Tailor-made

Seoul is generous with its highlights — the palaces, the markets, the parks, the neighbourhoods each with a character entirely their own. Most visitors arrive with a list of things to do and places to visit, and the list is a good one. But somewhere underneath it, lingers a question that is harder to answer: what else is there? What does this city look like if I turn away from where everyone else is looking?

That's where I come in. With extensive knowledge of the city and its different areas, I can help you find what you're looking for — even before you know exactly what it is you are looking for. Tell me when you're here, how long you have, and what interests (e.g. contemporary history, Seoulites on a day off, Korean literature) you have. I'll take it from there and come back to you with a few ideas we could include in a tour

Seoul is a city still catching its breath — five hundred years of dynasty, a brutal colonial period, a war that split the peninsula, and then a sprint from poverty to prosperity that the world is still trying to understand. Markets that feed half the city, mountains that rise straight from the city centre, neighbourhoods shaped by poets, factory workers, and artists. A morning at a Buddhist temple, tucked away in the back of a lively neighbourhood. An evening among local youth, in a park along the Han river. A hole-in-the-wall lunch in a place no guidebook has found yet.

Beyond the city's better-known landmarks, the themes I know well include Korean contemporary history, everyday neighbourhood life, Korean film and literature, market and food culture. But the tour doesn't have to start with a theme. You can simply tell me when you're here and how long you have — I'll put something together. If something falls outside what I know well, I'll say so. And if you're the kind of traveller who wants to go somewhere you'd never find on your own, somewhere no tour group goes but that I find genuinely interesting — just say that.

My tours are walking conversations. I don't carry a flag or a microphone. We explore together, at a pace that allows for detours. In terms of duration, most tours run for two hours, half a day, or a full day. For guests who want to go deeper, two-day programmes are possible too. Pricing of the tour depends on duration and group size — get in touch and we'll work out the details together.