Gwangjang Market: Seoul's Oldest Traditional Market, Since 1905

Gwangjang Market, in Seoul's Jongno District, opened in 1905 as the first permanent market in Korea — earlier markets had been temporary, open only a few days at a time, but Gwangjang was built to operate daily, and it's been doing exactly that ever since. That makes it the oldest continuously operating traditional market in the country, well before Namdaemun or Dongdaemun took shape into their current forms.

The market originally built its reputation on textiles — fabric for suits, curtains, and bedding, along with made-to-order hanboks upstairs — and that fabric trade is still very much alive today alongside the market's other draw: street food. Gwangjang's food alley has become internationally known, featured on Netflix's Street Food: Asia, and dishes like bindaetteok (mung bean pancakes), mayak gimbap (small seaweed rice rolls), and tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) are the ones most visitors come specifically to try.

Covering roughly 10 acres, Gwangjang Market houses more than 5,000 shops and stalls and employs around 20,000 people, drawing tens of thousands of visitors daily. That scale means the market rewards knowing when to show up: most shops run from around 9am to 6pm, while food stalls stay open later, often until midnight, and the busiest stretch — worth avoiding if you want to actually move through the market comfortably — is the lunch rush, roughly 12 to 3pm, especially on Saturdays.

There's no entry fee, and the market is easy to reach — it sits near Jongno 5-ga and Euljiro 4-ga stations, both a short walk from the entrance. For a fuller Seoul day, Gwangjang Market pairs naturally with nearby historic sites, including Bukchon Hanok Village and Changdeokgung Palace, both within reasonable walking or transit distance.

If Gwangjang Market is on your Seoul itinerary, an evening visit gives you the liveliest version of the food alley without the worst of the lunchtime crush, and it's worth going in with an appetite rather than a shopping list — the textiles are interesting, but the food is genuinely why this specific market, out of all of Seoul's traditional markets, keeps showing up on every serious list of what to eat in the city.