Recently in Seoul Category

The South Korean capital of Seoul is a bustling metropolis of ten million people, but it is also blessed with a range of picturesque mountains which provide a place of rest and recreation to its many overworked and overstressed residents. Mount Suraksan, Mount Dobong, and Mount Namsan all stand majestically over the city, each offering a different experience to the visitor.

Mount Suraksan, for example, is a place of great natural beauty, where visitors pass three waterfalls on their way to the 637-meter peak. The somewhat taller Dobong, meanwhile, consists of multiple peaks, and offers a good workout for the intrepid adventurers who come to savor breathtaking views of Seoul. The most famous of all is Mount Namsan, which is located in central Seoul. This 252-meter hill is pretty manageable, as visitors can take a cable car all the way to the summit. There they can enjoy the amenities of a small mountaintop town and even visit the N Seoul Tower, which rises nearly 237 meters from the summit, nearly doubling the height of the mountain. On a clear day, visitors can see over 25 miles from the tower's observation deck and gourmet restaurant. Now that's what I call mountain climbing. Starwood has three properties in Seoul: the Westin Chosun, Busan, the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill, and the sleek W Seoul - Walkerhill.

With so much of South Korea racing into the future, Seoul's Chongdong Theatre is one place where traditional Korean culture continues to thrive. While the theater itself dates back only to 1995, it was built as a reproduction of Wongaksa Theater, the first modern theater in Korea which was in operation during the early 1900's. The Chongdong Theatre carries on the Wongaksa tradition, staging shows representing the four genres of traditional Korean performing arts: traditional dance, pungmul (Korean drumming), sori (voice and music), and musical instrument performance. I'm particularly intrigued by the pungmul, which refers to the name of the group of four instruments used in samul nori, a genre of percussion music that always uses a kwaengwari (small gong), jing (large gong), janggu (hourglass-shaped drum), and buk (bass drum). Performances at the Chongdong are held every day throughout the year, so while it's always best to have a reservation for this somewhat intimate venue (400 seats), you'll probably have little trouble scoring a ticket for most events. Whichever performance you attend, expect a more social theater experience than you'd find in the west: audiences enjoy complimentary green tea prior to curtain time, and get to take to the stage and mingle with performers afterwards, often getting swept up into impromptu dance lessons and Korean-style conga lines. How's that for immersing yourself in a different culture? Starwood has three properties in Seoul, the W Seoul - Walkerhill, the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill, and the Westin Chosun Seoul.

We've never mentioned one of our Far East outposts, the Westin Chosun Seoul before. The 453 room hotel is one of Korea's poshest properties and includes nine different on-site restaurants and bars (including the crossover goodness of O'Kims Irish Pub and Sports Bar). It's also a perennial award winner that was named one of Korea's top five hotels by Business Traveler in 2003 and a multiple Conde Nast Traveler Gold List winner. This week it won another honor, Asiamoney's Top Korean Hotel.