Myeongdong, Seoul: Shopping, Food and First Impressions

Home / Travel Guides / South Korea / Myeongdong

By Timo — London-based travel writer and creator of TheTimoTalks. Personal experiences from our Seoul trip.

Seoul did not ease us in gently.

After a long flight from London, we arrived in Myeongdong with jet lag, summer clothes and rather too much confidence in our ability to cope with the heat. Within a few streets, I was already looking for air conditioning.

But Myeongdong is very good at distracting you. Skincare, sunglasses, clothes, snacks, another skincare shop. You go in looking for one thing and come out wondering whether you need an entirely different face.

If this is your first visit, my advice is simple: come for a wander, leave room for food, and do not make your entire Seoul shopping plan on day one.

Olive Young: where do you even start?

I understood that Olive Young would be a big part of shopping in Seoul. I had not quite understood the amount of choice.

Masks, creams, styling products, eyebrow products, lip balms, concealer. Every shelf seemed to offer a solution to a problem I had only just discovered I might have.

I am not a skincare expert, and that is probably useful context here. This was less a carefully researched beauty haul and more me trying to work out what everything did. The snack section felt considerably less intimidating. Granola? Yes. I understand granola.

There were several branches within a short walk, so I would not treat the first one you see as your only opportunity. Next time, I would arrive with a small list of products I actually want to investigate. I would also give myself permission to leave without buying the whole routine.

The shops I did not expect

Kodak was a surprise. In my head, Kodak means cameras. Here I was looking at clothes. That little disconnect was part of the fun: a familiar name, doing something I was not expecting.

Our wander also took in Blue Elephant, Hetras and ReRhee. This is the pleasure of Myeongdong for me. You do not need every stop to be a major discovery. Sometimes you just want to go inside, have a look and see what catches your attention.

I did come away with a very soft leather bag. But a beautiful shop and an appealing price do not automatically tell me how good a product is. Especially with beauty products, I would rather admit I do not know than pretend a first impression is a proper review.

HBAF: a shopping decision I could actually make

Then we found the almonds.

HBAF takes something fairly straightforward and gives it what feels like an unreasonable number of flavours. Honey butter, wasabi, mint chocolate, tiramisu, crème brûlée, coffee, churros. Suddenly I had opinions again.

I love mint chocolate, and the honey butter almonds were another favourite. A mixed selection made sense because trying the different flavours was half the point.

If you want something small to bring back from your trip, this is the kind of purchase I would actually enjoy choosing. Less pressure than a skincare routine. Still plenty of decisions.

Korean barbecue, then a very large bingsu

By the time we sat down for Korean barbecue, I was very ready to stop shopping.

The restaurant we visited had an English digital menu with pictures, which made ordering easy, and even a place to charge the phone. The meat was beautifully tender. After the heat and all that walking, sitting down to that meal felt particularly good.

Afterwards came my first bingsu. I was expecting something closer to ice cream; instead, this shaved-ice dessert was fluffy, light in texture and less sweet than I expected. The portion, however, was not small. Sharing one between two was a good decision.

What I would do differently

I would give myself a gentler first day. The combination of a long flight, jet lag, heat and constant choice made everything feel more intense.

I would start with a short shopping list, take proper breaks and leave space for the unexpected. Myeongdong works well as an introduction to Seoul's shopping energy. It does not need to become an endurance event.

For me, the best bits were the surprises: Kodak clothes, far too many almond flavours and a dessert that was completely different from what I had imagined. The skincare research can continue another day.

Watch our first day in Myeongdong

You can see the shops, the food and my progressively less convincing response to the heat in our Myeongdong video.

For the next side of the city, read Shopping in Seoul: Stores Worth the Experience — from Gentle Monster to a tea stop hidden upstairs.

TheTimoTalks

Stay updated with a newsletter

hello@thetimotalks.com

© 2026. All rights reserved.

New guides, travel tips and hospitality insights worth your inbox space.

By subscribing you agree to our Privacy Policy. Unsubscribe at any time. No spam, promised.