K-culture spots

For K-pop in Seoul, spend an afternoon at HiKR Ground near Cheonggyecheon (free, K-pop floors closed Mondays) and an evening in Hongdae, where the buskers draw crowds from Friday to Sunday. For K-drama, the one day trip that pays off is Nami Island from Winter Sonata (₩19,000 with the ferry, about an hour from Seoul by train); Gangneung’s Goblin seawall and BTS bus stop suit fans already heading to the east coast. HYBE’s company museum in Yongsan has been closed since January 2023.

K-culture here means the Korean wave: K-pop, K-drama and Korean film. Very little of it is a ticketed sight. Entertainment companies don’t open their offices to visitors, and the fan spots are mostly streets, beaches and filming locations you can visit for free, plus a few experience centres built for tourists. The table below matches the common plans to the right place.

Which K-culture spot fits your trip

Your situation	Do this
K-pop fan, one free afternoon in Seoul	HiKR Ground (free; film yourself on the 2nd-floor music-video sets), then walk along Cheonggyecheon
An evening out with live music	Hongdae, Friday to Sunday after dark, when the main street is car-free and the buskers are out
Merch, pop-up stores and cafés	Seongsu-dong, where K-pop and character brands open short-lived pop-ups
You are staying in Gangnam	The Gangnam Style statue at COEX and the Starfield Library, then K-Star Road in Apgujeong
K-drama fan with a free day	Nami Island (Winter Sonata), with Petite France on the same Gapyeong bus loop
Already going to the east coast	Gangneung: the Goblin seawall, the BTS bus stop and The Glory’s lighthouse at Jumunjin
Film fan	The free Korean Film Museum in Seoul, or Busan’s BIFF Square and the Busan Cinema Center
You want the classic hanbok photos	Rent hanbok near Gyeongbokgung: a full outfit gets you into the palaces free

If you only have time for one thing, make it Hongdae on a weekend evening: it costs nothing, it is on Line 2 and the airport railway, and it is where much of Seoul’s music scene started.

K-pop in Seoul

HiKR Ground (하이커 그라운드) is the Korea Tourism Organization’s K-culture centre, filling floors 1 to 5 of its Seoul building at 40 Cheonggyecheon-ro. A 32 m media wall fills the ground floor; the 2nd floor, K-pop Ground, has music-video sets (a subway carriage, a coin laundry, a spaceship) where you pick the lighting and music and film your own clip. The 3rd and 4th floors hold changing exhibitions on travel around Korea, and the 5th floor has a tourist information centre and a terrace over the stream. Entry is free, and it opens at 10:00. The exhibition floors close on Mondays; the 5th floor stays open. The popular sets have queues on weekend afternoons, so go on a weekday or a weekend morning. It is 2 minutes from Jonggak Station (Line 1) Exit 5, or 4 minutes from Euljiro 1-ga Station (Line 2) Exit 2.

Hongdae, around Hongik University in the west of the city, is where Seoul’s indie music and club scene grew up. Today street dancers and singers, many covering K-pop songs, perform on the main walking street, with live-music bars, K-pop and character shops, and cheap food around them. Use Exit 9 of Hongik Univ. Station for the busking streets.

Seongsu-dong, east of the centre, is where K-pop, fashion, beauty and character brands try out new products in pop-up stores in old factories and warehouses. The line-up changes every few weeks, so check social media before you go.

In Gangnam, the giant Gangnam Style sculpture, a tribute to PSY’s hit, stands outside COEX on Yeongdong-daero and is a busy photo stop. Inside the mall, the Starfield Library, with bookshelves several storeys high, is free and open 10:30–22:00. K-Star Road, a line of large GangnamDol statues of K-pop groups, runs through the Apgujeong and Cheongdam shopping streets from Apgujeong Rodeo Station (Suin–Bundang Line). Allow 30 minutes for a walk.

What you can’t visit: company buildings

HYBE Insight, the museum at HYBE’s headquarters in Yongsan, closed there on 15 January 2023. HYBE’s site still shows the closure notice and promises a new space, but gives no date or address, so don’t plan around it. Label headquarters are offices, not attractions. Any store or exhibition a label runs is announced on its official channels and changes often, so check a few days before you go.

K-drama filming locations

Most of the famous drama spots are outdoors, free and open at all hours. Two clusters are worth a trip from Seoul.

Nami Island and Gapyeong

Nami Island, a long river island planted with lines of trees, became a tourist favourite across Asia after the KBS drama Winter Sonata, and its tree-lined paths are still the main draw. Admission is ₩19,000 for adults including the return ferry (₩16,000 for teenagers and seniors 70+, ₩13,000 for children), and the island is open every day of the year. Ferries take about 5 minutes and run every 10–20 minutes through the day; from 18 September to 22 November 2026 the first boat leaves at 07:30, and the last runs at 21:30 on Fridays, weekends and public holidays. A zipwire from the mainland (₩55,000) is the other way in.

To get there, take the ITX-Cheongchun train to Gapyeong Station, about 1 hour from Yongsan or 42 minutes from Cheongnyangni, then walk 1.5 km (about 20 minutes) or take a 5-minute taxi to the wharf. Gapyeong County’s tourist loop bus stops at Nami Island and at Petite France, a French-themed hillside village where My Love from the Star and Secret Garden were filmed; a one-day ticket costs ₩8,000 for adults, paid on board.

Gangneung and the east coast

Gangneung, about two hours from Seoul by KTX-Eum, has the densest cluster of fan spots. North of the city towards Jumunjin:

• Yeongjin Beach seawall, where Gong Yoo holds an umbrella over Kim Go-eun in the 2016 drama Goblin.
• Sodol breakwater, at a small port in Jumunjin, whose red lighthouse appears in the Netflix series The Glory.
• Hyangho Beach bus stop, a replica rebuilt by the city of the shelter BTS sat in for their 2017 album cover. No buses stop there.

All three are free. The City 1 bus runs up the coast to Jumunjin and the 300 routes continue north to Hyangho. Further up the coast, Sokcho’s Abai Village, reached by a hand-pulled ferry (₩500), was a filming site of Autumn in My Heart.

Korean film: Seoul and Busan

The Korean Film Museum, run by the Korean Film Archive in Sangam-dong, tells the story of Korean cinema with posters, props and costumes. It is free, open Tuesday to Saturday 10:30–19:00, and closed on Sundays and Mondays; it is also closed from 28 October to 7 November 2026. From Digital Media City Station Exit 2, take bus 771, 6715, 7711 or 7730 to the Nurikkum Square·MBC stop, or walk about 15 minutes from Exit 9.

In Busan, BIFF Square in Nampo is the street where the Busan International Film Festival began, with handprints of festival guests in the pavement and seed-hotteok stalls. The festival itself now centres on the Busan Cinema Center in Centum City, 5 minutes on foot from Centum City Station (Line 2) Exit 6 or 12. The 31st festival ran from 6 to 15 October 2026; the 2027 dates have not been announced.

Tips for K-culture fans

• Hanbok and palaces. Visitors in hanbok enter Gyeongbokgung and the other Seoul palaces free, but only in a full outfit: a jacket with a wrap-over collar plus a traditional skirt or trousers. See palaces.
• Go early or on weekdays. Nami Island, the BTS bus stop and the HiKR Ground sets all have queues on weekend afternoons.
• Check before you travel for a store. Pop-ups, exhibitions and company shops change every few weeks; follow the official accounts.
• Respect residents. Many filming spots are in working villages and ports, such as Bukchon, where the red zone has set visiting hours for tourists (see hanok villages).
• Combine with music beyond K-pop. In Daegu, Kim Gwang-seok Street is a free mural alley for the folk singer, behind Bangcheon Market.

For a Seoul plan that leaves time for Hongdae and the palaces, see Seoul in 3 days; for a day out to Nami Island, see day trips from Seoul.