Gangnam: What Is Actually There

Gangnam means 'south of the river', and in the loosest usage it covers the whole southern half of the city. In practice Koreans use it for three adjoining districts — Gangnam-gu, Seocho-gu and Songpa-gu — and most often for the area immediately around Gangnam station.

All of it is new. Until the 1970s this was farmland; the state built the district as a deliberate act of policy, moving elite schools south of the river to force the middle class to follow. It worked, and the consequences define the place: the highest property prices in the country, a concentration of private education, and a business culture that fills the towers on Teheran-ro.

What that leaves for a visitor is a district with no old buildings, no street life in the older sense, and a great deal of money. The interesting parts are the specific ones.

COEX is a convention centre with a very large mall under it, and inside that mall is Starfield Library: a two-storey atrium lined with bookshelves thirteen metres high, with reading tables in the middle and seasonal installations that turn it into the most photographed indoor space in Seoul.

It is free, open from morning until late, and it functions as an actual library in the sense that you may sit and read — though not borrow. Go on a weekday if you want the photograph without a hundred other people taking it.

The rest of the complex covers an aquarium, a cinema, a K-pop-focused exhibition space and enough food courts to make a wet day disappear. Directly across the road stands Bongeunsa, founded in 794, which offers a templestay programme and evening chanting — the sharpest juxtaposition in the city, and a five-minute walk between the two.

The strip around Gangnam and Sinnonhyeon stations is where the district drinks, and it is the most expensive night out in the city: dinner ₩20,000 to ₩40,000 a head, cocktails ₩15,000 upwards, and clubs charging ₩20,000 or more with a dress code that is enforced.

It is also, by the standards of Hongdae, formal. The crowd is older, the venues are larger, and the music is mainstream. Whether that is better depends entirely on what you want; for most visitors, and for anyone under thirty on a budget, it is not.

The practical problem is the same as everywhere: the metro stops around midnight and a taxi across the river afterwards is the most expensive routine journey in Seoul. Fares and last trains.

Only for a reason. Business at COEX, a flight from Gimpo, or a conference make it sensible; sightseeing does not.

The palaces, the markets and the hanok quarters are all north of the river, thirty to forty minutes away on Line 3, and doing that twice a day eats a meaningful part of a short trip. Hotels here are also priced for expense accounts rather than for travellers.

If you want the south of the river without the price, Jamsil around Lotte World Tower is better connected to the eastern attractions and cheaper. The full district comparison is on the where to stay page.