The South Korean capital city, awash in economic exuberance, is developing as a design, fashion and technology centre, and breaking out as a key business hub.
Just like a Korean-built Samsung or LG appliance, Seoul gets faster, brighter and more user-friendly with every new version.
The South Korean capital city, awash in
economic exuberance, is developing as a design, fashion and technology centre,
and is breaking out as a key business hub. With the 2012 World Expo
taking place in nearby Yeosu this summer, the city is sure
to snag more of the international limelight.
Seoul is a bustling, sprawling city of 10
million, ringed by mountains and divided by the Han River. The traditional city
centre, Gangbuk, is located on the northern side of the Han while the
fast-growing, younger part of the city, Gangnam, lies to the south. A series of
27 bridges and a modern, easy-to-use subway system (with onboard announcements
in English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean) keeps this modern megalopolis
connected.
About 45 minutes west of the city is Seoul’s
state-of-the-art Incheon
International Airport (ICN), which spent the last seven years at the top of
the prestigious Airport Service Quality Awards from Airports Council International. As a
testament to Korea’s new focus on the fashion industry, ICN landed the world’s
first Louis Vuitton airport boutique in 2011. The airport is the hub for Korean
Air, which has a new fleet of Airbus A380s, true lie-flat business class seats and a provocative global
advertising campaign — all of which are giving Asian service standard bearers like Singapore
Airlines or Cathay Pacific a run for their money. Locals refer to ICN as simply
“Incheon” to distinguish it from the older Gimpo airport, which offers flights to mostly domestic airports, and to a
handful of cities in nearby China and Japan.
For the somewhat lengthy journey
from Incheon to central Seoul, passengers can take the
new Airport Railroad Express or ride in one of the comfortable
coaches that drop off passengers at their hotels — a better option for those
arriving with heavy luggage.
Elegant
The 465-room Shilla
Seoul rests serenely at the top of the city’s hotel
hierarchy. CEOs, diplomats and celebrities are drawn to its elegant design,
central location and white glove service (and its free wi-fi connections). Four
design firms were hired to revamp the rooms at the massive (and massively
popular) 1,120-room Lotte Hotel Seoul — allowing
guests to choose between four
different room designs. The venerable 605-room Westin Chosun Seoul, known for its gracious, nearly-impeccable service
standards and central location, has been around since 1914 in many iterations,
the latest being a modern 20-storey building. The elegant Ritz-Carlton, Seoul, the newly renovated JW Marriott and the convenient Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas hotels lie on the south side of the Han, which is
closer to the city’s Coex Convention and
Exhibition Centre,
and near the headquarters of big name corporations such as Hyundai, Samsung and
Kia Motors.
Edgy
Since
land is at such a premium in Seoul’s dense central core, there are few new-from-the-ground-up
hotels. But plenty of existing hotels have received modern makeovers in recent
years. Located near City Hall, the Plaza emerged in 2010 after a complete re-do by Italian
designer Guido Ciompi. Even though many of its 400 rooms are smallish, they feel
trendy despite the gray building’s drab 1970s exterior. If you are attending
one of the big exhibitions at the Coex Centre, stay at the sleek 185-room Park Hyatt Seoul across the street. Bright rooms feature floor-to-ceiling
windows, hardwoods and spa-like bathrooms that take design cues from the hotel’s
popular rooftop gym and spa. Young urbanites also head to the 253-room W Seoul-Walkerhill hotel, located on a hillside on the eastern edge of
the downtown area.
Expense account
Many
of the best restaurants for business-class lunches or celebratory dinners are
located in Seoul’s large western-style hotels. For example, Michelin-starred
celebrity chef Pierre Gagnaire recently opened the opulent, Parisian-style Pierre Gagnaire a Seoul atop the Lotte Hotel in 2008. Similarly, the elegant
Shilla hotel offers sumptuous buffets by day and an upscale French experience
by night at its popular Continental rooftop restaurant. Most of the 21 upscale
restaurants in the sprawling Seoul Finance Center — including Western-style steakhouses, Indian
cuisine, traditional Korean fare such as bibimbap (a warm mixed rice dish) and Japanese sushi — are perfect
choices for lunch or dinner with colleagues or clients.
After
a few days in this hectic city, cool your heels and sooth your mind with a
stroll along the serene six kilometre Cheonggyecheon stream, once covered over by development, but resuscitated
in 2005 as an urban park in the middle of Seoul’s bustle.
Futurists
with some extra time on their hands should check out Songdo,
Korea’s “city of the future”, connected by a bridge to Incheon Airport. It
officially opened in 2009 and is already home to 22,000 people. By 2015, the
master-planned, sustainable city should have more than 1,000 new buildings.
Go local
To
get a glimpse of what life is like for locals, do what they do: shop! During Seoul’s
muggy summer or frigid winter days, spend some time in the city’s many urban
shopping malls, most of which are conveniently located on top of key subway
stations. The newest, flashiest mall is the enormous, light-filled,
glass-roofed Times Square, which has an almost indoor/outdoor feel. The popular Lotte
World mall is a
combination shopping mall and indoor amusement park. Business travellers in
town for conferences and exhibitions will likely find their way into the Coex
mall — Asia’s largest
underground mall.
At
night, join in with the locals at Seoul’s diverse outdoor markets,
such as Dongdaemun and Myeong-dong, both known for food as well as fashion.
Namdaemun is the city’s oldest market — its stalls are packed with everything
from electronics and clothing to pork and kimchi. If you are looking for the perfect
souvenir, check out the Insadong craft market.
Don’t do this!
Do
not assume your mobile phone will work as easily in Korea as it does elsewhere.
While cellular phone systems in most countries now use GSM technology, South
Korea uses the less-common CDMA platform, which may require renting a phone or
buying a special SIM card. Be sure to check with your mobile phone provider
before your trip to determine coverage.