Insadong and Ikseon-dong

Insadong is where Seoul keeps its traditional arts, and Ikseon-dong is where young Seoul fell in love with the hanok. Visited together, a ten-minute walk apart, they make one of the most enjoyable afternoons in the city, and both are free to wander. Insadong grew up in the late Joseon period around antique dealers and calligraphy studios, and its main street, Insadong-gil, still runs between shops selling ink brushes, mulberry-paper hanji, celadon and white porcelain, lacquerware inlaid with mother-of-pearl, embroidered pouches, folk paintings and antiques of every price. Down the side alleys are traditional tea houses, some in old hanok with courtyards and floor cushions, serving citron, jujube, ginger and five-flavor teas with rice cakes, and long-established restaurants for hanjeongsik set meals and temple-style vegetarian food. Commercial galleries line the street, and Ssamziegil, a spiral courtyard building opened in 2004, packs more than seventy small craft shops, galleries and cafes onto a ramp that climbs to a rooftop. On Sundays the main street becomes traffic-free and fills with buskers and snack vendors. Ikseon-dong, east across the main road near Jongno 3-ga, is very different: a pocket of small 1920s urban hanok, once forgotten, that has been transformed over the past decade into a maze of alleys barely wider than a person, full of cafes, bakeries, dessert shops, small restaurants, wine bars and photo studios, many keeping their tiled roofs, wooden beams and courtyards. It is crowded, stylish and photogenic, and it shows how Seoul reuses its past. Between the two, Jogyesa, the head temple of Korea's main Buddhist order, adds a burst of color, especially during the lantern season before Buddha's Birthday.

Start in Insadong in the late morning, when the shops open, and walk the main street from the Anguk end, ducking into the alleys for galleries and tea houses. Shop thoughtfully: Insadong has fine craft and genuine antiques alongside mass-produced souvenirs, and the better pieces are usually in the dedicated craft shops and the Korea Craft and Design Foundation gallery rather than at the street stalls. If you want a memorable souvenir, look for hanji stationery, a small celadon cup, a calligraphy brush set or a traditional knot ornament. Sit for tea in an upstairs tea house, then walk past Jogyesa and Tapgol Park to Ikseon-dong for the afternoon.

Ikseon-dong is at its best from mid-afternoon into the evening, when the cafes give way to bars and the lanterns and string lights come on. Expect queues at the most popular bakeries and restaurants at weekends, and be considerate: some of the hanok are still homes, and the lanes are narrow. Nearby, the street food and pojangmacha tents around Jongno 3-ga and the restaurants of the old Pimatgol alley are good for an inexpensive dinner, and Gwangjang Market is a short walk east.

Anguk Station on Line 3 is closest to the top of Insadong; Jonggak Station on Line 1 serves the bottom; and Jongno 3-ga Station, on Lines 1, 3 and 5, sits right beside Ikseon-dong. Bukchon Hanok Village and the palaces are just north of Insadong, making the area the natural link in an old-Seoul day — palace in the morning, Bukchon before its afternoon visitor curfew, then tea, shopping and dinner in Insadong and Ikseon-dong.