Seoul is the seat of government and it's as crowded and competitive, if more homogeneous, as any other developed megacity. Skyscrapers dwarf shanty towns, throngs of delivery men on motorcycles jockey with black Mercedes Benzes on the roads, and behind the straight major boulevards where multitudes of well-attired Seoulites shop at fancy boutiques and posh department stores, lies a maze of narrow alleyways filled with innumerable itty-bitty shops selling everything from dried squid to cell-phone paraphernalia. This bustling city has a lot to offer the first-time visitor, so when you visit the South Korean peninsula (which is technically an island because of the closed border with North Korea) make sure to hit some of the top tourist sites as well as places that are a bit more unorthodox.

• 1. Gyeongbok Palace
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• 2. Bukchon Village
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• 3. Shinsegae Department Store
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• 4. Bugaksan
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• 6. Namdaemun Market
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