I fell in love with Buckchon Village and, for a few days at least, I was a local here. I was staying at a traditional house with 3 rooms and owners who spoke not a word of English but who fed me very well (who knew kimchi was good for breakfast too!).
There is a tourist map with a suggested waking path through the neighbourhood that you can pick up at the tourism office, or any hotel really. It is definitely worth doing and it seems that few tourists bother which means that other than in certain particularly scenic parts, you may have a big part of it all to yourself, at least you and the locals that live in this part of town. Along the way you will find tea houses, all sorts of interesting stores, cafes, restaurants. I did the whole walk in one direction one day and then did it in the other direction the next morning and it was definitely worth it.
There are parts of the walk that will take a bit more time if you are interested in doing a bit of shopping. Bukchon-ro 5ga gil and Samcheong-ro are lined with great little stores. There is a tourist office around that part of town as well but I found them generally not very helpful. On one side of the village is Gyeongbokgung Palace and the National Folk Museum and on the other side is Changdeokgun Palace. Right in the middle is the Traditional Crafts Experience Centre where, if you have an hour and a few dollars to spare, you can learn how to make different crafts from leading artists. Highly recommend the calligraphy session.
Wood Brick is a great spot which is made of, well, brick and wood. If you are looking for something a bit European then visit here for some bakery favourites, sandwiches, juices and a hot chocolate. And it was a good hot chocolate, the perfect mix of sweet and bitter and served very hot which meant that I had no choice but to linger for a while to wait for it to cool down enough to sip. I took my drink up to the second floor where they have a sort of roof top café with views over the street where you can watch Seoul walk by. Shiny black cars with tinted windows dropping off businessmen at a nearby restaurant, tourists dressed in traditional outfits. I loved everything about my time in Buckchon Village.
Verdict: If I really did live in this area this would be my daily hot chocolate. Wood and Brick, 5-2 Jae-dong, Seoul, South Korea.
