, stage fight with weapons and perform amazing acrobatics. The costumes and make-up are flamboyant and the performance is highly stylised. This really does represent the best of traditional Chinese entertainment.
Beijing for Foodies
Beijing’s most famous dish is, of course, Beijing Duck (formerly known as Peking Duck). Most Chinese restaurants in the UK when we were growing up were actually Cantonese (Hong Kong) and hence the aromatic crispy duck we ate when growing up is very different to authentic Beijing Duck. Beijing duck’s skin is crispy-thin, almost glassy, and a bronzed orange in colour. It has been a popular dish for many centuries and was one of the dishes that had a predominant place on imperial menus.
A great deal of preparation goes into this dish. After the duck has been plucked and entrails removed, air is pumped under the skin to separate the skin from the fat. The skin becomes tightened when the duck is blanched in boiling water. A marinade comprising honey, soy sauce and five spice is applied and the duck left to hang for at least 24 hours. Then it is roasted in an oven. It is usually served in pancakes with juliennes of cucumber and spring onion. We most definitely recommend trying Beijing duck in Beijing.
Beijing has so much to offer the visitor, from the history spanning millennia to the high-tech modern cityscapes. This three day Beijing itinerary will ensure you see the very best that the city has to offer.
Related Posts You May Enjoy
Andasibe Mantadia National Park Madagascar
Andasibe Mantadia National Park Madagascar is one of the country’s most popular parks to visit because it has a remarkable diversity of wildlife to discover. Lemurs are undoubtedly Madagascar’s main wildlife attraction and the Mantadia National Park is home to both the largest and the smallest species. But there are also many birds, amphibians, reptiles and flora in the rainforest and these are fascinating as well. It is also one of the parks that is closest to Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo (known as Tana). Here is our guide to visiting this wonderful national park.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links. If you click through and decide to make a purchase we will make a small commission, at no extra cost to you, which will help towards the costs of running this site.
Getting to Andasibe Mantadia National Park Madagascar
We travelled to Madagascar with a local operator who arranged all our transportation and accommodation for us. The best route to reach Andasibe is to drive along the RN2 (Route Nationale) from Tana. As with all driving in Madagascar, the roads are slow-moving and riddled with potholes. The RN2 is also the main road between Tana and the sea ports on the eastern coast so there is often a parade of lorries rumbling their way along, hauling goods for export and creating a cloud of dust in their wake. You just have to sit tight and get into the ‘mora mora’ mindset – slowly, slowly.
Buses will also be available from Tana if you are travelling independently. These are basically minibuses which can be quite cramped and will also be slow, especially as they will stop multiple times along the way. There is also a train from Tana to Andasibe.
It took us around 5 hours to travel Andasibe – a 150km journey on a road that was particularly slow that day as we were stuck behind lots of lorries that were difficult to overtake. It was dark when we arrived.
Where We Stayed in Andasibe
Andasibe is the best location for exploring the Mantadia Park. There are a few accommodation options. We stayed at the Mantadia Lodge at Andasibe which was a fair way out of town up a steep hillside. It was very posh, much more luxurious than we normally choose. (But that was kinda nice after the long journey!)
Our room was spacious and had a great view of the rainforest from the wide windows. There was also an infinity swimming pool which was lovely to relax in whilst overlooking the landscape. One of the best benefits was the free minibar which offered a variety of drinks, including beers, and these were topped up every day.
Exploring the Madagascar Andasibe Mantadia National Park
We spent two days exploring this lush rainforested area in search of wildlife. The area of the Mantadia National Park is roughly 155 square kilometres and is home to much of Madagascar’s unique wildlife. Lemurs are the best known and most popular of the creatures that inhabit this remarkable rainforest but there are many birds, reptiles and amphibians to view as well.
The reason that lemurs are so important is that Madagascar is the only place in the world where you can see them in the wild. When the island separated from mainland Africa millions of years ago, evolution took many species in very different directions. On the African continent, primates evolved into apes and, eventually, humans; in Madagascar they evolved into lemurs. We don’t often use the word ‘unique’ but it absolutely applies to Madagascar’s wildlife.
The Analamazaotra Special Reserve
Leaving early in the morning, we visited the Analamazaotra special reserve, which is located close to Andasibe. It was an easy hike through the forest where four diurnal lemur species reside. We managed to see three of them. This is one of the best places to see the remarkable Indri Indri lemur, the largest of all the lemurs, and endemic to the area. The lemurs have a hauntingly beautiful cry as they communicate with each other in the forest. When we first heard them, we thought we were hearing whales singing!
The Indri Indri live together as families in separate territories and can live for up to 80 years. They breed once every three years, and their only puppy remains with its mum for nine years before it leaves to starting a new family elsewhere in the jungle. Lemurs need to come down from trees to eat clay once in a while to help digestion. They get their water from leaves. They can jump up to 10 metres across the treetops.
Observing these remarkable lemurs was a true privilege. The reason that it is so important to protect the Indri Indri is that they cannot be kept in captivity. People have tried. But these highly intelligent creatures value their freedom too much and simply refuse to eat.
We also saw the Diademed Sifaka lemurs who share the forest with the Indri Indri but eat different foods, so they don’t compete.
And the Eastern Lesser Bamboo lemurs were delightfully energetic and lively little lemurs, flitting through the bamboo.
We saw the Pandanus frog which lives in the sharp, spiked pandanus plant. The frog can get water from inside the plant. Unusually for a tree frog, this species has a tadpole phase. Many tree frogs don’t, they never walk on the ground – the eggs usually hatch straight to little frogs.
Madagascar may not have giraffes, but it does have bizarre insects like the famous giraffe-necked weevil (Trachelophorus giraffae). They live on the trees and feed from the leaves. The female is quite adept at rolling up leaves in order to lay her eggs inside.
Visiting Andasibe Village
We spent the afternoon exploring the village of Andasibe,walking the narrow cobbled streets. It has a population of around 5000 people.
We joined the local spectators watching a football match.
And then walked through the village to the old colonial train station with its curiously angular architecture.
Trains do run from Tana to the coast via Andasibe, but are slow and do not necessarily stick to their timetables. But a rail journey could be worth considering if you have the time for a leisurely trip.
Nightwalk at the VOIMMA Reserve
The VOIMMA reserve is a great initiative because it was founded by the Andsibe villagers who wanted to have their own stake in eco-tourism. This park, run by the community, provides a local alternative to the national parks which are managed by the government. At nightfall we donned head torches and made our way through the forest to try to spot the nocturnal creatures of the area.
Having seen the largest lemur we also got very lucky and saw the smallest lemur, the Brown Lemur, which isn’t much bigger than a mouse. He was a bit shy though, not keen to pose for a good photo.
And the curvy chameleons were out in force.
The Andasibe Mantadia National Park Madagascar
The following day was an early start again. The primary forest of Madagascar’s Andasibe Mantadia Park is around an hour’s journey from the village. We spent three hours hiking in this park. It requires a reasonable level of fitness as there are some steep slopes and dense vegetation.
There are over one hundred species of bird in the park, including kingfishers, hawks, moorhens, flycatchers and fan-tailed birds. There are also 14 species of lemur, multiple reptiles including the snake boa manditra and multiple species of amphibian.
We didn’t have a huge amount of luck here but did see more lively Diademed Sifaka lemurs playing in the treetops.
Vakona Reserve Visit
On the way back from the forest we visited a lemur sanctuary, the Vakona Reserve, where lemurs are rescued and rehabilitated, with future generations being returned into the wild.
Located near a former graphite mine, this sanctuary comprises five islands. The first is inhabited by rescued lemurs who will remain on the island. They are habituated and it’s possible for visitors to get really close to them.
The offspring of these lemurs will eventually move to the next island, then the next and so on. After about nine years future generations will progress to the fifth island where they will have no contact with humans. From there, they can move back to the wild. It’s a great scheme because it genuinely helps the lemur population whilst bringing in income from tourists who can get fantastic photos of the lemurs.
You have to get aboard a canoe to reach the first island, the only one that visitors are allowed to set foot on.
Andasibe for Foodies
Although people don’t generally go to Madagascar for the food, Malagasy cuisine is both interesting and delicious. Our hotel had a vast range of local and international food (Sushi? In Madagascar?) which was very nice but also relatively expensive. Some tours offer an all-inclusive package, others don’t and we preferred to eat local food, so our lovely driver took us to Vane Resto.
Vane Resto was located around a ten minute drive from Andasibe. We enjoyed zebu kebabs with garlic and ginger grilled on skewers and river fish.
All washed down with Three Horses Beer, or THB, is the most popular in Madagascar. It’s a light, refreshing lager. The food is cheap and hearty.
Return To Tana
We left Andasibe and began our journey towards the capital. It was a 150km drive lasting about 3.5 hours so we broke it up by visiting the Peyrieras Nature Farm. Located half way along the route, 75km from Tana, this is a small privately run reserve at Marozevo, between the towns of Manjakandriana and Moramanga. It was founded by a French entomologist called André Peyriéras. We were able to see their butterflies and reptiles. Although Madagascar is best known for its lemurs we consistently found the reptiles to be absolutely fascinating as well. The sheer variety of chameleons was astonishing
And we never failed to be surprised at the amazing camouflage abilities of the geckos, which can flatten themselves to the trunk of a tree in admirable attempts to deter predators.
And, of course, we couldn’t pass by the adjacent forest area which supports families of habituated Verreaux’s Sifaka lemurs. We were able to meet them and feed them choice bits of banana.
Lunch at Amanistena
Amanistena on RN2 is a fairly unremarkable town but the locals decided that they could try to benefit from tourists travelling through it to the Andasibe Mandantiba National Park, so they established themselves as a sausage town. It’s a great initiative, so we just had to stop for zebu and pork sausage with cassava powder chips and chilli sauce. And a beer. Apparently Madagascar’s president always stops for a sausage when he’s in the area – they’re that good!
Although the RN7 is the most popular route to follow when visiting Madagascar, we highly recommend spending an extra few days exploring the Andasibe Mantadia National Park. We were thrilled to see both the largest and the smallest lemurs as well as a plethora of other fascinating creatures and birds. We will never forget the hauntingly beautiful cry of the Indri Indri, creatures that will never succumb to captivity. See them while you can!
Related Posts You May Enjoy
- Skeleton Coast Self Drive in Namibia
- Malagasy Cuisine – The Food of Madagascar
- Mora Mora on the RN7 Madagascar – A Road Trip
- Tree Climbing Lions, Hippo Hordes and Safari Shenanigans in Uganda
- Tourist Attractions In Ethiopia
- Uganda Chimpanzee Trekking in Kibale
Thanks so much for reading. We hope you enjoyed this article. If you’d like to keep up to date with new posts and recipes, please subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on social media – X, Facebook or Instagram. We always love hearing from you and would be delighted to read your thoughts about this article.
RECIPE: How to Make Sushi Ginger – Gari
Sushi ginger, also known as gari, is one of the essential accompaniments to sushi and sashimi. When eating sushi you expect to find wasabi and soy sauce, which you mix together to dip your fish into. Ginger is eaten separately, between the pieces of sushi or sashimi, and its purpose is to cleanse the palette between delicious bites.
The ginger is pickled by marinating in a sweetened vinegar and therefore it has sweet and sour flavours, with a warming kick from the ginger itself.
Ginger is naturally a creamy-beige colour but you will often see sushi ginger that is a delicate pink. This is usually due to it being pickled with red shiso, a herb that is very popular in Japan. It’s also known as perilla.
Gari is very easy to make and we promise you that this recipe beats any shop bought sushi ginger hands down.
How to Make Sushi Ginger
(Makes a 500ml jar)
Ingredients
A big piece of ginger – we used about 4 pieces of this beauty. That works out at about 500g but you’ll be able to judge depending on how thinly you slice it and how much you want to squish into the jar.
1.5 cups of rice vinegar (~350ml). We recommend rice vinegar because it has a lovely flavour, but you could use white wine vinegar or white vinegar if you can’t easily find rice vinegar.
1 cup of sugar (~250 ml)
1 tbs salt
Optional red shiso or red perilla leaves (for colour)
Method
Scrape the skin off the ginger. You could use a vegetable peeler, but some people use a teaspoon just to get the finest layer of skin off. Ginger skin is edible but, because you want this to look pretty, it’s worth getting all the skin off.
Finely slice the ginger as thin as possible, ideally using a mandoline. You need the ginger to be as thin as possible so it’s worth looking into a mandoline that can slice extremely fine. You’re aiming for less than 1mm if possible.
Also, while they are great kitchen tools, a mandoline is basically a razor blade on a board and can be dangerous to clumsy cooks such as us. So do use the safeguard that is usually provided with the gadget, or wear special gloves.
If you don’t have a mandoline, a handheld vegetable peeler gets reasonable results.
Try to get a variety of shapes and sizes. Ginger has a grain so it may do this for you naturally as you slice.
Place the ginger slices in a bowl, sprinkle over the salt and mix. Leave for 20-30 minutes.
In the meantime, wash your jar with soapy water and then sterilise it by pouring boiling water in. Let it stand for a few minutes. You could also empty the water and let it dry in a barely warm oven for 10 minutes or so, but we don’t bother. Vinegar is acidic so the jar just needs to be very clean.
Squeeze the ginger to release the salty water. Do this gently so you don’t crush all the pieces together. Then pat with kitchen paper to draw out more salt water.
Place the ginger slices in the jar. Take some time to unwrap any squeezed pieces that have squished together, so that they go in as individual slices.
Put the vinegar and sugar into a saucepan and heat slowly. Wait until the sugar has completely dissolved and the mixture is about to boil.
Then pour the sugary-vinegar over the ginger in the jar.
If you have shiso leaves, this is the time to put these in the jar.
Put the lid on and let the pickle cool naturally.
Even though you’ll want to eat this immediately, you need to wait for at least a week for the pickling flavours to develop.
This will keep in the fridge for many months. Honestly, it is so good that you’ll want to get another batch pickling straight away because you will be eating this endlessly…
Related Posts You May Enjoy
- RECIPE: How To Make Dakgalbi
- RECIPE: How to Make Sushi Ginger – Gari
- RECIPE: How To Make Elderflower Champagne
- RECIPE Oyakodon Donburi
- Zero Waste Recipes Before Your Holiday
- RECIPE: Vegetable Biryani Tamil Nadu Style
- RECIPE: Vegan Wild Garlic Pesto
- Recipe: Venetian Pasta Sauce
- RECIPE: Biryani Raita Recipe
- Is Kanazawa Worth Visiting?
- RECIPE: How to Make Sushi Ginger – Gari
- Kobe Beef in Kobe – Is It Worth It?
- Recipe: Simmered Shiitake Mushrooms
- How to Use Public Transport in Japan
- RECIPE Oyakodon Donburi
- Planning a Trip to Japan
- The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House
- Setsubun Food – Bean Throwing Day
Thanks so much for reading. We hope you enjoyed this article. If you’d like to keep up to date with new posts and recipes, please subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on social media – X, Facebook or Instagram. We always love hearing from you and would be delighted to read your thoughts about this article.
Heart and Seoul – Four Days in Seoul
South Korea’s capital city is a thriving metropolis, a perfect blend of historic and modern. It boasts five royal palaces nestled amidst the modern skyscrapers, and the city offers history, culture, shopping and style. It also has an amazing food scene, from street food to posh nosh, and there’s an opportunity to explore Korea’s delicious cuisine around every corner. With so much to see and do, you could easily spend much longer in this vibrant and exciting city. Our guide for spending four days in Seoul will cover the essentials and give you a flavour of what this wonderful city has to offer.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links. If you click through and decide to make a purchase we will make a small commission, at no extra cost to you, which will help towards the costs of running this site.
Getting to Seoul
Most visitors arrive from Incheon airport, about 50km from Seoul Station. There are multiple options to get into Seoul but the quickest and most convenient is the AREX Airport Express which gets to Seoul station in around 40-45 minutes. There is an all-stop train, which takes a bit longer. Buy a ticket at the machine (multiple languages available, including English) in Terminals 1 or 2 by the station entrance. Just follow the signs from the airport arrivals hall. You can choose your train and seats will be allocated automatically.
One thing that we really liked about Incheon airport was that there are a whole bunch of local people at the station who were available to help you purchase tickets. It is really useful if you’ve just arrived and are feeling a bit dazed after a long flight.
Other options for getting into the city are buses and taxis, although taxis can be expensive.
Getting Around Seoul
Seoul has a comprehensive public transport system and it is very easy to travel around. Maps and signage are available in English, Japanese and Chinese as well as Korean. We recommend buying a T-money card, an electronic money card which enables you to tap in and out at subway stations and on buses. You can top up your card using cash at machines or in convenience stores.
It’s worth knowing that some subway stations are really large and have multiple exits, so check which exit will get you to your planned destination.
One thing we did find frustrating was that Seoul isn’t very pedestrian-friendly. We love walking around cities and, although we managed to walk to a lot of the attractions, we spent a lot of time waiting to cross the road at pedestrian crossings because the traffic definitely got priority. If we saw the crossing lights change to the green man from several metres away, we’d run to cross the road so that we wouldn’t have to wait for ages!
Google maps isn’t the best app to use for getting around. It’s not very detailed and we found it was particularly difficult to identify how accessible green spaces were.
Four Days in Seoul Day 1- Ancient and Modern
Day 1 Morning in Myeongdong
Make your way to City Hall metro station on subway line 2. This is the perfect stop to wander around Myeongdong. The area perfectly illustrates the contrasts between Seoul’s old and the new as Deoksugung Palace lies nestled amidst the modern high-rise buildings.
Deoksugung
Deoksugung is one of the smaller palaces. It was inhabited by the Korean royal family from the Joseon dynasty,until Japan annexed Korea in 1910.
At the far end of the complex is the National Museum of Art. When we visited they were showcasing one of Korea’s earliest modern artists, Chang Ucchin. There is a small fee to enter.
Make sure to time your visit for the changing of the guard – at 11am, 2pm and 3:30pm (except Mondays). These events are free and takes place in the palace courtyard, outside the main complex, so they will draw the crowds. Be prepared for lots of pomp with raucous music and crashing drums. You can also pose for photos alongside some of the guards after the event has finished.
Seoul Museum of Art
Just around the corner from Deoksugung is SeMA – the Seoul Museum of Art, operated by the city council. You can wander through the outdoor sculpture park before exploring the museum to view permanent and temporary exhibitions from contemporary artists. Entry is free.
City Hall
City Hall is just across the road from Deoksugung Palace, a screamingly modern building with a cool exterior and interior – notably the green living wall inside.
You don’t need to spend too long here, it is largely an administrative building but you can use the elevator to visit the upper floors and get a view over the city. It also hosts various exhibitions.
Entry to City Hall is free.
Day 1 Afternoon – Choice of Cookery Class or Seoul Tower
There are a couple of choices, depending on your interests. If you want to learn more about Korean food, we can recommend the Hello-K cookery course. It involves meeting at a set location and joining a small group of like-minded foodies. The afternoon starts with a tour of a local market where your host will introduce a vast variety of ingredients.
Then it’s back to the family home and a cookery class. Everyone gets their own cookery station and we all cooked together. We made bibimbap (lovely ingredients beautifully arranged over rice), pajeon (Korean pancakes), dakgalbi (spicy chicken) and some banchan side dishes.
And then of course you get to eat your delicious meal – no need to worry about finding a place to eat dinner tonight!
Alternatively you could spend the afternoon exploring the lovely park on Namsam Mountain with Seoul Tower, an observation tower at the top. It’s the second-highest point in Seoul. You can hike around the park or catch a cable car.
If you did the cookery course you won’t be hungry, but if not, why not head back to Myeongdong Market where you can shop for all sorts of souvenirs and enjoy some seriously good street food. It’s located near the Sungnyemun Gate.
Four Days in Seoul Day 2 – A Day Trip to the DMZ
No trip to Seoul would be complete without an excursion to the DMZ – the demilitarised zone which demarcates the border area between South Korea and its mysterious neighbour to the north. This tour offers a fascinating insight into modern Korean history.
At the time of visiting, it was not possible to visit the JSA – Joint Security Area – which is the actual border between North and South Korea. However, the DMZ tour is fascinating.
Need to Know: You cannot travel to the DMZ independently – you have to go with a tour. Even if you book a private tour you may travel to the zone in a car but you will still have to get on a coach with a group.
You will need to bring your passport and will have to give it – temporarily – to the tour leader when they obtain your ticket and register you as a visitor. Your passport will be returned and checked by soldiers on entry to the zone and when you leave.
The DMZ Tour
The Peace Park
The first part of the tour takes you to the Peace Park. The park was built in 1972 in the spirit of peace and, hopefully, reunification one day. There are a number of exhibits and memorials here as well as, somewhat curiously, a theme park.
The Freedom Bridge was built as a temporary structure to allow an exchange of prisoners of war in 1953. It is not possible to cross the bridge these days.
There is also a dilapidated steam locomotive that was derailed during the war. Riddled with bullets it has remained in situ for decades, slowly rusting.
You can cross the Imjin river in a gondola and climb the hill to view an exhibition about the war, including a number of foreign countries whose soldiers were involved. We were surprised at the number of British soldiers who fought in the Korean War.
Observing North Korea
Passports are checked before entering the DMZ proper. The next stop is the Dora Observatory where you can use binoculars to look into North Korea. When you gaze into North Korea, North Korea probably gazes back at you.
Sometimes it’s a bit hazy but you can see two villages that are located on either side of the border. The South Korean side is occupied, the North Korean is not – apparently the windows on the buildings are painted on.
The South Koreans who live in this village, so close to the border, do not pay tax, do not have to do military service and have free healthcare.
Third Infiltration Tunnel
The blue line painted on the road marks the official DMZ. The next stop is the Third Infiltration Tunnel. There is an exhibition centre with audio-visual presentation.
You can also go down the third infiltration tunnel. This is one of a series of tunnels constructed by North Korea with the aim of getting 30,000 troops per hour into the South should they decide to invade. Defectors claim that there are ten tunnels but only four have ever been found. We walked down the shaft to the tunnel and through it to the end, about 170m from the border. It’s not too claustrophobic in there. Photos are not allowed inside the tunnel.
This is also a place to buy souvenirs of the visit. One that may be of interest to foodies is a blueberry wine made to a traditional recipe from a North Korean defector.
Four Days in Seoul Day 3 – Palaces and Hanok Villages
Day 3 Morning – Gyeongbokgung and Bukchon
This is the day to go back in time, to the Jongno District in central Seoul, to explore more of Seoul’s palaces and also a traditional Hanok village. Anguk station on Line 3 or Jongno 3 on Lines 1, 3 or 5 are good starting points. This is a long day, with loads of attractions, so you might want to prioritise some over others, so that you can spend more time at the places that are of most interest.
The palaces have a small fee to enter and you can buy a ticket at the entrance. However, if you arrive dressed in hanbok – traditional Korean attire – entry is free. You can hire these clothes in nearby stores. If you love dressing up this is a fun activity. They offer a full range of sizes.
Gyeongbokgung Grand Palace
Start at Gyeongbokgung, another palace with a changing of the guard ceremony. It is the largest of Seoul’s grand palaces and was the primary royal palace of the Joseon dynasty.
Built by King Taejo in 1395, it was destroyed during the Japanese invasion of 1592–1598, restored during the 19th century but destroyed once more by the Japanese at the start of the 20th century. It has been slowly restored since the 1960s.
This is the most impressive of the grand palaces. It has a large number of beautiful buildings set amidst a delightful walled garden complete with pavilions and ponds.
Adjacent to the palace is the Korean Folk museum which is free to enter. This fascinating museum has several permanent and temporary exhibitions showcasing traditional life in Korea.
A Traditional Hanok Village
Moving east, head towards Changdeokgung Palace via the Bukchon Hanok Village. A Hanok is a traditional Korean house. Bukchon means ‘north town’ and this village features over 800 wonderfully photogenic houses. It is visited by a large number of tourists so there are lots of shops and cafes in the area.
It is possible to visit Baek In-Jae’s house (free entry) to learn more about the area and peek inside some of the rooms. He clearly made a lot of kimchi!
It’s important to be aware that people live in these villages and there are signs on some streets asking visitors not to be too noisy.
Day 3 Afternoon – Changdeokgung, Jongmyo and Some Foodie Fun
A quick foodie surprise as we left the village was Hansik Space E:EUM on 18 Bukchon-ro, a museum dedicated to hansik – Korean food. We came across it as we strolled past. There are some interesting exhibitions about ingredients and cooking methods as well as a room full of Korean booze where we got the chance to sample some sochu (a popular Korean spirit). We also managed to find a makgeolli (rice wine) brewing kit which made a fantastic souvenir.
Changdeokgung Palace
The next royal palace is the Changdeokgung Palace, a UNESCO world heritage site. In the early 15th century, the King Taejong ordered the construction of this grand Changdeokgung Palace Complex to complement the main palace of Gyeongbokgung. Changdeokgung is situated at the foot of a hill and the buildings and landscape have been carefully designed to complement the geography of the area. It has a large ‘secret garden’ (extra cost to visit).
Jongmyo Shrine
To the south of Changdeokgung lies the Jongmyo Shrine, a fascinating site that was a former shrine for the internment of the kings and queens of the Joseon dynasty. The entrance fee is nominal and there are guided tours in multiple languages on weekdays. The sign outside indicates when the next tour will be. The tours last around an hour and offer a fascinating insight not only into the shrine and its buildings but also the traditions and practices of the Joseon royal family. Make sure you don’t walk on the raised paths as these are for the spirits alone. (You’re allowed to walk where the kings walked though – only the dead get special treatment.)
Finally, if you have time, head back to The Kimchi Museum – Kimchikan – just off Insa-dong Cultural Street. An essential visit for foodies, it is located on the 4th, 5th and 6th floors of the Insa-dong Maru building. It is open from 10am to 6pm. Korea’s national dish, a food so famous that it is UNESCO listed, is eaten with pretty much every meal. This fascinating and highly interactive museum has exhibits showing the history of kimchi, offers recipes for different types of kimchi and even offers kimchi tasting!
Insa-dong Cultural Street is a good place to seek out restaurants for your evening meal – there are a variety of establishments offering many different types of Korean cuisine.
Four Days in Seoul Day 4 – Art and Museums, Fish Market and A Park
Leeum Art Museum
Catch the subway to the Leeum Art Museum. Line 6 will take you to Hangangjin Station and use Exit 1. Then walk up the hill to the museum. It houses both traditional Korean art (free) and contemporary art exhibitions (which have a fee). Take the lift to the top of the building and then wend your way down, looking at Korean art from across the ages.
The staircase is a work of art in itself.
From Leeum catch Line 6 to Samgakji Station then change to Line 4 for Ichon and the National Museum of Korea.
National Museum of Korea
This splendid museum, set in a large park, is brilliantly designed and gives a comprehensive account of Korea with a wealth of objects all laid out in a way to illustrate the country’s long and rich history.
The upper floors showcase objects from around the world. Entry is free and you really can spend hours here.
Hangul Museum
If you have time, the Hangul Museum is located in the same park. We found this museum fascinating and receommend a visit.
Hangul is one of the few alphabet systems that can actually be dated – it was invented in 1443 by King Sejong the Great, the fourth monarch of the Joseon dynasty. He was a very enlightened leader who wanted to improve literacy amongst the people.
Before the invention of Hangul Koreans used a version of Chinese characters but these weren’t really suited to the language. Hangul is phonetic, consistent and a surprisingly easy script to learn. We managed to pick it up (using visual mnemonics) in a just few hours. It was pretty helpful while we were travelling. The museum is fascinating and well worth a visit. Again, entry is free.
Noryangjin Fish Market
If you’re feeling hungry after all that culture, we recommend a seafood meal at the Noryangjin Fish Market. Back on the subway, take line 4 to Dongjak, then change to Line 9 and the Noryangjin Fish Market stop.
This is one of South Korea’s largest fish markets. The sheer quantity and variety of seafood on offer is astonishing.
There are a range of restaurants upstairs, so you can enjoy a meal of the very freshest fish. If you’re feeling adventurous you can buy fish from the market, take it upstairs and ask a restaurant to cook it. Alternatively you can get a table and the staff will purchase the fish and cook it for you. Many restaurants have instructions in English outside, so that you can understand what deal you are getting. If you bring your own fish you’ll be charged a table fee and a cooking fee, which may be reduced if you also order the restaurant’s own fish soup.
We recommend eating early if you are visiting at the weekend. We arrived at 4:30pm, had a look around and were lucky not to have to wait for a table when we ate at 5pm. By the time we had finished eating, customers were queuing out of the door, many carrying platters of raw fish they had bought in the market. And, even though there were long queues, once we were seated, there was no pressure from the restaurant to hurry.
Yeouido Han River Park
If you have time – and it’s a bit of a convoluted journey considering it’s not that far from the fish market – you can spend the evening at Yeouido Han River Park. It’s a lovely setting right on the riverside. It was made famous (for us) in the film The Host, directed by Bong Joon Ho, which features a giant mutant monster emerging from Seoul’s river. We went to look for the monster later in the evening and are pleased to report that it wasn’t there. Well, at least, we didn’t see it…
Although these four days in Seoul can only really scratch the surface of this amazing city, it is possible to see a diverse range of sights within this time. We can’t wait to return.
Related Posts You May Enjoy
Thanks so much for reading. We hope you enjoyed this article. If you’d like to keep up to date with new posts and recipes, please subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on social media – X, Facebook or Instagram. We always love hearing from you and would be delighted to read your thoughts about this article.
