I will be a tourist visiting Seoul for a few days next month and it will be my first trip there. I was wondering if FT'ers have any suggestions for neighborhoods in which to concentrate my search for a hotel.

I've read other posts in this forum, and I get the impreesion that downtown near City Hall might be a good area. I define "good area" as one that contains a number of hotels in different price ranges, is near the subway, perhaps within walking distance to interesting tourist sights, and is not "dead" at night after the local workers go home.

So, does downtown seem like a good choice, or should I look elsewhere? Thanks for your help.