Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
live close to their offices in the Jung-gu and Gangnam business districts. Mapo-gu is pop-
ular with young singles due to its large numbers of students, who have lent the district a
rollicking nightlife and bohemian flair.
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These districts north of the Han River and Namsan formed Seoul's original downtown and
are still home to a large number of embassies and office complexes, as well as major cul-
tural and tourist draws like Changdeokgung Palace and Insa-dong, an arty street lined with
craft shops and traditional teahouses. While it has a few sedate pockets, by and large this is
a bustling built-up area, crammed with towering buildings, neon signs, and round-the-clock
traffic snarls.
Jung-gu and Jongno-gu are well connected to the rest of the city, with the downtown
core served by no fewer than four subway lines, but the range of shopping and dining op-
tions available in buzzing neighborhoods like Jonggak and Myeong-dong mean there's little
call to leave. Many expatriates live here because they work in the city center and prefer not
to commute, or because they like the feeling of being in the middle of it all. But the area's
crowds and relative lack of green space make it a tougher sell for large families or those in
search of the quiet life.
Most of the accommodations here cater to executives and are in large apartment blocks.
There are a number of serviced residences, including the Fraser Suites in Insa-dong and
the Vabien complexes near Seodaemun subway station, that cater to executives with fully
furnished apartments and suites and facilities like in-house restaurants and fitness centers.
While these are well-appointed and centrally located, they don't come cheap, with rates for
one-bedroom 80-square-meter units starting at around 3 million won per month and rising
to over three times that for more spacious three- or four-bedroom units.
A slightly more cost-effective option are the district's many “officetels,” a term for
buildings usually strategically located in central areas that combine a few low floors of re-
tail or office space with apartment units farther up. Designed for young working profession-
als, officetels are usually new and clean, but also tend to be spartan and somewhat cramped
due to their high-density layout, resulting in some fairly reasonable prices. Large officetels
like the We've Pavilion, just east of the Sejong-daero thoroughfare and about equidistant
from three subway lines, and Brownstone, west of City Hall near the Chungjeongno subway
station, have studio to three-bedroom apartments ranging from around 80 to 150 square
meters that start at about 1 million won per month with a 10 million won deposit; they cost
from around 450 million won to buy outright.
