International Undergraduate Mathematics Summer School

Hiking

Closest option: directly next to the university and the Hoam Faculty House is Mount Gwanak. It is a good hike, and some trails start right behind the Hoam Faculty House.

Palaces and Musea

Public transport: you can buy tickets/cards at any subway station. Keep your card until you exit the subway. If you plan to travel a lot by subway or want to use the bus, then you probably want to buy a T-money card.

The closest subway station to the Hoam Faculty House is Nakseongdaeyeok, the station of Nakseongdae = 낙성대 = 落星垈, exit 4. Here is a map of the subway. Take care with names — several places have very similar names.

South (Gangnam)

There are not so many interesting places in Seoul that are south of the river, but all of them are easily reached by line 2. The simplest place of interest to visitors who have never been to East Asia is probably the local market. It is very close to Nakseongdae station, so you can simply walk there. The park and shrine nearby is also nice. See Google Maps.

You will also find the Seolleung tombs (Seolleung station) and Bongeunsa (Samseong station). Gangnam is only interesting (I think) for its name, reputation, and high-rise glass buildings. The latter can also be found at Samseong.

North (Gangbuk)

Most interesting places are north of the river. Here are a couple:

• The National Museum at Ichon: take line 2 to Sadang, then change to line 4.
• Gyeongbokgung: take line 2 to Seoul National University of Education, then change to line 3 (or check the subway map). This palace is somewhat similar to the Forbidden City in Beijing — if you have been to Beijing, the palace below may be a nicer alternative. The Hanok village, next to the palace, is nice, and Insadong is very tourist-oriented (useful if you need presents). All these places are within walking distance of each other.
• An alternative palace is Changdeokgung.
• Dongdaemun: the former east gate, and one of the few remaining pieces of the city wall. The south gate, Namdaemun, was burned down some years ago but has since been repaired.
• Not far from Dongdaemun is Gwangjang market, a big local market. You can get cooked silkworms here, although you can of course also get them near Nakseongdae.

Food

The simplest solution is to have dinner at the university or at the Hoam Faculty House. If you want something more interesting, go to Nakseongdae subway station — the streets there have many places to eat.

• Nakseongdae fresh water eel (낙성대 풍천장어 = 落星垈 風川長魚): this place has only eel, with three variations — the marinated version (양념, say yang-nyeom) is probably best. See it on Google Maps. A good place, but slightly expensive (28,000 won).
• Milhyanggi kalgugsu (밀향기 칼국수): see it on Google Maps. This place is cheap and certainly authentic. There is a lot of choice here, but the pictures on the menu should explain what you are getting.
• Korean barbecue at Nakseongdae: one such place is 낙성대 고기구이새마을식당 낙성대점.

There are other places, such as skewered lamb — note that this is Chinese food, and there are a couple of other Chinese places in the area too.