Myeongdong

Myeongdong is what most first-time visitors mean when they say "Seoul." It's the historical commercial heart of the city. Department stores, embassies, banks, the central post office, the cathedral, the National Theater — they're all clustered here. The streets are pedestrianized at the core, the lights stay on late, and on weekends the main strip is genuinely impossible to walk through, packed with both Korean shoppers and a serious tourist population (mostly Japanese, Chinese, and Southeast Asian). The food carts that run the main strip after 6pm are an institution. So is the noise. For mid-stay foreign guests, Myeongdong is a specific choice. The trade-offs are real. It is the loudest residential area in this guide. It has more tourists than locals on most days. It will not feel like everyday Seoul. The buildings are older. The apartments are smaller for what you pay. What you get in return: walkability that no other Seoul neighborhood matches. From Myeongdong, you can walk to Gyeongbokgung Palace in twenty-five minutes, the Cheonggyecheon stream in five, Namsan Tower trail in ten, Insadong (the traditional craft district) in fifteen, Dongdaemun (fashion + 24-hour market) in twenty, and Seoul Station (Korea's main transit hub, with the airport train) in fifteen. You're also close to Severance Hospital, Samsung Medical's downtown clinic, and several major international medical centers — Myeongdong's English-speaking medical infrastructure is among the best in Seoul. For a foreign business traveler doing meetings across central Seoul, for medical visitors, for someone who wants to walk everywhere instead of taking the subway, or for anyone here a short stay (two to three weeks) who wants to be at the geographic and historical center — Myeongdong works. For someone here to live, three months in a quieter neighborhood will probably feel better.