South Korea Seoul family trip (ovo-lacto vegetarian)
Michi
3 days ago
Oct 2024, 5 days 4 nights
Our family is lacto-ovo vegetarian, so if you’re interested, take a look at what we ate in Seoul!
Did we plan any itinerary before leaving? Nope! We just figured we’d casually wander around downtown. And the result was ➡️
✅ Bedding, bought
✅ NANTA show, watched
✅ jjimjilbang, sweated it out
✅ hanbok, wore it
✅ Instagram-famous cafe, tried it
✅ Shake Shack, ate it
✅ Uber, rode it
✅ Yakult ajumma, chased her down
✅ Olive Young, browsed
✅ Myeongdong, Hongdae, Dongdaemun, went
🏨 Accommodation
Our family stayed with two elders in a family room at Hotel U5 in Dongdaemun. If you’re worried about older family members, this kind of room is a great option, the space is separated with a half wall. At the very back there’s one double bed, and on the other side of the wall there are three single beds. There are two bathrooms, and the dining table is also really big. We were super comfortable. By the way, there’s also a Wowpass machine on the first floor of the hotel, so convenient!
🚌 Transportation tips:
Public transit near the hotel is very convenient, but the Seoul subway isn’t very senior-friendly, many places lack elevators or escalators. So aside from a few “for the experience” rides, we mostly just called taxis. If you take the bus, since the stop names and announcements are all in Korean, I recommend keeping your eyes on your map app and confirming your location so you don’t miss your stop.
👗 Wearing hanbok at Gyeongbokgung Palace, plus a veggie food stroll
We chose YES Hanbok right outside Gyeongbokgung Palace for our hanbok experience, we booked online in advance. The shop had Chinese-speaking staff, they were incredibly friendly and patient, and even thoughtfully tried to help us pick matching-color hanbok for Grandpa and Grandma. Although Grandma got a little “uncontrollable” in the end, so the matching plan didn’t work out. The staff were amazingly fast and skilled at doing hair, and even with a huge line, we didn’t have to wait long.
After leaving the shop, it was just a few minutes’ walk to Gyeongbokgung Palace. Entry is free if you’re wearing hanbok, which is kind of like an alternative “fast pass”, because the ticket line on site was seriously packed. The palace grounds are spacious and very camera-friendly. We also got lucky and caught a palace performance that day, it really felt like time-traveling and being immersed in the scene.
🥬 Vegan Insa: After finishing our hanbok experience and changing back into our clothes, we went to this nearby vegetarian restaurant. The food was delicious, highly recommended! That said, there aren’t many seats inside, and it gets more and more crowded as time goes on, so try to go early.
☕️ Cafe Highwaist Ikseon: After that, we went to this Instagram-famous cafe in Ikseon-dong. The interior is beautifully done, and the cakes are not only gorgeous, they taste surprisingly amazing too.
🍕 Full record of our lacto-ovo vegetarian food map
Gwangjang Market veggie gimbap and bibim noodles: It’s about a 10-minute walk from the hotel to Gwangjang Market, and there’s a stall here with really tasty vegetarian gimbap! At the time, the owner at another stall was super friendly when inviting customers over, and even customized a vegetarian bibim noodles dish for us. Even though his attitude got a bit worse later on, I have to say, that customized bowl of bibim noodles was seriously, seriously delicious!
• Hongdae Rosso1924: We made a special trip to Hongdae to watch the amazing NANTA show. After the show, we stopped by this pizza place. Their food was pretty good, and they can make it lacto-ovo vegetarian, very vegetarian-friendly.
• Myeongdong Osegyehyang (오세계향): This place truly lives up to its reputation, so good! There’s a huge variety of dishes, we accidentally ordered a whole table full. One thing to note, though, some dishes include the “five pungent vegetables”, so if you avoid those, be extra careful and double-check when ordering.
A small side note: Those cheese corn dogs you see everywhere on the street, I was amazed the first time I tried one, but after that they felt pretty average.
🍂 A walk at Changdeokgung Palace and a first jjimjilbang experience at Sparex
October weather in Seoul is genuinely perfect, not too hot and not too cold, a light jacket is enough. We went for a stroll around Changdeokgung Palace, and a few ginkgo trees along the way had quietly started turning yellow, it felt so romantic. But on our last day, right before we left, the temperature dropped noticeably.
Before leaving Seoul, we decided to try the Sparex jjimjilbang near Dongdaemun. It was such a unique and relaxing traditional experience. We lay there while enjoying the eggs you always see in Korean dramas. For drinks, sikhye wasn’t really my thing, but the plum drink was nicely sweet and tangy.
The funny part is, we originally saved this for the last day because we thought our 80+ grandpa wouldn’t be comfortable lying on a hard floor. Turns out he was totally enjoying himself in the common area, and even turned to me and said, “We should’ve come earlier!” Looks like seniors adapt even better than we expected. 🔔 Health reminder: jjimjilbang areas can be very hot and may involve electromagnetic fields. If an older family member has a pacemaker, make sure they absolutely do not go into the high-temperature sauna rooms.
🛩 A hidden, limited-time treat at Incheon Airport for the perfect ending
Finally, I have to strongly recommend the hotteok next to Gate 12 at Incheon Airport! This limited version is seriously delicious.
One reminder though, Incheon Airport is huge. After immigration, the flow splits to the left or right. I forgot about that at the time and just followed the signs toward our original gate, then suddenly realized and rushed back, it took over 20 minutes of backtracking just to get to Gate 12. So I recommend that as soon as you clear immigration, if it’s on the way, go straight there to buy it first, so you don’t end up taking a pointless detour like I did.
This Seoul lacto-ovo vegetarian trip with our elders was relaxed and go-with-the-flow, but it was packed with great food and wonderful memories.
Who says it’s hard to travel independently in Korea as a vegetarian? If you pick the right restaurants and the right hotel, the whole family can travel comfortably and have a great time!
