Myeongdong at eight at night, where you cannot walk where you want to

Myeongdong at eight in the evening is less walking than being carried. My daughter and I were somewhere in that current.

28 March 2025, just before eight

We came out onto the street a little before eight.

Signage is stacked up on both sides and lit right down to ground level. Food stalls are out, and crowds form around them. The density of people is high enough that simply moving in the direction you want takes time.

The quality of the crowding is different from a busy district in Tokyo. People do not pool; they are constantly moving.

Going round the shops

My daughter’s purpose was shopping.

Korean fashion brands line the street — some you see in Japan, some you have never come across. In, look, out, into the next one. That repeats, indefinitely.

As the parent, your role is to carry the bags and walk behind. I did not dislike that hour. Watching what someone chooses tells you what they currently think is good.

We were still walking at nearly nine

In and out of shops, it was getting on for nine.

Come to Myeongdong as a tourist and the instinct is to go round the sights. With this district, though, walking is itself a sufficient way of having seen it. The signs and the people and the smells are all here.

Notes from this evening

• Myeongdong is in Jung-gu, Seoul. The flow of people thickens after dark
• Street-level stores of Korean fashion brands are concentrated here
• Food stalls are out, and they stop you in the middle of the street
• We walked from just before 8pm to nearly 9pm on 28 March 2025
• Shops turn over quickly here. If you have a specific one in mind, check it before you go

Visited March 2025. Store information is as it was at the time of the visit.

More from this trip to Seoul

• Breakfast in Myeongdong, Seoul: Ox-Bone Soup That Arrives Unseasoned
• Hotel 28 Myeongdong: a film-set room on a work trip
• Skip the duty-free floor, go down to the food hall