Navigating the Myeongdong Night Market

The Myeongdong night markets are the center of the tourist district in Seoul. The market consists of two parts, there are buildings with permanent shops and restaurants open day and night, and dismountable stalls full of snacks and knick-knacks that come to life around 3-4pm. This is a highlight for tourists in Seoul. For good reason, it is fun, cheap, and you can wonder around at your own pace.

Our Experience

The permanent shops around the market are mainly cafes, beauty stores, small cheap restaurants, bars, optometrists, and clothing stores. The clothing stores are a mix of Korean and International brands. The beauty shops ranged from international brands like Laneige, to discount pharmacies where the shop assistants were very pushy. There are also a range of Korean massage parlors and hairdressers there specializing in Scalp Treatments. The restraunts are a highlight! We ate twice at a hot-pot train while we were there, because it was so fun we had to go back again.

The actual night market was super touristy and the most exciting place to explore if you are feeling peckish. There are little stalls where you can purchase goods such as the usual knock off bags or phone cases. The food was the dominant stall around, and everyone knew it because it was a little crowded. Some of the gastronomic highlights were: meat skewers, fried cheese, fried squid tentacles, candied fruit, and bags of orange juice.

Our hotel L’escape was on the doorstep of the market, making it convenient if we wanted to explore somewhere local. Upon our arrival, we immediately dropped our bags and headed into the market. Not to browse because we had a mission. Being November, these two Queenslanders were not equipped for just how cold it was, and it wasn’t even the coldest time of year there! We wanted to find proper gloves/scarves to warm us up for all our adventures we were about to go on. After a quick coffee break, we found a scarf stall right away, and I (Mikayla) bought the most beautiful scarf I own for ₩10,000 ($11.13AUD).

Tips to Consider

A few things to consider before you go there. The alleys in-between the shops and stalls within the night market can be confusing to navigate. Just remember that there are main roads enclosing it, and if you walk in one direction you will eventually come to one of these roads. Always use maps when lost in a city.

You may barter to an extent while shopping at the market stalls, although its not as ‘expected’ as what it is in places like Bali and Phuket. For instance we bought two hats as gifts and asked if they could round the price down. This is not really a practice in the permenant shops though.

There are no bins, so disposing rubbish after snacking is a mission. You can either take it with you, or ask one of the stalls if you can use their bin. There are also no obvious public toilets, we highly recommend going into the high-end Lotte department store which is across the road from the market, and using their toilets.

 This is by far one of the best activities to do in Seoul. So much so that booking a hotel within walking distance is a must! It really adds to the Seoul experience being able to step outside where there are a plethora of cafes, bars, and restaurants which seem to be open all the time.

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