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Saturday, 29 November 2025

Busan-Seoul Day 11-12: Seongsu, Dongdaemun & Flight Home

DAY 11

It was our last breakfast at Cafe Stanford as we wouldn't have time to eat it the next day.

Final breakfast at Cafe Stanford for this trip

After breakfast, the Hubby suggested that we visit Seongsu, also known as the 'Brooklyn of Seoul'. We took Line 2 (green) to Seongsu Station.

Seongsu street

While we were exploring the neighbourhood, we randomly discovered Cafe Be Art and decided to check it out.

Climbing the stairs to Cafe Be Art
Cozy dining environment
We needed two tables for our big family
Food at the counter
The Eldest and I were the ones who love cafe food!
The drinks were good!
Super yummy waffles and cake
Balcony area

We really love the food but it was not substantial enough for the rest of the family. The Hubby spotted Mealbon Korean Restaurant for lunch.

Mealbon Korean Restaurant
They were known for their noodle soup sets;
Soup was full of flavour though slightly spicy due to the pepper.
Pork rice set

The Eldest and I ended up being too full to walk! 🤣 Before we left, we popped by Artbox Seongsu as it was so interestingly decorated!

Google Translate the Korean words:
"Caution. When an alien invasion occurs, cute people are taken first!" 😂

We decided to visit Dongdaemun next, as the last time we had visited was 12 years ago! We took Line 2 (green) to Dongdaemun History & Culture Park Station (Exit 1). 

Discovered an interesting 'heart' installation at the stairs
Beautiful architecture

Dongdaemun was also full of shops but much less crowded than Myeongdong. Some malls we passed by/visited include Dongdaemun Design Plaza, HelloAPM and Doota Mall. Perhaps it was an ordinary Friday afternoon, hence it was super quiet.

Clothes here looked nice but was pricey compared to Myeongdong
Doota Mall
Doota Knight Garden

With nothing much to buy except for some clothes the Hubby managed to get from Northface at Doota Mall, we headed to Cheonggyecheon Stream to take some photos.

Dongdaemun's famous urban canal
Locals love to take walks along the scenic canal
Having fun on the stepping stones
(While being constantly warned by this mama not to fall into the water or else!)
An oasis in the middle of the city
Enjoying the sound of water flowing
The kids had fun crossing the stream again and again!

We spotted the actual Dongdaemun (Great East Gate), officially known as Heunginjimun, and walked over to take photos! It looked very similar to Sungnyemun aka Namdaemun (Great South Gate) that we had visited two years ago!

Heunginjimun
Heunginjimun Park
Starting point for the hike up to Seoul City Wall
Part of Seoul City Wall
You can even see N Seoul Tower from the top!
(We were there 5 days ago)
Peaking through the wall
It was a fun and easy climb and worth it for the view of the city!
Love the beautiful trees in the park!
We also found a good spot to take pictures with Heunginjimun! 😁

We walked to Dongdaemun Station (located very close by) and took Line 4 (light blue) back to Myeongdong for dinner. Since it was our last dinner in Seoul before we flew back, we decided to splurge on Korean BBQ at Woo Bros restaurant (we really enjoyed the food here during our previous trip)!

Gotta have all of our favourite Korean dishes!
The beef was expensive but so very good! 👍
Pork belly was good too!
Last dinner of this trip! How fast time flies!

After a very satisfying dinner, the kids wanted desserts at SulBing Cafe again. We indulged them since it was our last chance to eat them before we returned to Singapore!

Chocolate waffles and bingsu!

We had to sleep early so that we could get up at 4am the next morning. Can't believe that our trip was coming to an end! 😭


DAY 12

We had to give our usual hotel buffet breakfast a miss as we had to leave the hotel at 5am. I guess it was just as well since we had already eaten it for 6 days in a row! 😅

We had booked a Jumbo taxi via our hotel the day before and met our driver at the lobby at our agreed time. The journey to Incheon International Airport was about 45 minutes and we arrived at Terminal 1 at 5.45am.

After checking in our luggage and clearing customs, I collected our tax refunds and my purchase from the Duty Free stores.

Don't forget to get your receipts verified before clearing customs so that you can get your tax refunds easily at the Tax Refund counters
Collecting my purchase from the Duty Free counters

The Littlest finally had some time to play at Pororo playground, which she didn't have time to do so in the last trip.

Pororo Playground
Super excited to play!

Our Singapore Airlines plane departed on time at 8.50am.

Boarding our plane
Goodbye Seoul!
Kid's meal
Rice and beef for the adults

Our flight was 6 hours 35 minutes and we arrived in Singapore at 2.25pm.

The familiar control tower at Changi Airport 😁

It's good to be home! 🥰


My Reflections

As a first time visitor to Busan, we enjoyed the food and affordable prices as compared to Seoul. There's also a variety of different sightseeing attractions; whatever Seoul has, it seems that Busan also has, maybe a bit smaller. A Busan taxi driver shared that Busan has the best weather in all of South Korea and he's not wrong 😃

Pins and other souvenirs to add to my collection! 😁

We may not return to Seoul (we've already visited 3 times!) but we'll definitely visit Busan again! Until then... annyeong! 

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P.S: Attractions we have previous visited in Seoul:


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