Gay Seoul, South Korea | The Fundamental LGBT Travel Guide!

Gay Seoul is just one of the world’s a lot of underestimated vacation spots, overlooked continually for its much more popular East Asian next-door neighbors. Better known for Samsung and governmental tensions with North Korea, there is certainly a thriving queer world here hidden right in plain look – you simply need to understand where to search!

Hectic and utterly obsessed with manner and technologies, the vibrant city of Seoul is also greatly conventional, with peaceful palaces, temples and hill tracks. Skyscrapers overshadow stylish hanbok (old-fashioned wood domiciles), eco-friendly areas and period tracks soften professional tough edges, and K-Pop may be heard blaring on nearly every street spot.

Seoulites have a great deal to end up being happy with within their 24/7 urban area – where you could get what you may want, anytime – in addition to their gay world here’s not an exception. We want the community at-large is much more recognizing…

South Korea in general provides a far less accepting look at its LGBTQ neighborhood than most of the rest of Asia – and even though the strength of conservatives and Christian fundamentalists wanes gradually, things are however perhaps not where they should be.

LGBT acceptance has actually, but rapidly expanded before ten years, particularly in the younger years,  compliment of worldwide impacts, a lot more queer events, and a louder presence regarding the neighborhood LGBT neighborhood, such as –rather notoriously – celeb
Hong Seok-cheon
, coming-out publicly.

Lots of in Korea believe they usually have never fulfilled a homosexual individual, plus its an interest infrequently discussed, with political functions keeping away from conversation of LGBT legal rights and many people burying their unique heads into the sand.

As a customer, you may be extremely extremely unlikely to see any outright discrimination but take note, numerous queer locals lead two fold lives and succumb on intimidating social stress to maintain their sexuality exclusive.

Southern Korea is without a doubt one of the most traditional countries in Asia, but actually here, it is officially illegal become discriminated against based on intimate positioning. Nonetheless, lots of people in the LGBT community however face issues at home and work, which means Gay Korea has a long way to go still to capture with its a lot more modern neighbors – Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and progressively Vietnam.

The gay world in Seoul, however, is continuing to grow yearly and also a good amount of fabulous queer fun to offer. International party kids selecting mixed foreign/local fun should check out the popular Homo Hill in Itaewon, long related to homosexual lifestyle, but natives are more likely to constant the main region of Jongno.

Similar to skyscrapers, the bustle of Insadong and road barbecues, discover actually a hidden-in-plain-sight gay world right here with bars, karaoke bones, homosexual hot rooms and cafes than we’re able to rely.

Not many tourists actually enterprise to Gay Jongno but determine if you do that when you look at the bars and groups, you may always be welcomed with a grin. Sadly, exactly the same can not be said for Seoul’s homosexual hot rooms and cruise groups scene, which earnestly discriminate against and club anybody who is actually non-Korean – regardless of what acquainted customs or the language you might be.

We hope this alterations in the near future and have some pointers that might help, but in this respect, the homosexual world in Seoul still definitely has many developing around do.

Nonetheless, with well over 10 million people, Seoul is amongst the biggest towns in the world features some thing for almost all people. Food, style, culture, history and crazy nightlife – this sprawling metropolis provides all of it!

Attractions in Seoul

Obviously, getting homosexual will not establish which destinations many of us would want to see in each area, and a lot of queer tourists only will wish to investigate leading things to see in Seoul throughout the day!

You will find so much to complete here – but we found the most popular thoughts had been roaming through getting missing on back-streets, visiting all of the strange cafes, hitting-up Lotte globe and roaming through design studios!

One of the best recommendations we can provide you with for discovering Gay Seoul is always to pre-order a travel SIM card for easy airport collection and activation as soon as you appear so that you won’t shell out tons of money in worldwide roaming costs.

Get restaurants suggestion and reservations on travel, trains and buses guidelines up-to-the-minute, club beginning several hours, and, if it is the thing – access to gay hook-up software to find out more in regards to the local world.

Cellular phone data is fast, cheap and available just about everywhere in Asia, it is therefore no surprise a lot of travelers choose to remain connected and obtain off the beaten track (without actually fretting about obtaining lost). Why wait?
Pre-order the greatest local SIM card now to possess it available whenever you arrive.

However – it helps for some concept of what is going on, very here you will find the most readily useful things to do in Seoul, in accordance with you!

Things To Do  in Seoul

Traditional Korean Bathhouse

Maybe not to the gay sauna? Uncover an original and family-friendly area of the Korean society in a beautifully adorned and old-fashioned Korean-style bathhouse. Unwind from a tense day of sightseeing – or night or partying – in a traditional oak wood sauna, and revel in the means to access all saunas and steam rooms which include various sodium and nutrients treatment options for the epidermis.

For more luxury, why-not treat yourself to a massage, facials or human body scrubs? Although the bathhouse is open 24/7, make sure to reserve in advance any unique treatments in order to avoid really missing out.

Cheonggyecheon

A landmark of brand new urban recovery and ecological restoration, this playground area has a revived / ‘day-lighted’ flow with paths, bridges & greenery.

Myeong-dong

A diverse shopping & casual worldwide food location, the active Myeong-dong is packed with international manner brands, luxury stores, and homegrown makeup shops.

Janet’s Cooking Studio

Take home more than simply images because of this fabulously unique market trip and standard Korean cooking class with Janet, a Korean cook trained in New York City.

This experience just isn’t about just ticking off vacationer must-dos, but instead examines the actual Korea through Janet’s breathtaking food fixation – which stands out through whether she’s launching that vendors in just one of Seoul’s couple of staying regional street areas or smiling brightly while exposing for your requirements how to create the right Bulgogi Lettuce Wrap back her expert cooking area.

Janet has actually actually worked with the UN to promote Korean as well as culture – so that you simply understand the woman is the real deal! You’ll leave Seoul with the ability to determine strange elements in a Korean industry and to whip-up some delicious standard meals – all the while studying the unique history of Korea and appreciating Janet’s comfortable individuality.

A kind and enjoying soul who is certainly excited about just what she really does, we simply cannot recommend Janet’s preparing Studio very sufficient.

Fireman Program

A remarkable display of acrobatics & dance, this much-acclaimed tv series utilizes an assortment of overall performance designs to express the stresses of being a fireman. Weird, we all know, but you will understand why when you are indeed there.

Monitor amazing acrobatic lifts and flips, and understand the necessity of fire security and consciousness – being a non-verbal tv show, it’s well-suited for all vocabulary speakers. Have the affirmative energy produced by the melodramatic yet funny entertainers that portray lively figures.

Bukchon Hanok Village

A beautiful heritage community with a satisfied 600-year background dating back to for the 14th century. Fill your digital camera with selfies featuring narrow roads layered with restored standard domiciles.

Admiration Museum

a wacky museum of interactive sensual art, that is Seoul’s first and therefore far merely museum for grownups – but we’re positive others are excitedly getting prepared. Enjoy physical tales of love and desire unfold right before your own eyes, get to be able to attempt the hand at pole dancing – when you haven’t currently – and find out different minutes of newlyweds’ life through entertaining artworks.

Discover six-themed galleries, each with a unique interest for you yourself to find – and rely on all of us, gay, right, or unicorn …You won’t ever have seen anything such as this before!

Lotte Community

No day at Seoul might be full without a visit to Korea’s leading theme park, Lotte business! Lotte industry passes tend to be interestingly marked down just for international site visitors, so you shouldn’t miss the possiblity to visit this fun two-part motif park with outside adventure flights and a ‘Magic Island’ palace location.

Throughout the colder months, get a jacket or enjoy the adrenaline-charged indoor destinations within the ‘Adventure’ region, plus attend the various parades and programs. If you would like carry out more, discover a Lotte community + Aquarium combination admission to also incorporates a call to everyone’s largest sea ecology container within Lotte community Aquarium, exhibiting over 650 marine types across 13 distinct zones.

Jongmyo

A UNESCO business history web site and shrine to Joseon dynasty kings & queens. Ritual ceremonies still occur at the Confucian shrine aimed at Joseon dynasty royals. Now Jongmyo is the perfect escape from the urban busyness and an intriguing considering Old Seoul.

Café Onion

Serving post-industrial decay realness, this Uber-hip design cafe in Seongdong-gu is largely how exactly we would picture Chornobyl are if Brooklyn hipsters moved in. Serving cool baked productions and niche coffee mixes, this place is really worth the trip off to find out – if only to realize all your monochromatic Instagram goals.

Additionally they are in possession of an even more conveniently labeled as Café Onion Anguk in Jongno-gu, except in a transformed traditional building/temple, and is equally remarkable.

Seoul’s Palaces, Temples & Markets

Spend daily sightseeing and ticking off Seoul’s most well known sites. The chairman’s pad, Blue home (or Cheongwadae), the switching regarding the protections from the magnificent Gyeongbokgung residence and Changdeok residence and stopping by the National Folk Museum to learn more about Korea’s wealthy history from dynasties as much as the present-day.

In addition not to ever end up being missed may be the calming Jogyesa Buddhist Temple and bargain-hunting within famous Namdaemun industries.

Korea Rail Pass (KR PASS

)

Take a look at South Korea beyond Seoul by traveling on over 80 roads and to over 600 programs with all the Korea Rail Pass. Get endless flights on most Korail trains for 3 or 5 successive times or any flexible 2 and 4 days using this discount that is limited for overseas nationals.

Meerkat & Friends

An oh-so-Seoul ‘cafe’ which acts no food and just bottled beverages buts lets you get fully up close and personal with semi-tame meerkats, raccoons, wallabies, kitties, foxes plus. With areas in Hongdae and Myeongdong, its touristy and odd, and that’s why we are preoccupied!

Discover Seoul Pass

Get easy access to a mixture of 35 top Seoul attractions together with the Discover Seoul Pass. Select from 24/48/72 hrs go to take pleasure in discounts and freely modify your Seoul trip using this versatile entrance citation and transportation card from Seoul Tourism business, specifically offered to foreign tourists.

ZenKimchi Korean Food Tours

If you’re like you and making plans for your trip to Korea your food alone, then you’ll definitely like to steer clear of the touristy places/ terrible eating encounters and decide for a completely immersive knowledge to help make the almost all of Seoul’s food world.

Luckily, Joe, that has been running
Korea’s longest-running meals weblog, ZenKimchi,
for over 15 years, has generated a distinctively crafted concert tour to help tourists experience with korean eating. Becoming clear, by this, we imply he gets no kickbacks from restaurants and guides you because he’s genuinely fanatical regarding the fare they provide, unlike less scrupulous operators…

We plumped for their Korean barbeque concert tour and had a memorable night discovering Korean eating etiquette, savoring the best charcoal grilled chicken of our existence, appreciating fulfilling talks with different people from all over the world – and having just a little tipsy over a Korean alcoholic beverages concept in a secret club!

It is also excellent for some pre-drinking before heading out to Homo Hill, or for solamente people who might usually find it hard to discover Korean BBQ such as this.

There can be an array of trips on offer, but each is run by enthusiastic experts who have your needs in mind. Therefore, if you wish to get-out truth be told there and determine Seoul as a regional – while having a ridiculous number of enjoyable, ZenKimchi Korean Food Tours features some thing for you personally.

Gay Annual Events In Seoul

Korea Queer Film Festival (KQFF)

An annual event in July devoted specifically to assessment homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer flicks. KQFF has-been held yearly since 2001 with all the stated goal of promoting range in Korean culture while improving LGBT human liberties and acceptance.

Probably the most critical Asian message boards of worldwide LGBT film/video, of course the times correspond if ways to enjoy an even more sophisticated degree of homosexual existence in Seoul.

I AM Seoul

Korea’s biggest routine celebration brand, I WILL BE established in 2015 and has quickly become one of the most well-known routine activities across Asia. Now, I WILL BE will continue to encourage hundreds of homosexual people from across Asia and the world to Gay Seoul.

I’M claims 3 days of dance club functions, swimming pool parties and after-parties filled with music plus the hottest guys. You may expect an unforgettable experience with a killer DJ line-up from all over the planet and very go-go young men on-stage. Typically presented in August, IM is actually entirely really worth planning a visit around.

Korea Queer Festival Celebration | Pride Parade

Korea’s biggest LGBT event, this annual contemporary Korean festival, whose motif is actually LGBT liberties, has many shows, including a pride procession, movie festival events, art, discussions and nightclub celebration activities.

The festival lasts for per week or two and in most cases happen in late will to early June. The parade that was prohibited in 2015 attracted worldwide focus on case, with most from it becoming crucial of development made concerning LGBT liberties in South Korea.

Again taking place, there is today some assistance from more compact Korean political events and famous people, but major functions as well as the government most importantly take a natural posture. Unlike numerous
some other Pride celebrations around the world
, the Seoul Pride Prade actively limits the capability of attendees to simply take pictures or videos and asks photo-takers to blur players’ faces before posting images using the internet.

This is done to reduce the chance of unintentional outings of players exactly who nonetheless face significant discrimination in Korean culture. Even though the organizers have actually large plans to develop the big event into the most significant in Asia, Seoul’s Queer heritage Festival demonstrates in many ways, Southern Korea is within the Stone era.

120,000 LGBT folks honestly took part in 2018 – the greatest actually ever – but 200,000 signatures happened to be additionally collected to quit the Parade, and a large number of anti-LGBT protestors turned out.

Nonetheless, it is amazing to see NGOs and brands acquiring aboard while the occasion grows. In a nation where modesty around outsiders is paramount and intimate inclination is certainly not something you should end up being flaunted, we are able to just expect improved visibility someday assists brand-new years of Southern Koreans feel safe adequate to end up being just who they truly are.

Gay-Friendly and Gay Hotels in Seoul

Although Korea and Seoul could be less politically progressive and gay-friendly than, state,
Bangkok
,
Tokyo
or
Taipei
, it’s still safe to assume queer tourists have no issues examining virtually any lodge in Seoul. Unfortunately, but there are not any specifically gay resort hotels in Seoul to test into.

Seoul is an international mega-city with a lack of room, so room sizes are smaller than almost everywhere otherwise on earth – but as numerous gay guys learn, it isn’t really all about dimensions, but how make use of it! We have been writing about concept, efficiency and opinions, darling!

With that said, every person wants to be surrounded by people who have typical passions, and as such, there are many well-known gay-friendly resorts in Seoul that are hot places for homosexual people to remain – either because of their place or their particular concept and comprehensive vibes.

Hotels near Homo Hill, the foreigner-friendly queer enclave in Itaewon, are really favored by gay tourists – specifically tourists which only talk English but Jongno inside Nagwon-dong neighbor hood, is clearly the gayest section of Seoul, though very popular with locals than website visitors.

You might also start thinking about staying in the tourist-popular Myeongdong / Seoul main, often considered to be one’s heart of Seoul or even in the world-famous Gangnam area, a.k.a the ‘Beverly Hills of Seoul.’

Listed here motels in Gay Seoul have the ability to had a glowing recommendation from homosexual tourists before, but of course,
discover countless various other accommodations in Seoul
if they are not exactly what you are actually looking.

Whether you desire an enjoyable and social hostel, an inexpensive destination to freeze after every night of partying or an ultra-chic fashion designer solution to drink cocktails and encircle your self with fabulous men and women  – Gay Seoul has some thing for everyone!

Gay-friendly Hotels in Itaewon

Hamilton Hotel â˜†â˜†â˜†â˜†

A landmark in Seoul’s Itaewon, this comfortable resort in a small redbrick building is only one minute’s walk from the train section with unfussy spaces, free of charge Wi-Fi and beneficial team.

You rarely should leave with eight different dinner possibilities, including a shiny Italian bistro, 2 LGBT-friendly nightclubs, an outside roof share – popular with peacocking muscle tissue gays-, a 24-hour sauna, a health club, and even a small mall.

Not too long ago refurbished from top-to-bottom whilst still being merely a quick hit from Homo Hill, HOMPA by Le Queen and Club HIM.

IP Boutique Hotel â˜†â˜†â˜†â˜†

Situated in Seoul’s cosmopolitan purchasing and activity section, Itaewon, internet protocol address Boutique resort, presents another way of life knowledge for gay friends. Featuring exceptional design and magnificent ambiance, the resort supplies 133 guestrooms, a café cafe, and unlimited usage of their well equipped fitness area.

Exceptional price, internet protocol address Boutique resort is just a short walk toward Always Homme gay bar and Club HIM by Pulse, contributing to the gay appeal.

Resort ITW â˜†â˜†â˜†

(Temporarily or once and for all closed. Knowing some thing, kindly advise an edit.)

A clean, modern-day, attractive lodge in Itaewon with costs of the same quality or a lot better than almost every other spots in Seoul. We loved it was within convenient walking range in the gay restaurants, pubs, and retailers that make Itaewon these a pulsating and attractive element of Seoul. Resort ITAW is, but up a steep hill and located on a narrow one-way road basically challenging after every night of sipping.

Sp@Itaewon Guesthouse â˜†â˜†â˜†

(Temporarily or once and for all shut. If you know anything, please recommend an edit.)

The right hangout for social tourist with exclusive spaces, inexpensive dorms, and standard BBQ