Ultimate Seoul travel guide with kids for summer 2024

What to know about visiting Korea with kids in this summer.

One of my best friends from the U.S. is visiting Korea for the first time this summer with her husband and two young kids and I wanted to create a guide for her family to help them get the most out of their two-week stay. Although my friend lived in Korea as a young child and have been back on her own to visit since, she admitted that she’s clueless on how to experience the city with kids. It’s her first time visiting Seoul as a mom, so I promised her that I’d create an extensive guide to help her navigate the chaos that is summer in Korea with kids.

Note: Keep in mind that this guide is tailored to my friends’ interests, her kids’ ages, and even the neighborhood in which she’s staying. But I’m sharing it here because I think bits and pieces of it could be useful for other families with kids.

Remember that timing is everything

What visitors often underestimate about Korea is that about 50% of the country’s population live in the Seoul Capital Area (Seoul, Incheon, and the surrounding Gyeonggi province). And my very scientifically anecdotal guesstimate is that 90% of said population work and play in the same areas, targeting the same hot spots, attractions, and shopping centers around Seoul, so the city is ALWAYS crowded. The dwindling population crisis doesn’t apply to the Seoul area, and plan accordingly, especially if you have children who aren’t good with crowds and queues.

When does summer vacation start in Korea?

Summer vacation for school-aged kids usually lasts about four weeks, starting anywhere between mid-July to late-July. Kids are back in school by late-August or the first week of September. Summer break starts on Friday, July 26 at a school in Dongtan, Hwaseong, one of the cities with the highest population of children in Korea. Summer vacation in rural Gyeongnam where I live begins this year on July 31, and that’s considered pretty late.

This year, the peak peak summer vacation week for all Koreans (including companies that choose to shut down factories and operations) is considered the week of July 29. Prices start falling on the week of August 4. Avoiding hotels, resorts, and activities during those two weeks is going to help you manage your budget and sanity.

What are the best days of the week to visit Seoul?

I wrote a post for my friend’s skincare blog many years ago where I go into detail about this, but here’s the TL;DR version: Wednesdays through Fridays morning are the best time to do sightseeing or visit popular attractions. Mondays and Tuesdays are quieter and slower days too, but a lot of good restaurants, cafes, and museums are closed on Mondays while some restaurants, cafes and most palaces close on Tuesday. When I’m in Seoul, I prefer to beat the crowds and do my outings on the weekends, and save the weekends for spending time with family or friends in private residences.

Public transit: Avoid rush hour 7 to 9 am and 5 to 7 pm, Mondays through Fridays (evening rush hour usually starts earlier on Fridays and days before holidays).

Road traffic: Avoid similar rush hours, but ESPECIALLY Monday morning and Friday afternoon/evening traffic—they’re notorious for being the worst. Rainy and snowy days are also equally brutal. The only vehicles on the road that are able to move with relative ease during these times are public buses which run on dedicated lanes.

Download these apps before arriving in Korea

• A data plan is a must when visiting Korea with kids. Reserve a SIM card or eSim before arrival for pick-up at the airport. If you plan on utilizing a lot of services that require conversation like restaurant and car rental reservations, a SIM card that comes with a local number is beneficial. I normally get my travel SIM cards through Klook for their competitive rates (here’s the one for Korea you can easily pick up from the airport in Incheon or Busan). But if you don’t need unlimited data, and can pick up from Incheon, Woori Mobile offers better rates.
• I cannot stress this enough, but Naver Maps is the way, the truth, the Korean life. It’s the easiest way to find nearby businesses and attractions, navigate around the city, check bus and train time schedules, and more. Naver Map is the no. 1 app I use daily in Korea. I’ll have to dedicate a separate post on this.
• If you haven’t already, download Kakaotalk, the WhatsApp of Korea, which doesn’t require a local number
• Shopping apps that can be used without a local credit card include:
  • Gmarket, serving both domestic and international markets; available in English and popular with overseas buyers. Accepts international credit cards.
  • Coupang, serving just the domestic market on their Korean website, offers same-day shipping (in select cities), fresh groceries, and food deliveries. Accepts international credit cards.
  • If you buy anything online in Korea, remember that shipping anywhere within mainland Korea usually takes one day if you place your order before 1 or 2 pm, almost guaranteed (Koreans will get violent if they have to wait longer than 24 hours for shipping).

Take advantage of all the services designed for families at Incheon International Airport

ICN is super kid-friendly, and you should absolutely take up every perk or benefit for families if you’re arriving or departing from Incheon when traveling to Korea with kids. Services for pregnant women, babies, and children are described on the ICN airport website, and some highlights include:

• Dedicated priority gates for departure
• Free stroller rentals
• Various play areas in front of gates and a kids zone cafe
• Robot porters that carry bags and escort you to your gate (see the video below)
• Free transit tours
• Free shower rooms, relaxation zones, etc.

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Hire a luggage courier (trust me, the Seoul metro system isn’t as accessible as it looks)

I haven’t used this service in Korea as a local, but I always opt to have my luggage delivered to my hotel or to the airport through courier services whenever I’m traveling. The Seoul metro is wonderfully connected, but it’s not always accessibility-friendly and some older stations are MASSIVE and require lots of stairs and lugging around to make transfers or walk to an exit. Trust me, that’s the last thing you want to be doing when you’re also trying to wrangle kids. To free up your time/hands on traveling days, use a courier service like T Luggage to send your luggage to your hotel (or vice versa) same-day. T Lugagge is conveniently located inside major transit hubs like Seoul Station and Suseo Station (serving KTX and SRT high speed rails, respectively). Here’s a guide on how it works.

Stay at Grand Hyatt Incheon if flying in and out of Incheon International Airport at odd hours

Most tourists visiting Seoul with kids fly in and out of Incheon International Airport, which is surrounded by a handful international hotel chains. Among them is the massive Grand Hyatt Incheon, which is the cheapest Hyatt property in South Korea and is popular among business travelers and convention attendees. But smart (read: cheap) families frequent GH Incheon for another reason: its proximity to Paradise City Resort. Paradise City is a destination staycation hotel popular among locals, but it’s also quite pricey, especially on weekends and holidays. One way to enjoy all of Paradise City Resort’s offerings while saving a couple hundred bucks is staying across the street at Grand Hyatt and walking over to enjoy the spa and entertainment facilities (at a cost, of course). Good to know: On the rare occasion that the cash rates at the hotel are unreasonable (this can happen if your stay overlaps with a major conference), you can use Chase Ultimate Rewards points to book. Grand Hyatt Incheon also offers a daily shuttle service to and from ICN from 5:30 AM to 10:00 PM.

Hit up Paradise City for indoor activities to kill time between flights

If you’ve struggled with red eyes and long layovers before kids, imagine how much more fun it will be with little ones in tow! Many families find themselves flying in and out of ICN at odd times of the day, and while the airport offers transit tours and rest areas and amenities, there are other options around the airport. Speaking of Paradise properties, their Haeundae beachfront Paradise Hotel Busan is also wildly popular with families if you get a chance to head south. As an added bonus, Park Seo Jun is plastered everywhere you look as the spokesperson for Paradise City.

• CIMER spa (for families with elementary-aged kids or older)
  CIMER is a popular luxury spa located inside Paradise City Resort. You do not need to be a guest at the hotel to use the facilities, as the admission is quite steep (book via Naver for a modest discount). The fine print in the English website is misleading, but their policy is that your child must be at least 7 years old (Korean grade 1 or higher) to even enter the facilities, and they may ask for supporting documents.
• Wonderbox (for all ages)
  An indoor carnivalesque mini amusement park of sorts, Wonderbox is a popular destination for young families regardless of air travel. Visit on weekdays when it opens at 11 A.M. or before it closes at 7 P.M. to beat the crowds. Caveat: Pricey tickets; 28,000 KRW for adults and 23,000 for kids, but you can get a small discount if you book via Naver Reservations.

Where to get family portraits taken near Seoul

There are things that women always get done Korea (perms) and there are things that old people always get done in Korea (teeth). And the thing that families get done in Korea are portraits. And what better place to get portraits done with rowdy uncooperative kids than the land of Photoshop? Thankfully, this is Korea, where high quality and great value go hand in hand. One photographer I recommend to everyone who is near Suwon/Hwaseong in Gyeonggi-do is 사진관 숨. We’ve hired her for in-studio family portraits as well as on-site photo shoots for first birthday dol party. Her studio rates start at 70,000 KRW for a simple 20-minute weekday session and on-site (스냅) services start at 250,000 KRW for 90 minutes (this rate is limited to Suwon/Hwaseong; most families opt to get their portraits done at the historic UNESCO site, Suwon Hwaseong Fortress.

Where to get a break when you’re sightseeing with kids

Whenever we’re out, especially in hot weather, we try to disperse some indoor play, shopping, coffee and general down time throughout the day to keep the kids (and ourselves) from getting overheated and overwhelmed. Luckily for visitors with small humans, indoor leisure is a highly developed aspect of Korean life.

But staying cool and resting doesn’t necessarily have to be at a pricey kids cafe or soulless commercial center. Most government-sponsored museums in Korea, especially smaller ones in bigger palace or complex grounds, are free. Not only are they free, they’re air-conditioned, offer drinking fountains, and have rest areas, reading corners, and nursing rooms (note: nursing rooms (수유실) are usually resting rooms for moms with babies with a diaper changing station. You won’t find diaper changing stations in most public bathrooms, because they’re installed in nursing rooms instead.)

1. Hottracks, in the basement level of Kyobo Books, is where I prefer to kill time whenever I’m in the Gwanghwamun or Gangnam area. It has a dazzling array of cute stationery, pens, stickers, and other knickknacks to peruse in between appointments and arrangements.
2. Indoor public squares are everywhere in a lot of touristy areas near the palaces and historic sites. For example, if you’re near Gwanghwamun, the ground floor of Sejong Arts Center hosts Sejong Story, an exhibition hall connected to other cafes, restaurants, and public sitting and reading areas with books and magazines. Across the street is National Museum of Korean Contemporary History (대한민국역사박물관), which has a rest area, a children’s museum section, and even baby cribs in the nursing room—all on the first floor.
3. When you’re visiting Gyeongbokgung (or anywhere near Gyeongbokgung Palace), take a breather and bathroom break within the National Palace Museum of Korea.

Tip: You know that a museum if cheap or free if it has the official government TLD. So when in doubt, head to attractions with the go.kr in its URL. Any museum with a co.kr or .com is probably for profit and not that well maintained, unless it’s conglomerate-owned. Anything ending in or.kr is often a nonprofit, so they’re sometimes cheaper.

Discover free things to do in Seoul at night with Seoul Open Night (서울문화의밤)

While night-time activities aren’t always suitable for families with young kids, Friday evenings hosted by Seoul Open Night is an opportunity to squeeze in a date night or tire out jet-lagged kids. On Fridays from April through December 2024, you get free admission to nine Seoul museums and historic sites until 9 pm. There are additional events, programs, and theater discounts happening in conjunction with each edition of Seoul Open Night, with the latest news on the Seoul City blog. Over the summer weeks, there’s always something fun and free happening in the city, so it’s worthwhile checking out the Seoul City Culture portal or following them on Instagram.

How to get discounts at Lotte World

This in-and-outdoor amusement park is always a hit with kids and adults looking for a respite from the sun. Nobody in Korea actually pays full price for amusement park tickets, and you should try your best to get a discount too. Every once in a while, theme parks will offer a special foreigner sale, but that’s not available year-round. Generally the English website is sparse when it comes to discount information, so use a translation app or plug-in to check the Lotte World Korean website’s Monthly Benefits (이달의 혜택) page on the month you plan to go and translate it into English. Most discounts come in the form of partner credit card, telecom, and even special discounts offered to residents of sister cities or students (elementary to college). Most discounts apply to up to four tickets, so it’s useful if you have friends or relatives that are privy to such discounts accompanying you to the ticket office. So if you have relatives awho happen to be residents of Hwaseong (Gyeonggi), Suncheon (Jeonnam) or other sister cities, they can get up to four tickets at a 40% discount (this may or may not be a valid promotion at the time of your visit).

The rest of this guide is specifically tailored to where my friend is visiting during her stay:

Watch family-friendly musicals and shows

I love reading books with my kids before watching a stage or movie adaptation, and you’ll find that many beloved children’s books in Korea have been made into musicals, including:

• The Bath Fairy (장수탕 선녀님) and Magic Candies (알사탕) are some of the most popular kid musicals based on bestselling Baek Hee-na picture books. Her musicals are usually playing at a dedicated theater near Seoul Forest, with The Bath Fairy running through the end of this year (speaking of 장수탕 선녀님, here’s a related post on how we enforce bilingualism with books, theater, and movies).
• Watermelon Swimming Pool (수박수영장) is running at the theater at the massive and free National Museum of Korea (be sure to make an advance online reservation for the onsite Children’s Museum).
• Note: Interpark is where I buy all my tickets, but unfortunately the Korean site requires a Korean credit card. The global site, which accepts foreign credit cards, only has select shows available for purchase. Again, this is where Korean relatives/friends come in very handy.

What to do and eat with kids in Seoul

What to do near Insadong

• Ssamzigil (쌈지길): Multicultural complex with boutique shopping, snacks, and activities. While touristy, my kids like going to places like this where they can see and buy cute trinkets and bite-sized snacks.
• Anyoung Insadong (안녕인사동): Another (newer) shopping and cultural complex in Insadong with the regular eats and shops.

What to do near Pangyo

• B1 food court level of Hyundai Department Store, Pangyo Branch (if you want to sit down at one of their many restaurants during peak dining hours, you’ll likely need to download The Hyundai app for reservations and waitlisting.)
• Hyundai Museum of Kids’ Books & Art (현대어린이책미술관)
• Children’s Experience @ Korea Job World (한국잡월드 어린이체험관). It’s smaller and cheaper than Kidzania, and offers experiences not necessarily sponsored by corporations, like how to put on a magic show (our kids’s favorite session).

What to eat in the Seongsu/Seoul Forest area

• 제제 Popular dim sum—line up early before it opens
• 라지라프 – Western bistro specializing in sandwiches (for when the kids get tired of Korean food)
• 호미담 – Korean gastropub, but opens for lunch so go once with the kids and return without them at night for drinks
• 난포 for Korean fare
• 소녀방앗간 – Simple and healthy Korean namul and bibimbap
• dooop – a “no kids zone” offering brunch, Italian, and natural wine for when you need time away from the noise