Seoul 2019: Hongdae at night

My flight from Sapporo landed at Incheon International Airport late in the day and by the time I finally arrived in Seoul it was already after dark. For my five nights in Seoul I’d be staying in the Hongdae neighborhood, which is in the western part of the city on the north side of the Han River. If you look at a map of Seoul you’d find Hongdae right around the area of the Hongik University metro station.

Hongdae feels kind of like a college town and is home to a lot of students and artists. Since I had arrived late on a Saturday my first experience in Hongdae was walking around a long road near my hostel that had been converted to a pedestrian zone for the night. It felt like the entire neighborhood was out on the town and dozens of local artists and vendors had set up stands along the street. There’s a strong, youthful vibe to Hongdae and while I didn’t do much sightseeing in this part of the city I really liked it as a place to live while I was in Seoul.

While walking around Hongdae I also came across a few groups of aspiring K-pop dancers. Apparently on Friday and Saturday nights you can find these guys and girls putting on small performances in the street where they show off their latest moves. I’m not a big K-pop fan (not because I dislike it—I’m just not overly familiar with K-pop) but it was still fun to watch the shows these groups would put on.