Gay Seoul is among the world’s many underestimated vacation destinations, overlooked continually because of its much more well-known East Asian next-door neighbors. Better-known for Samsung and governmental tensions with North Korea, there clearly was a thriving queer scene right here hidden inside basic sight â you just need to know where to look!
Fast-paced and entirely obsessed with trend and innovation, the powerful city of Seoul can greatly old-fashioned, with calm palaces, temples and mountain trails. Skyscrapers overshadow stylish hanbok (old-fashioned wood homes), environmentally friendly areas and pattern courses soften commercial tough sides, and K-Pop can be heard blaring on nearly every road spot.
Seoulites have actually a great deal to be proud of inside their 24/7 town â where you are able to get whatever you desire, anytime â and their gay scene here’s not an exception. We desire the society most importantly might possibly be much more recognizingâ¦
Southern Korea all together has a far less accepting view of the LGBTQ community than all the remainder of Asia â even though the effectiveness of conservatives and Christian fundamentalists wanes gradually, everything is nonetheless not where they should be.
LGBT recognition features, however, fast expanded previously decade, particularly in younger generations, courtesy international impacts, even more queer activities, and a louder presence in the regional LGBT community, such as ârather notoriously â star
Hong Seok-cheon
, being released in public.
Numerous in Korea think they’ve never satisfied a gay person, plus its an interest not often talked about, with political parties steering clear of conversation of LGBT legal rights and lots of individuals burying their unique minds in mud.
As a visitor, you might be exceedingly unlikely experiencing any straight-out discrimination but be aware, numerous queer residents lead two fold physical lives and succumb toward daunting societal stress to keep their sex exclusive.
South Korea is undoubtedly one of the more conservative countries in Asia, but actually here, it is theoretically unlawful to be discriminated against based on intimate direction. Nonetheless, many people in the LGBT area however face issues yourself and work, which means Gay Korea features a long way commit nonetheless to catch up with the a lot more modern neighbors â Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and increasingly Vietnam.
The homosexual world in Seoul, however, is continuing to grow on a yearly basis and has an abundance of fabulous queer enjoyable to provide. Overseas celebration kids trying to find combined foreign/local enjoyable would want to visit the popular Homo Hill in Itaewon, very long related to homosexual night life, but natives are more inclined to frequent the main section of Jongno.
Just skyscrapers, the bustle of Insadong and street barbecues, there was in fact a hidden-in-plain-sight gay scene here with more pubs, karaoke joints, gay saunas and cafes than we could count.
Few vacationers actually ever endeavor to Gay Jongno but know if you do that inside the bars and organizations, you’ll always be welcomed with a smile. Sadly, the exact same can not be stated for Seoul’s homosexual hot rooms and sail organizations scene, which positively discriminate against and bar anybody who is actually non-Korean â no matter what acquainted practices and/or vocabulary you may be.
We hope this changes in the long run and then have some tips that might help, in this regard, the homosexual world in Seoul still quite definitely has many raising to perform.
However, along with 10 million individuals, Seoul is amongst the greatest metropolises on the planet and it has some thing for everyone. Food, layout, society, history and untamed night life â this sprawling city has it-all!
In this post we will protect…
Attractions in Seoul
Normally, becoming homosexual does not establish which attractions many of us will want to see in each area, and the majority of queer travelers will just wish look at the leading items to see in Seoul the whole day!
You will find plenty to complete here â but we found well known memories had been roaming through obtaining missing on back-streets, visiting every unusual cafes, hitting up Lotte business and wandering through layout studios!
One of the best tips we can provide for checking out Gay Seoul would be to pre-order a vacation SIM credit for simple airport collection and activation as soon as you appear so that you wont pay a king’s ransom in international roaming costs.
Get restaurants referral and bookings in the fly, trains and buses instructions up-to-the-minute, club opening hrs, and, in case it is your thing â use of homosexual hook-up apps to learn more concerning regional scene.
Cellular phone information is fast, inexpensive and offered just about everywhere in Asia, therefore it is not surprising many people decide to stay linked and acquire off the beaten track (without ever worrying about acquiring missing). Why hold off?
Pre-order the greatest regional SIM card now to have it available whenever you appear.
Nevertheless â it helps to own some concept of the proceedings, very here you will find the finest things you can do in Seoul, based on all of us!
Things you can do in Seoul
Old-fashioned Korean Bathhouse
Not into the homosexual spa? Uncover a unique and family-friendly a portion of the Korean tradition in a wonderfully embellished and old-fashioned Korean-style bathhouse. Relax from a stressful day’s sightseeing â or evening or partying â in a traditional pine wood sauna, and enjoy access to all hot rooms and steam spaces such as numerous sodium and nutrients remedies for the epidermis.
For much more extravagance, why not address yourself to a massage, facials or human anatomy scrubs? Even though the bathhouse is actually open 24/7, make sure to book beforehand any special treatments to prevent really missing out.
Cheonggyecheon
A landmark of brand new urban repair and ecological restoration, this park room has a revived / âday-lighted’ stream with walkways, bridges & greenery.
Myeong-dong
A diverse shopping & casual global eating destination, the active Myeong-dong is full of worldwide trend companies, deluxe malls, and homegrown beauty products shops.
Janet’s Preparing Studio
Get hold of more than just pictures because of this wonderfully special industry trip and conventional Korean cooking session with Janet, a Korean cook trained in new york.
This experience just isn’t about just ticking off vacationer must-dos, but alternatively examines the actual Korea through Janet’s stunning meals fixation â which shines through whether she is exposing you to definitely vendors in just one of Seoul’s few continuing to be regional street markets or smiling brightly while revealing to you personally how to come up with the right Bulgogi Lettuce Wrap in her expert cooking area.
Janet has actually actually worked with the UN to market Korean food and society â which means you simply learn this woman is the real thing! Might leave Seoul have real profit determine bizarre components in a Korean marketplace also to whip up some tasty conventional dinners â all the while discovering the unique history of Korea and enjoying Janet’s hot character.
A kind and enjoying spirit who is truly excited about just what she really does, we cannot advise Janet’s preparing Studio highly enough.
Fireman Program
A remarkable show of acrobatics & party, this much-acclaimed tv show uses a mixture of overall performance styles expressing the stresses to be a fireman. Crazy, we understand, however you will see why if you are here.
Detect remarkable acrobatic lifts and flips, and find out about the necessity of fire protection and awareness â and being a non-verbal show, its well-suited for many vocabulary speakers. Have the affirmative fuel brought because of the melodramatic yet comical performers that portray lively figures.
Bukchon Hanok Village
A lovely history town with a satisfied 600-year background dating back to towards the 14th century. Fill your camera with selfies featuring narrow roads lined with restored traditional domiciles.
Adore Museum
a weird museum of entertaining erotic art, this is Seoul’s first and therefore much merely museum for adults â but our company is positive other individuals are excitedly being planned. Watch physical stories of enthusiasm and need unfold before your own sight, get the opportunity to attempt the hand at pole dance â when you yourself haven’t currently â and find out various moments of newlyweds’ life through entertaining artworks.
There are six-themed galleries, each with a unique destination so that you could get a hold of â and count on united states, homosexual, right, or unicorn â¦You won’t ever have observed any such thing like this before!
Lotte Industry
No trip to Seoul might possibly be complete without a visit to Korea’s leading motif park, Lotte World! Lotte World seats tend to be surprisingly reduced just for international website visitors, thus cannot miss the possibility to check out this enjoyable two-part theme playground with backyard thrill trips and a âMagic isle’ palace place.
During colder months, simply take a coat or spend playtime with the adrenaline-charged indoor destinations in âAdventure’ region, plus attend the various parades and shows. If you’d like to perform a lot more, there is a Lotte globe + Aquarium combination citation to also contains a visit to the world’s largest ocean ecology tank on Lotte community Aquarium, featuring over 650 marine species across 13 specific areas.
Jongmyo
A UNESCO World history website and shrine to Joseon dynasty leaders & queens. Ritual ceremonies nonetheless occur during that Confucian shrine specialized in Joseon dynasty royals. These days Jongmyo is the ideal escape from the metropolitan busyness and an intriguing considering Old Seoul.
Café Onion
Serving post-industrial decay realness, this Uber-hip design cafe in Seongdong-gu is largely the way we would envision Chornobyl getting if Brooklyn hipsters moved in. Serving funky baked creations and niche coffee blends, this area is definitely worth the trip over to find out â if perhaps to realize all of your current monochromatic Instagram hopes and dreams.
In addition they have a more easily labeled as Café Onion Anguk in Jongno-gu, except in a converted traditional building/temple, in fact it is similarly impressive.
Seoul’s Palaces, Temples & Markets
Invest just about every day sightseeing and ticking off Seoul’s hottest web sites. The chairman’s pad, Blue residence (or Cheongwadae), the modifying of this guards on spectacular Gyeongbokgung Palace and Changdeok residence and stopping by the nationwide Folk Museum for more information on Korea’s wealthy record through the dynasties up to the present-day.
In addition to not end up being overlooked is the comforting Jogyesa Buddhist Temple and bargain hunting on well-known Namdaemun industries.
Korea Rail Pass (KR PASS
)
Discover South Korea outside Seoul by taking a trip on over 80 paths in order to over 600 stations with the Korea Rail Pass. Simply take endless rides of many Korail trains for 3 or 5 straight times or any flexible 2 and 4 days with this particular discount that will be only available for foreign nationals.
Meerkat & buddies
An oh-so-Seoul âcafe’ which serves no as well as sole bottled products buts lets you get right up near and private with semi-tame meerkats, raccoons, wallabies, cats, foxes plus. With locations in Hongdae and Myeongdong, it is touristy and unusual, this is exactly why we have been obsessed!
Discover Seoul Pass
Get effortless access to an assortment of 35 top Seoul attractions using Discover Seoul Pass. Pick 24/48/72 several hours pass to delight in discounts and freely customize your Seoul trip using this flexible entry solution and transportation credit from the Seoul Tourism business, specifically open to overseas vacationers.
ZenKimchi Korean Food Tours
If you are like you and planning your visit to Korea when it comes down to food alone, then you’ll desire to avoid the touristy places/ bad dining encounters and pick a totally immersive knowledge to really make the nearly all of Seoul’s food world.
Thankfully, Joe, that has been working
Korea’s longest-running meals weblog, ZenKimchi,
for more than fifteen years, has created an uniquely crafted trip to aid people experience with korean eating. Become clear, by this, we mean the guy will get no kickbacks through the restaurants and takes you because he or she is really fanatical concerning food they provide, unlike much less scrupulous workersâ¦
We chosen their Korean barbeque concert tour along with an unforgettable evening learning Korean dining decorum, savoring ideal charcoal grilled chicken of your existence, appreciating rewarding talks with different individuals from internationally â and obtaining just a little tipsy over a Korean alcohol example in a key pub!
Additionally it is ideal for some pre-drinking before going out to Homo Hill, or even for solamente tourists exactly who might if not find it difficult to enjoy Korean BBQ like this.
You will find many trips being offered, but all are operated by passionate experts who get desires at heart. Thus, if you would like get-out truth be told there and see Seoul as a regional â while having a ridiculous number of fun, ZenKimchi Korean Food Tours features some thing available.
Gay Annual Events In Seoul
Korea Queer Film Festival (KQFF)
A yearly event in July devoted exclusively to evaluating gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer films. KQFF has-been held yearly since 2001 using the reported aim of encouraging range in Korean tradition while improving LGBT human rights and acceptance.
Very critical Asian discussion boards of intercontinental LGBT film/video, of course your times correspond if a method to enjoy a advanced standard of gay existence in Seoul.
IM Seoul
Korea’s biggest routine party brand name, I WILL BE established in 2015 and also fast be the most prominent circuit occasions across Asia. Now, IM continues to entice numerous homosexual travelers from across Asia and also the globe to Gay Seoul.
I AM claims 3 days of dance club events, pool parties and after-parties filled with songs as well as the hottest men. You may expect an unforgettable experience with a killer DJ line-up from around the entire world and extremely go-go males on stage. Usually used in August, I AM is totally well worth planning a vacation about.
Korea Queer Festival Party | Pride Parade
Korea’s largest LGBT festival, this annual modern-day Korean event, whoever theme is actually LGBT liberties, has many shows, such as a pleasure parade, movie event activities, artwork, discussions and dance club celebration occasions.
The event lasts for each week or two and in most cases happens in later part of the will to early June. The parade that has been banned in 2015 lured intercontinental focus on the big event, with many of it being crucial for the development made with regards to LGBT liberties in Southern Korea.
Once more happening, you will find now some help from more compact Korean governmental events and a-listers, but significant functions together with government at-large take a simple position. Unlike lots of
some other Pride celebrations globally
, the Seoul Pride Prade earnestly limits the ability of attendees to take photographs or videos and requires photo-takers to blur members’ confronts before posting photos on the web.
This is done to reduce the chance of unintentional outings of participants just who still face considerable discrimination in Korean culture. While the organizers have huge intentions to expand the big event on most significant in Asia, Seoul’s Queer lifestyle Festival shows in a variety of ways, Southern Korea is within the rock era.
120,000 LGBT folks honestly participated in 2018 â the largest ever before â but 200,000 signatures were in addition gathered to cease the Parade, and many anti-LGBT protestors proved.
However, its remarkable observe NGOs and brands obtaining up to speed as occasion increases. In a country in which modesty around outsiders is paramount and sexual preference is certainly not something you should end up being flaunted, we could only wish enhanced exposure down the road helps brand new years of Southern Koreans feel safe sufficient to end up being just who they truly are.
Gay-Friendly and Gay Resorts in Seoul
Although Korea and Seoul can be much less politically progressive and gay-friendly than, state,
Bangkok
,
Tokyo
or
Taipei
, it is still safe to presume queer people have no problems checking pretty much any lodge in Seoul. Sadly, however, there are not any specifically homosexual resorts in Seoul to evaluate into.
Seoul is a major international mega-city with a shortage of area, so place sizes are smaller compared to almost everywhere otherwise on the planet â but as a good amount of homosexual guys learn, it’s not exactly about size, but how you use it! Our company is talking about style, efficiency and views, darling!
However, everybody loves to end up being enclosed by individuals with typical passions, and as such, there are some popular gay-friendly places in Seoul that are hot areas for homosexual travelers to remain â either for their area or their particular design and comprehensive vibes.
Hotels near Homo Hill, the foreigner-friendly queer enclave in Itaewon, are incredibly popular with gay travelers â particularly tourists exactly who only talk English but Jongno during the Nagwon-dong community, is clearly the gayest section of Seoul, though a lot more popular with natives than site visitors.
You might also think about staying in the tourist-popular Myeongdong / Seoul main, typically reported to be the heart of Seoul or in the world-famous Gangnam area, a.k.a the âBeverly Hills of Seoul.’
These hotels in Gay Seoul have got all had a glowing suggestion from homosexual travelers in the past, however,
there are a huge selection of additional places in Seoul
if normally not exactly what you are actually trying to find.
Whether you prefer an enjoyable and social hostel, an affordable spot to crash after per night of partying or an ultra-chic designer option to sip cocktails and surround your self with fabulous folks â Gay Seoul features anything for everybody!
Gay-friendly Hotels in Itaewon
Hamilton Resort ââââ
A landmark in Seoul’s Itaewon, this calm lodge in a modest redbrick building is just one minute’s stroll from the subway place with unfussy areas, complimentary Wi-Fi and useful team.
You rarely want to leave with eight various food solutions, such as a glossy Italian bistro, 2 LGBT-friendly clubs, a patio roof share â popular with peacocking muscle mass gays-, a 24-hour sauna, a health club, as well as a little mall.
Not too long ago renovated from top-to-bottom nevertheless simply a quick hit from Homo Hill, HOMPA by Le Queen and Club HIM.
IP Boutique Hotel ââââ
Situated in Seoul’s cosmopolitan purchasing and entertainment section, Itaewon, IP Boutique Hotel, provides an innovative new way of living knowledge for gay friends. Featuring exceptional style and magnificent atmosphere, the hotel provides 133 guestrooms, a café restaurant, and limitless usage of their unique fully equipped physical fitness area.
Exceptional worth, IP Boutique Hotel is just a quick walk towards the definitely Homme gay bar and Club HIM by Pulse, increasing its gay popularity.
Resort ITW âââ
(Temporarily or once and for all closed. Once you know one thing, kindly suggest an edit.)
A clean, modern, attractive hotel in Itaewon with prices as good or better than other places in Seoul. We adored it was within convenient taking walks distance for the gay restaurants, bars, and stores which make Itaewon these types of a pulsating and appealing section of Seoul. Hotel ITAW is actually, but up a steep mountain and located on a narrow one-way road which will be frustrating after a night of ingesting.
Sp@Itaewon Guesthouse âââ
(briefly or once and for all closed. Once you learn anything, kindly recommend an edit.)
The most perfect hangout for your social traveler with personal rooms, inexpensive dorms, and routine BBQ