Insadong (인사동)

Learn Korean!

기념품 (gi-nyeom-pum) means souvenirs.
꿀타래 (kkul-ta-rae) means honey skein. This is the name for the famous Dragon’s Beard Candy.

Fun Facts

Insadong has been a cultural hub for over 500 years, dating back to the Joseon Dynasty. It was originally a residential area for government officials and scholars.
The Kyung-in Art Museum features changing exhibits and a permanent sculpture garden, offering a serene atmosphere for those who appreciate art.
Insadong is a center for hanji (traditional Korean paper) culture, with shops selling hanji crafts and artworks. Visitors can participate in hanji-making workshops to learn more about this ancient craft.

Insadong, a vibrant neighborhood in Seoul, is an artistic hub filled with tea houses, restaurants, street food stalls, galleries, and souvenir shops. It is known for its historic charm and artsy presence, with many antique shops and art galleries lining its streets. There are around 100 galleries showcasing traditional Korean fine art. On the weekends, the main street is closed to traffic and transforms into a cultural space with traditional performances, exhibits, and street vendors. It is a food lover’s paradise, offering a variety of local delights including Korean BBQ, traditional street food, and sweet treats. For a peaceful escape, visitors can explore Buddhist temples like Jogyesa Temple and enjoy green spaces like Tapgol Park. Tea enthusiasts can visit tea shops and museums like the Shin Old Tea House and the Beautiful Tea Museum. Art lovers will appreciate the numerous art galleries and museums in the area, such as the Kyung-in Art Museum and antique enthusiasts will find plenty to explore in the antique shops, housed in historic buildings, which offer unique treasures and souvenirs.

Travel Tips

Visit on the weekends when the main streets are closed to traffic.
Taxi’s can be a little difficult to find during the work rush hour times so plan accordingly.
Insadong is one of the neighborhoods comprising Bukchon Hanok Village. It is close to Changdeokgung so combining a visit works well.

Address

English: 62, Insadong-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul

Hangeul: 서울특별시 종로구 인사동길 62

This is a great place to find unique gifts and souvenirs. There are a lot of creative activities here including learning to make your own stone stamp or taking a calligraphy class. We bought custom made stone stamps with our names in both English and Hangeul from the Ssamzigil shopping center. In Korea stamps like these often serve in place of a signature, so it felt really special to have one made for myself and my friend. Mine has a tiger on it! We even caught a demonstration for making the famous Dragon Beard candy, which is made up of 16,000 strings of hand-pulled sugar and honey, wrapped around fillings such as almond, peanut, chocolate, or matcha. Fun to watch, but even more fun to eat! Also, just like Mom mentioned, the dumplings at Son Mandu were delightful.

Not letting rain or colder weather stop us, we donned our umbrellas and jackets and headed to Insadong. Our first stop in this artsy, souvenir filled, neighborhood was the famous Bukchon Son Mandu for their home-made dumplings. This tiny shop, that serves only dumplings and soup, usually has a long line but due to the rain we were able to walk right in. The seating is limited and can be crowded but the steamed or fried pockets of deliciousness are so worth it! They make everything right there in the tiny kitchen. After filling our bellies, we walked almost right next door to Ssamzigil, a large, 4-level shopping mall with a spiraling stairway which contains galleries, workshops, clothing shops, and restaurants, and like the rest of the neighborhood, some of the ground floor market shops existed before the shopping center was built and have been incorporated into the modern architecture. In Ssamziegil we found a small shop that carves traditional Korean name stamps. The kind gentleman worked with us with our limited Korean vocabulary to create our own stamps with our names in Korean and English. Ssamzigil is also home to the cheeky “poop” cafe. It’s silly but the coffee was good, and it got us out of the rain while we waited for our stamps to be made. On our next visit, we will seek out some of the Tea museums and tea houses