Your top five!

If you could not miss five sights in Seoul, what would be your choices? Were traveling with kids aged 6 and 7, that are very well traveled and hardy.

Thanks, Penny

Your top five!

I will give you my personal top 5 spots in Seoul, but I am not sure if your kids would appreciate it too.

1. Insa-dong: An area filled with galleries, souvenirs shops, cafes and restaurants. On weekends, there are few cultural demonstrations on street. You kids may appreciate traditional Korean pastry making demonstration (punching the dough with a hugh wooden mallet!)

鈥isitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp鈥?/a>

2. Museums: National Museum of Korea is really good, with vast selection of Korean arts well curated in modern building, much better than Tokyo%26#39;s very stuffy museum. (鈥isitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp鈥?/a>)

But my favorite is Samsung Museum of Art Leeum which has really excellent collection of traditional Korean arts and international contemporary arts (Calder, Bak Namjoon, Murasaki). It strongly reminded me of Guggenheim.

鈥isitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_2_4.jsp鈥?/a>

3. Palaces: If you have to visit only one palace, go to Gyeongbokgung Palace, 鈥isitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp鈥?/a>

If you prefer less crowd, visit Changdeokgung Palace and its famous garden, Biwon 鈥isitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp鈥?/a>

If you want to make quick visit, then Deoksugung Palace since it is conveniently located (across from city hall). It is smaller above two palaces, but you can see change of guards and Seoul Art Museum is right next it. 鈥isitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp鈥?/a>

If you want to see the houses of noble families, visit Namsangol Hanok Village, which is good alternative if you don%26#39;t have time for visit Folk Village outside of Seoul.

鈥isitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp鈥?/a>

4. Markets: If you want to experience Korean style bargain head to Namdaemoon market (bit of tourist trap for me but good place to stock up Korean souvenirs, http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SH/SH_EN_7_2_4_1.jsp) or if you are interested in fashion, Dongdaemun Market (鈥isitkorea.or.kr/enu/SH/SH_EN_7_2_5_1.jsp)

But I recommend visit Gwangjang Market because it%26#39;s less touristy and I love its great outdoor food court. 鈥isitseoul.net/visit2007en/鈥?/a>

If you want to see most weird seafoods, head to Noryangjin Fish Market (http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Travel2/13) or Garakdong Agricultural Products and Fisheries Wholesale Market (鈥isitseoul.net/visit2007en/鈥?/a>)

5. Greenspace

Seoul is like a concrete jungle with so many identical apartment blocks everywhere. So I really appreciated bit of green spaces I could find there.

Cheonggyecheon (鈥isitseoul.net/visit2007en/鈥?/a>)

Namsan Park (鈥isitseoul.net/visit2007en/鈥?/a>)

Bukhansan, my favorite hiking course in Seoul

(鈥isitseoul.net/visit2007en/鈥?/a>)

Your top five!

I would add a visit to the DMZ and the infiltration tunnel to the list. Its a hisorically unique place to see. Its very close to Seoul.

If you have a clear day, go to Seoul Tower. But clear days are rare in Seoul.