Three Days in,
Seoul.

A hanbok rental shop a short walk from Gyeongbokgung's west side, one of dozens in the blocks around the palace. You pick a jeogori (jacket) and a chima (skirt) or baji (trousers), get dressed by the staff, and walk out looking like a Joseon courtier for the price of a lunch.

The largest and oldest of Seoul's five Joseon palaces, laid out in 1395 at the foot of Bugaksan with a throne hall, the royal living quarters and two ponds with pavilions. Most of what you see is a reconstruction, and the rebuilding is still going.

Seoul's best-known samgyetang restaurant, a maze of low-ceilinged hanok rooms near the west gate of Gyeongbokgung. One dish rules the menu: a whole small chicken simmered with ginseng, jujube and glutinous rice, served in a stone bowl still bubbling.

A residential hillside of some 900 hanok between Gyeongbokgung and Changdeokgung, with tiled roofs stepping down toward downtown Seoul. It is a real neighborhood rather than a museum, which is both why it looks the way it does and why visiting hours are now enforced.

Insadong is Seoul's traditional crafts and antiques street, and Ssamzigil is its centerpiece: a four-story mall built as one continuous spiral ramp lined with about 70 small shops, so you browse your way to the roof without noticing the climb.

Korea's oldest permanent market, a covered grid of alleys in Jongno where the fabric and hanbok trade upstairs is now outnumbered by the food stalls below. Two aisles of stools and griddles serve bindaetteok, gimbap, raw beef and noodles from morning to late night.

The busiest bindaetteok stall in Gwangjang Market, recognizable by the electric stone mill turning mung beans into batter at the counter. The pancakes come out thick with crisp edges, and the wait rarely passes 15 minutes.

The 3-minute cable car up Namsan from the Myeongdong side, 0.4 miles of cable with the city dropping away below. It replaces a 40-minute climb and puts you on the plaza right under N Seoul Tower.

Seoul's landmark, a 777-foot tower on the 797-foot Namsan hill in the middle of the city, so the top sits about 1,575 feet above sea level. The observatory turns 360 degrees, the plaza below is covered in padlocks, and the tower's night lighting doubles as a pollution gauge.

A noodle house with a menu of four dishes and a line out the door most days since the 1960s. The kalguksu, thin hand-cut noodles in a rich broth topped with minced pork and small dumplings, is Seoul's reference version.

Korea's first Gothic Revival church and the mother church of Korean Catholicism, a red and gray brick basilica with a 150-foot bell tower on a rise above Myeongdong's shopping streets. Its crypt holds relics of Korean martyrs.

Korea's largest traditional market, some 10,000 stalls and shops packed into the blocks beside Sungnyemun, the old south gate. Clothing, kitchenware, ginseng, glasses, cameras and a set of famous food alleys, running on a schedule that starts around midnight for the wholesalers.

Seoul's densest shopping district, a quarter mile of cosmetics flagships, sneaker stores and character shops on a grid of pedestrian streets between Euljiro and Namsan. After 16:00 the streets fill with food carts and it becomes the city's most visited night market.

A Korean barbecue restaurant that grills for you, with multilingual menus and staff used to first-timers. Marinated beef galbi, pork belly, the usual refillable side dishes and a stew to finish, in a part of Myeongdong that runs on tourist trade without skimping on the meat.

The observation floors (117 to 123) of Lotte World Tower, at 1,821 feet the tallest building in Korea and among the six tallest in the world. A glass-floored deck at 1,568 feet, an outdoor terrace, and a cafe with the whole eastern half of Seoul and the Han River below.

Two connected lakes at the foot of Lotte World Tower, with a paved 1.6-mile loop, cherry trees and the amusement park's fairy-tale island on the east half. The neighborhood's living room, busy with joggers at dawn and strollers all day.

A basement noodle restaurant in Yeouido that the neighborhood's office workers treat as their cafeteria. Kongguksu, chilled wheat noodles in a soy milk broth thick enough to coat a spoon, is the signature, and it has held a Michelin Bib Gourmand for years.

The most popular stretch of Seoul's Han River parks, a wide lawn and riverside promenade on the north shore of Yeouido island with the 63 Building at one end and Mapo Bridge at the other. Picnic culture at its most Korean: instant noodles from the convenience store, delivery chicken on the grass, bikes on the path.

A 40-minute loop on the Han from Yeouido, past the 63 Building, the bird sanctuary of Bamseom and several of the river's bridges. The river is over half a mile wide here, and from the water the city stacks up in layers: park, expressway, towers, mountains.

The pedestrian core of Hongdae, the university district that has been Seoul's indie music, street art and youth culture quarter since the 1990s. Buskers, photo booths, cheap food and shops that don't close, with the art school at the top of the hill.

A dak-galbi chain restaurant where the staff cook at your table: chunks of chicken thigh, cabbage, sweet potato and rice cakes in a red pepper sauce, followed by fried rice in the same pan. Loud, cheap and quick, which is the Hongdae way.