BUKCHON HANOK VILLAGE ‘16

Seoul is massive, modern, and sprawling. High-rises are everywhere. For important context, the Korean peninsula is quite rugged, and as such, building horizontally can be challenging. Over the years of industrialization, wars, occupation, wars again, a lot of traditional Korean architecture was either destroyed or replaced, which means that unfortunately, you don’t see a lot of marvelous, old architecture while walking around in the city. There are some remnants though, and it’s very much worth your time to go out of your way and visit them! Bukchon Hanok Village is such a place, and while walking around admiring, it can feel odd remembering people actually live there now. You’ll see whimsical tile roofs, tourists and natives alike dressed in traditional clothing, and you can wander through the meandering alleyways.