Gangnam-Seocho, Seoul: neighborhood guide

Gangnam and Seocho are the modern half of Seoul, south of the Han River. Until the 1960s this was farmland; the government then built bridges, expressways, schools and courts here to create a second city centre, and the population and land prices followed. Seocho split off as its own district in 1988.

The area has two faces. Along the Han River, Apgujeong and Cheongdam hold the luxury boutiques, department stores and a calmer nightlife than Hongdae or Sinchon. Inland, Tehran-ro runs as a corridor of glass towers housing tech and corporate headquarters, with COEX and Bongeunsa temple at its east end and Gangnam Station, the busiest subway station in the country, at its west end.

Seocho is the residential and legal half: courts, schools, Samsung offices, and Seorae Village on its far west edge, a low-rise pocket of French expat restaurants and shops. Further south along the Yangjae stream it turns into tower blocks, parks and cram schools.

Choose Gangnam-Seocho if your trip is about modern Seoul: COEX conventions, concerts, department stores, a business address, or a hotel brand you like at a rate the centre cannot match. Subway lines 2, 3, 7 and 9 and the Sinbundang line put most of the city within one or two changes.

Skip it if this is your first visit and your list is palaces, markets and hanok streets. Those sit in Jongno and Jung, across the river, and you will spend roughly 30–40 minutes each way on the subway (check). Also skip it if you want to walk out of your hotel into old Seoul at night.

A middle option: stay in Gangnam-Seocho for the hotel and the quiet, and treat the northern centre as a day plan rather than a doorstep.

Gangnam-Seocho is a business and shopping district, so the food follows the offices and the malls: Korean barbecue, sushi and Japanese restaurants, cafés, bakeries and international chains, much of it inside COEX, department stores and office towers. Prices run higher than in the northern centre.

For cheaper, faster meals, look at the streets and alleys around Gangnam Station and the office blocks of Tehran-ro, where lunch crowds keep small restaurants busy and affordable. Seorae Village in western Seocho is the place for French and European food.

Late night, the bars and clubs cluster around Gangnam Station and Apgujeong; it is a big nightlife zone, but more spread out and more expensive than the student areas north of the river.

From Incheon or Gimpo airport, limousine buses run direct to hotels across Gangnam and Seocho; they are comfortable and drop you near major hotels, though routes and fares change, so check before you fly. By rail, the AREX train reaches Seoul Station, where you change to the subway for the ride south (check the best line and timing for your hotel).

Inside the area, the subway does the work: Gangnam Station (line 2 and Sinbundang), Samseong (line 2) for COEX, and Express Bus Terminal (lines 3, 7 and 9) for the bus terminal and the underground shopping arcade. Distances between blocks are long, so plan on the subway or a taxi rather than walking everything.

To reach the historic centre, ride the subway north across the river; allow roughly 30–40 minutes door to door (check).