K-Drama Travel Guide: 15 Real Seoul Filming Locations You Can Actually Visit
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There’s a specific thing that happens when you visit a K-drama filming location. You recognize the street before you consciously realize why. Then it clicks — that corner, that café, those steps. And the show, which you watched on a laptop in a different country, is suddenly standing around you in three dimensions.
K-dramas use Seoul the way great films use their cities. Not as backdrop, but as character. The city turns up in scene after scene — the same neighborhoods, the same palaces, the same bridge — until you feel like you know the place before you’ve ever been.
This guide is for people who want to stand in those scenes.
How to Use This Guide
The locations below are organized by neighborhood, not by drama. Most areas cluster multiple filming sites within walking distance of each other. You don’t need to have watched every drama listed — if a location is beautiful or interesting on its own, it’s included.
Dramas referenced: Crash Landing on You (2019), Goblin (2016), Itaewon Class (2020), My Love from the Star (2013), Start-Up (2020), Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha (2021), Mr. Sunshine (2018), Descendants of the Sun (2016), Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon (2017), and others.
Bukchon and Jongno: The Historical Core
1. Bukchon Hanok Village
Dramas: Goblin, Mr. Sunshine, numerous historical dramas
The narrow lanes of Bukchon appear so frequently in period dramas that the neighborhood has become synonymous with the “traditional Seoul” aesthetic. The most photographed stretch — Bukchon-ro 11-gil — shows up in everything from historical epics to modern romances using the rooftops as a visual shorthand for the old city.
What to know: Arrive before 9am. The light is better and the crowds are thinner. The actual residents have been vocal about overtourism; please be quiet and don’t photograph into windows.
Getting there: Anguk Station (Line 3), Exit 2. 10-minute walk.
2. Gyeongbokgung Palace
Dramas: Mr. Sunshine, Jewel in the Palace, The Red Sleeve
The main throne hall (Geunjeongjeon) and its stone-paved ceremonial courtyard appear in nearly every historical drama set in the Joseon era. The floating pavilion, Gyeonghoeru, is used for royal banquet scenes.
The free “Royal Guard Changing Ceremony” takes place at the main gate (Gwanghwamun) at 10am and 2pm daily — the costumes and choreography look exactly like period drama scenes because they’re based on the same historical records that informed those dramas.
Getting there: Gyeongbokgung Station (Line 3), Exit 5.
3. Unhyeongung Palace
Dramas: Goblin, Mr. Sunshine
Less visited than Gyeongbokgung but more intimate. The compact palace complex (former residence of Emperor Gojong’s regent) appears in several scenes in Goblin where the time-displaced character wanders through his historical past. The architecture is quieter and more domestic than the grand palaces.
Free admission. 5 minutes walk from Anguk Station.
Hongdae and Mapo: The Modern Drama Neighborhood
4. Yeonnam-dong and Gyeongui Line Forest Park
Dramas: Start-Up, Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon
The Gyeongui Line was a railway that ran through western Seoul. The tracks were removed in 2012 and replaced with a 6km linear park — a narrow strip of greenery, cafés, and boutiques that now runs through Hongdae and Yeonnam-dong.
In Start-Up, key early scenes between the leads take place along this path. The distinctively named cafés and colorful storefronts along Yeonnam-dong’s main street (Donggyoro) appear throughout the drama. It also feels, even without the drama context, like one of the best casual walks in Seoul.
5. Mangwon Bridge and Hangang Park
Dramas: Crash Landing on You, While You Were Sleeping
The Han River parks appear in almost every contemporary romance drama in Korea. The Mangwon area parks are less crowded than Yeouido and feel more like what Seoul residents actually use — rental bikes, barbecue spots, families.
In Crash Landing on You, the Han River appears in several key scenes. The specific view from the Mangwon area toward the north bank is recognizable to anyone who watched it.
Itaewon and Yongsan: Drama District
6. Itaewon-ro Main Street
Dramas: Itaewon Class (nearly the entire series)
Itaewon Class is essentially a love letter to this neighborhood, built around a specific pojangmacha (food tent) that the protagonist builds into a restaurant empire. The actual filming location for DanBam, the drama’s central restaurant, is on the main Itaewon street near Hamilton Hotel.
The neighborhood has changed significantly since 2020 (both from the tragedy of 2022 and from ongoing gentrification), but the main street geography is recognizable. The drama helped drive tourism to Itaewon; the neighborhood’s recovery has partly been built on it.
7. Namsan Stairs and Pedestrian Paths
Dramas: Goblin, My Love from the Star, Crash Landing on You
The network of pedestrian staircases on Namsan’s north slope appears repeatedly in Korean drama — long uphill walks in the dark, meaningful rooftop scenes, conversations on stone steps. The paths are free, well-maintained, and run through forested sections of the mountain.
The best route: start near Namsangol Hanok Village (which itself appears in several period dramas) and walk up through the forest to N Seoul Tower.
Mapo Bridge and the Han River
8. Mapo Bridge
Dramas: Goblin, Crash Landing on You, While You Were Sleeping
The bridge appears so frequently in K-drama that it’s effectively its own genre trope — the dramatic middle-of-the-night confrontation, the reconciliation scene, the contemplative walk. In Goblin, the bridge is the site of one of the series’ most devastating early sequences.
The bridge has also been the site of a major Seoul city initiative to address suicide — the LED installations and volunteer presences along the railing are part of this program. Worth being aware of the context.
Best visited at night when the river is lit.
9. Dongjakdaegyo (Dongjak Bridge)
Dramas: Descendants of the Sun
The Han River bridge sequences in Descendants of the Sun were largely filmed here. At night, with the city lit on both banks, the view from the pedestrian walkway is genuinely cinematic.
Hongdae University Area
10. Hongdae Free Market and Street Performances
Dramas: Strong Woman Do Bong-Soon, My Love from the Star
The performing arts street near Hongik University appears in dramas as a setting for chance encounters and spontaneous musical moments — realistic given that actual street performers here play on weekends. The atmosphere of the drama scenes matches what you’ll find on a Saturday afternoon.
Insadong and Samcheong-dong
11. Samcheong-dong Main Street
Dramas: Goblin, Boys Over Flowers, My Love from the Star
The gallery street running north from Gyeongbokgung through Samcheong-dong is one of the most filmed streets in Seoul. The combination of modern galleries, traditional teahouses, and views of the mountains to the north create a visual language that appears constantly in Korean drama.
The cafés here are real and good. Budget time to sit and drink something.
12. Jogyesa Temple
Dramas: Crash Landing on You, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (Goblin)
The large temple in central Seoul appears in several dramas as a place of contemplation or plot-significant prayer. The 500-year-old trees in the courtyard appear in the Goblin series; their size makes them unmistakable on screen.
Day Trips: Filming Locations Outside Seoul
13. Nami Island (남이섬) — Winter Sonata
One hour from Seoul by express bus and ferry. Nami Island became internationally famous as the filming location for Winter Sonata (2002), which is credited with helping launch the Korean Wave globally. The tree-lined paths and small-town aesthetic look exactly as they did on screen. The island has leaned into the drama tourism deliberately — statues, photo spots, and exhibits about the production.
14. Petite France, Gapyeong — My Love from the Star, Running Man
A French-themed cultural village in Gyeonggi-do, 1.5 hours from Seoul. Appears in several dramas for its distinctively European aesthetic (deliberately incongruous in a Korean mountain setting). Worth combining with a visit to Nami Island on the same day.
15. Jeonju Hanok Village — Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha and others
Jeonju, 2 hours from Seoul by KTX, has the largest remaining hanok village in Korea — hundreds of traditional houses on a hill above the modern city. Filming here appears across multiple dramas. Jeonju is also the birthplace of bibimbap; eating it here, where it originated, is an entirely different experience from eating it in Seoul.
Practical Notes
Photography: Most locations are public spaces. Some (palaces, temples) have specific photography restrictions. Always check signage.
When to go: Spring and autumn light are both exceptional for photography. The cherry blossoms in early April and the autumn foliage in October-November make even familiar scenes look different.
K-drama apps: The apps Dramabeans and HanCinema have filming location databases for specific dramas — useful if you want to track down a specific scene location you remember.
The thing about K-drama filming locations is that Seoul was already a great city to walk through. The dramas just gave you a reason to notice specific corners of it more carefully.
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