Mangwon

Mangwon is the answer to the question: "where do people who can't afford Hongdae actually live?" Twenty years ago, this was a working-class Mapo neighborhood with a traditional market, low buildings, and almost no foreigners. About ten years ago, the overflow from Hongdae and Yeonnam started arriving — younger residents priced out, small business owners looking for space, the first wave of cafés that took the area seriously. They named the main strip "Mangri-dan-gil" — a play on Gyeongnidan-gil — and the rest followed. What makes Mangwon work for a mid-stay guest is the proportion of normal life to scene. Mangwon Market still operates as a real market — five thousand won fruit, fish that arrived this morning, side dishes by the gram, ajumma who will tell you what to do with what you bought. The cafés are interesting without being competitive. There are bookstores. There is a Korean working-class population that hasn't been displaced. The Han River park is a ten-minute walk south, and the cycling path that runs through it goes east to Yeouido and west toward the airport — perfect for anyone who runs or bikes. For someone staying a month or two, Mangwon is calmer than Hongdae but not far from it (fifteen minutes by bus or one stop on the subway). It's farther from Gangnam — about forty-five minutes — so this is not the neighborhood for someone working in Gangnam every day. But for students at Yonsei, Sogang, or Hongik, for remote workers, for families wanting a real-feeling neighborhood, Mangwon is one of the best deals in Seoul. The rent reflects what the neighborhood used to be, not what it's becoming.