Seoul in 2 Days:A Weekend Itinerary

I had a long weekend from Hong Kong and a July heatwave, and Seoul rewarded it better than almost any big city I know: the good things sit close together and the metro does the rest. I walked the old city on foot - Sungnyemun gate, Deoksugung, the Cheonggyecheon stream, then Insadong for tea, where I ordered desserts I could not name and liked so much I went straight into a second teahouse. Changdeokgung's Secret Garden, which you can only see with a guide, was the highlight of the day.

I ended in Bukchon at the end of the working day, fitted in like a fish in a barrel, and liked the neighbourhood enough to swap my tiny hotel for a night in a hanok there: sliding doors, tea on arrival, a view over the city, and in place of a bed, a mattress laid straight on the floor. The next afternoon I rented a hanbok at the gate of Gyeongbokgung - wear one and the palaces let you in free - and walked the throne-hall courtyards as Emperor Pau-Lee, fascinated, delighted and soaked through.

Then Myeongdong, a thousand signs and a thousand snacks, a meat-and-heater dinner where the staff showed me what to do, and N Seoul Tower after dark, when the city is lights to every horizon. This guide is that weekend put in the right order: the garden tour anchored, Bukchon inside its visiting hours, every closing day printed on its stop, and the barbecue before the queue.