🇬🇧 London Heathrow → 🇰🇷 Seoul · 2 weeks

Gyeongbokgung Palace at 9 am on a weekday — crowds are thin and the changing of the guard ceremony (10 am and 2 pm) happens right at the main gate. Wear hanbok rented from a stall just outside and you get free entry.

Gwangjang Market's mung-bean pancake (bindaetteok) stalls in the inner hall — order directly from the haenyeo grandmothers at stall no. 9 or 10, eat standing at the counter with makgeolli rice wine, under ₩10,000 total.

N Seoul Tower from Namsan Mountain at sunset — skip the cable car queue and take the free city bus 03 from Chungmuro station, which drops you 10 minutes' walk from the summit. The Han River light show begins just after dark.

Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) after midnight — the building itself is Zaha Hadid's masterpiece, but Friday and Saturday nights the surrounding wholesale fashion market runs until 5 am, selling next season's Korean streetwear direct from the manufacturers.