Korea - Seoul for 24 hours - what to do?

I land at 6:30pm on Sat night and leave the next day at 5:40pm so have just under 24hrs. I am staying at the Renaissance Seoul.

What should I do with such little time there? I would love to visit the DMZ or other areas, but I guess there is no time.

If you could give me a couple itinerary options or top 5 things to do that would be great!

I land at 6:30pm on Sat night and leave the next day at 5:40pm so have just under 24hrs. I am staying at the Renaissance Seoul.

What should I do with such little time there? I would love to visit the DMZ or other areas, but I guess there is no time.

If you could give me a couple itinerary options or top 5 things to do that would be great!
I have almost exactly the same layover so keen to see recommendations here. Will wait for recent recomendation, I was last there nearly 20 years ago, but can say I wouldn't recommend the DMZ unless you are a history nut. Long way to go and not really much to see.

As a student here in Seoul, I am usually free to show people around if you dont mind copious amounts of walking.

Just PM with your dates and what you are interested in seeing. My girlfriend and I are foodies so we can show you some great small local restaurants (but we do not drink alcohol, so the bar/club scene is outside our expertise)

Not enough time to see the DMZ, but at one of the big parks in town they have recreated a North Korean tunnel found under the DMZ. Maybe Children's Grabd Park?

Definitely go see the old city gates, some temples. Itaewon is a shopping area right outside of the Yongsun Army post, has lots of shops catering to visitors, if you are strapped for tme and want to shop quickly.

There are so many beautiful places in Seoul, and wonderful people. Having a guide will help, especially foodie ones :-)

I land at 6:30pm on Sat night and leave the next day at 5:40pm so have just under 24hrs. I am staying at the Renaissance Seoul.

What should I do with such little time there? I would love to visit the DMZ or other areas, but I guess there is no time.

If you could give me a couple itinerary options or top 5 things to do that would be great!

I spent two nights last weekend at the Renaissance Seoul with my son (It was a short Thanksgiving Getaway). Really enjoyed the Renaissance, very nice club level with pretty good food and drink and elite members get a great buffet breakfast on the top floor each morning. Excellent pool and gym with many different food options onsite, very helpful staff. Very easy and cheap to get to with the Airport Limo stopping in front of the hotel. A real great opportunity for Marriott Free Night Certificates since it is a Cat.4 property!

We did the DMZ Tour with USO (about 20 min cab ride, $8USD) from Renaissance one day and the Seoul City Tour ($29 I believe) the second day-both were excellent. The Seoul City Tour 9:30 am to 1:30 pm is doable with your flight (we did it) and covers the downtown highlights and palace (Forbidden City) and I would recommend as an option. The airport train leaves several blocks form the USO (Seoul Station) and they will drop you off if you ask as they finish the tour going by it. I would at least check out the USO tours for the day you are going to be there.

DMZ Tour I found to be great but would be a little tight since it got back about 3:00 pm and is scheduled for 3:30 pm return, it isn't offered on Sundays and Mondays due to JSA (American Troop Guides that accompany the trip) schedule. It is super easy getting around Seoul on the subway and there are the usual great open air markets available.

Another option (only available to those that can prove they are staying for less than 24 hours) are the transit tours (there are many offerred) and cover a large number of sights including the DMZ (DMZ tours cover a large number of different options the USO tours include JSA-highly recommended but there are other interesting sights including the infilitration tunnel).

We really were impressed with Seoul and had a great time, you can cover a lot of ground in 24 hours. Hope you have fun!

I spent two nights last weekend at the Renaissance Seoul with my son (It was a short Thanksgiving Getaway). Really enjoyed the Renaissance, very nice club level with pretty good food and drink and elite members get a great buffet breakfast on the top floor each morning. Excellent pool and gym with many different food options onsite, very helpful staff. Very easy and cheap to get to with the Airport Limo stopping in front of the hotel. A real great opportunity for Marriott Free Night Certificates since it is a Cat.4 property!

We did the DMZ Tour with USO (about 20 min cab ride, $8USD) from Renaissance one day and the Seoul City Tour ($29 I believe) the second day-both were excellent. The Seoul City Tour 9:30 am to 1:30 pm is doable with your flight (we did it) and covers the downtown highlights and palace (Forbidden City) and I would recommend as an option. The airport train leaves several blocks form the USO (Seoul Station) and they will drop you off if you ask as they finish the tour going by it. I would at least check out the USO tours for the day you are going to be there.

DMZ Tour I found to be great but would be a little tight since it got back about 3:00 pm and is scheduled for 3:30 pm return, it isn't offered on Sundays and Mondays due to JSA (American Troop Guides that accompany the trip) schedule. It is super easy getting around Seoul on the subway and there are the usual great open air markets available.

Another option (only available to those that can prove they are staying for less than 24 hours) are the transit tours (there are many offerred) and cover a large number of sights including the DMZ (DMZ tours cover a large number of different options the USO tours include JSA-highly recommended but there are other interesting sights including the infilitration tunnel).

We really were impressed with Seoul and had a great time, you can cover a lot of ground in 24 hours. Hope you have fun!

Where can I find info on how to book these? We are in Seoul for 22hrs so do fall below the 24 (unless we can go standby on an earlier flight to Seoul on our award ticket tomorrow).

Part of the issue is a lot of our time in Seoul is late at night since we land at 7pm and leave at 5pm the next day - I assume these tours are only daytime/early evening?

http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_5_1.jsp

This web site is a good place to start for ICN tours for intransit visitors. There are many different options. Night tous are available (most are really evening tours) and at least some of the large markets are open all night with most of the wholesale type trading being done after midnight.

I also recommend the USO website/calender as a place to at least take a look. I found the young people running their tours very willing to accomodate and bending over to help. At least some of the tour guides have lived in the States for periods of time in school and really want to show Americans their country.

Can anyone comment on the best place to exchange currency? I usually use ATMs at the airport. Curious if anyone has any recent experience.

thanks in advance

Can anyone comment on the best place to exchange currency? I usually use ATMs at the airport. Curious if anyone has any recent experience.

thanks in advance
Use an ATM if you can. There are currency exchange booths all over the airport as well.

Use an ATM if you can. There are currency exchange booths all over the airport as well.

Here now. Its remarkably easy to use a credit card anywhere for anything. Lets see if I can make it 3 days without any local currency! :D

I very rarely keep cash on me now that you mention it. I always use my US based AmEx Platinum card, which everybody seems to take.

I very rarely keep cash on me now that you mention it. I always use my US based AmEx Platinum card, which everybody seems to take.

Using my sapphire and seeing really good exchange rates so far. Love the no fee cards!