jburron's VirtualTourist Home Page

Many thanks to Ian for suggesting I split up my tips more logically over my Seoul pages and my South Korea ones. Keep coming back, I'm almost constantly updating them.

Until you know where they are you might think Seoul has few, if any, nightclubs. But this is probably one of the hottest places to go out--until all hours of the morning. It doesn't help that most of the signs are in Korean and that they have different names for a pub (here they call it a HOF: short for a German Hoffsbrau) and they spell Nightclub as "NA-I-TE-KEO-LEO-BEU" in Hangul.

So the #1 hotspot for foreigners is Itaewon. There they have the 3-Alley Pub (an actual pub that's called a pub!), Gecko's Bar and the famous Lime Light nightclub where you can finish the 'night' as late as 7 or 8 AM.

If you have money to burn there is JJ Mahoney's in the Hyatt Hotel in Iteawon as well (you'll need to take a cab there, no busses or subway and it's quite a hike up a big hill). To give you an idea, Heineken in a local bar is 5,000 won (1,200 won/USD). In an up-scale place it's about 7-8,000 won...at JJ's it's 13,000. But the people there are all lovely-looking, speak pretty good English and are there to have a good time (and, of course, they have the bucks, too).

Next, there is Hong-Dae (a university district just north of the Han River in the west end of town). There are lots of techno/dance clubs and a few foreginers there too, so it's not 100% Korean (if that sort of thing is too much at first for ya).

In Insa-Dong/Jongno are there are many bars with dancing as well...such as Blue Moon where I saw many black men in Korean-mens' bodies cuttin' a rug like there was no tomorrow.

Koreans love to dance and sing, so if you go out you CANNOT sit there and drink your beer. If in a Norae-bang (for those of you who know this as Karaoke, please NEVER call it that to a Korean) everyone must sing. They are not concerned with your ability, but that you try. So, pick a song and go for it!

The clubs here are very safe...no one really goes missing or gets into fights (well, actually, the American soldiers seem to be a little aggitated at times, but have not seen a real fight since I got here over a year ago). Women walk home alone, and leave their purses on the chairs when they go dance. Yes, it's true. Of course you could do better to guard your stuff....but it's not an absolute necessity (unlike some places).

Guys, be careful of women who take 'too much' of a liking to you--they may be hookers or 'conversation girls'. It's not super-prevalent, but it happens. Sometimes they go to the upper-class bars where foreingers go (like JJ's) and then lure them back to their 'Room Salon' (which is a cross between a private nightclub, Noraebang and whorehouse). Like I say, not too prevalent, but it does happen (and the prices can get VERY steep).

If you know of any other hotspots, please let me know.