By Sangeeta Kocharekar 28.04.2026

The Ultimate Design-Lover’s Guide to Seoul

What I learned from visiting Seoul’s most striking spaces, from futuristic concept stores to serene hanok hideaways.

I was worried I’d overhyped my trip to Seoul. I was traveling with two of my best friends. We’d spent months swapping IG Reels on unique experiences, and had carefully mapped out our days to be filled with sightseeing, shopping, and skin treatments. The bar was set high.

Thankfully, it lived up to the hype. In fact, it was even better than I’d expected – one of my favorite trips ever. And a big part of that was due to the backdrop: Seoul’s design. The concept stores, the museums and public spaces, and the traditional hanoks, seen in homes, venues, and stores. Seoul’s architecture and interiors felt distinctly different to Australia’s. They felt intentional and provocative.

Reading a placard at Bonte Museum on the island of Jeju, which I visited after Seoul, it clicked. The placard explained that the museum’s design wound like a maze. “Although it is an inefficient route, [museum owner and architect] Tadao Ando wants viewers to walk and feel throughout the museum and have enough time to think about it,” it read.

It epitomized what I’d seen. In Seoul, every nook and cranny is curated. Even the negative space feels deliberate. If you’re heading to Seoul and looking to experience some of these thought-provoking spaces too, these were my design highlights.

Haus Nowhere

Gentle Monster’s sunglasses are known for their futuristic, fun designs, and its stores are in line with that. I’d even go as far to say that a design round-up of Seoul wouldn’t be complete without a mention of one. I visited three, but the newest, Haus Nowhere, which opened in Seongsu in September 2025, is the crown jewel. It’s a multi-brand store in a brutalist-meets-sci-fi building. Inside, you’ll find fragrance line Tamburins, headwear label Atiissu and Nuflaat tableware. Dessert café Nudake is tucked into level five, swathed in green drapes and carpets with purple and black tables.

Leeum Museum of Art

This museum in Hannam spans three buildings and showcases traditional and modern Korean and international art. The architectural highlight is a white spiral staircase with narrow windows fitted with glass that reflects ethereal pinks and blues on the steps. Among the art, Olafur Eliasson’s Gravity Stairs offers a thought-provoking design. A site-specific installation, it uses yellow light and mirrors to distort your sense of space.

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

Another museum I’d recommend visiting is the Seoul branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, which houses a Damien Hirst exhibition that runs until June 28, 2026. The showcase features around 50 of the British artist’s works – installations, sculptures and paintings – many of which explore themes of mortality with Hirst’s signature clinical precision.

Modern hanok accomodation.

Jongmyo Square Park

The Korean word ‘meong’ refers to a trance-like state achieved by staring at nature. I found this stillness at Jongmyo Square Park, next to the UNESCO-listed Jongmyo Shrine, built in 1394. I felt a similar calm later, visiting Seoul Forest, walking on the cherry blossom petals that had only recently fallen. If you have even just an hour to spare in Seoul, spend it in a park, maybe even bringing along salt bread to enjoy while there.

Café Onion

A hanok is a traditional Korean home, built with eco-friendly materials like wood, stone and clay and designed to harmonize with the environment. I stayed in a modernised hanok I booked through Airbnb, but many have been repurposed into modern venues. I’d recommend Café Onion for coffee, A Flower Blossom on the Rice for a meal, Le Labo’s Bukchon Hanok store, Seoul Lab, for shopping and Gong Gan for a drink.

Cha-Teul

One of my favorite memories from the trip was sitting barefoot on the floor of tea house Cha-Teul in Bukchon Hanok Village. The afternoon sun streamed through floor-to-ceiling windows, and we sipped tea and coffee and ate hobak tteok, yellow pumpkin rice cake. I also visited Pyunkang Yul Tea House, where I sat facing a stone garden. Tea houses in Korea are less about a quick drink and more about ritual and simplicity.

Leeum Museum of Art (left), Le Labo’s Bukchon Hanok store (centre), Leeum Museum of Art (right).

Hannam

Hannam is an upscale Seoul neighbourhood with chic cafés and designer boutiques. I’d suggest visiting the stores for Korean brands Le17Septembre and Lemaire, as well as Maison Margiela. The Margiela store featured a landscaped garden with a pond and an adjoining café with stark white counters and clinical lighting. It felt like a high-fashion hospital – assuming a hospital would serve hoof-shaped pastries, that is.

Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP)

I hadn’t heard of Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) before emerging into its sunken Oullim Square from the subway. It hosts exhibitions and events, including Seoul Fashion Week, but even if you don’t go inside (I didn’t), you’ll still enjoy looking at its neo-futuristic design, which is all curves and concrete.