A BTS Themed Weekend In Seoul

The first thing to know about Seoul is that it is absolutely massive. A week let alone a weekend is not enough to explore everything the city has to offer so while we live in South Korea, we decided to make each trip to Seoul have a focus. After a spontaneous decision by myself and a friend, we made our first trip to Seoul all BTS themed. 

I’ve been a fan of the huge boy group since March 2020.  As the city that has shaped the groups success, there is so much you can do here, from restaurants they ate in as trainees to photoshoot locations.  What we achieved during this weekend was a small snippet of what you can do if you want to spend a weekend focused on everything Bangtan. 

We travelled during the weekend of the 5th November and chose this date for two reasons.  The first, the Permission to Dance Pop-up store was open and second, it was one of the last weekends before HYBE Insight closed for refurbishments and a new exhibition. We centered our short trip around these two attractions and everything else was a bonus! 

I would recommend this itinerary to anyone who has a short schedule but wants to see the highlights.

Day 1. 

We got up early and after a quick breakfast headed straight for the subway. We stayed in Itaewon due to its good central position to our main points of interest and the Seoul Station. The popular tourist area was really quiet due to the ongoing travel restrictions for COVID-19 which meant there were no concerns about booked restaurants or packed streets. During our walk to the subway that morning we also came across the famous Noksapyeong Bridge (녹사평육교) and Dambam restaurant from the popular K-Drama Itaewon Class. V also featured in an OST for the drama. 

Our first stop was in Gangnam to the original Bighit Building where it all started!  This was the main Bighit office until the company moved in 2017. Take subway line 3 to Sinsa station. From here, it is a short walk to the building which is called Cheonggu Building. The address is 13-20 Dosan-daero, 16-gul, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 06040. 

Although the building is off the main road and down a side street, if you’ve seen pictures before online you’ll recognize it as you start your approach. The building is covered with notes and messages from fans around the world.  I think they power-wash the messages off every so often as there wasn’t a huge amount. We also couldn’t see the building sign that said BigHit on it anymore - I imagine this has now finally been removed.  We enjoyed reading people's sweet and sometimes bizarre messages and took a few photos.  

From here we headed to the bus stop on the main street to take a detour from our BTS trip to visit the COEX mall. 100% not needed as there are no real BTS related sites here but since we were in the area, we wanted to see the COEX library and the Gangnam Style statue.  This turned out to be hilarious as there is a plaque describing the impact of Gangnam Style on the global music market but also the option to watch the music video.  I didn’t realise it would play the whole video + the song on loud speaker but it certainly drew some attention! 

The library was gorgeous and is worth a visit if you’re in the area.  For those who are fans of SM artists, there is also a short path called ‘k-pop walk’ which features the handprints of SHINee members and other idols.

From CEOX Mall we took subway line 2 to Gangnam station.  This popular shopping street is also home to the new Line Friends flagship store.  Previously located in Itaewon, the store is now in Gangnam and features two floors with majority BT21 stock. I finally got my hands on a Koya pillow and also grabbed other items that were definitely a want and not a need such as an RJ plushie for my computer monitor at work and a Cookie sleeping mask.  

Our HYBE Insight reservation was set for 3.35pm but after a leisurely breakfast, we did feel a bit pressed for time. We headed straight to Ichon station on line 4 to walk the short distance to HYBE. In 2020, Bighit Entertainment changed its name to HYBE and moved from their small offices in Gangnam to a brand new building in Yongsan. 

It towers over the other smaller buildings in the area and looks so impressive. With 40 minutes to spare, we found a small local restaurant that served tteokbokki all whilst surrounded by BTS and Marvel merchandise. The owner even had three screens to watch, one playing the news, one playing a marvel movie and the last playing various BTS music videos. We ate quickly here but it was homemade and delicious. 

Finally we headed to HYBE to visit HYBE Insight.  This is the museum and exhibition HYBE operates underneath the main buildings for fans to discover the music, production and other elements of the artistry. Larger bags cannot be taken into the museum but there is a free bag drop with lockers. Lucky for us as we had so much from our previous trip to Line Friends! 

The museum is split into two parts, an area where no photos and videos are allowed and the second area where photos and videos are encouraged.  The first area explores the production behind HYBEs artists and includes performance videos, interactive displays and interviews with the artists themselves.  There was a lot of content we had never seen before so we really enjoyed this!  The next area is the trophy room where a short video proceeds showing the actual trophies.  It was an amazing way to display the achievements of BTS and other groups and was well worth its own section. 

The next area is now part 2 of the experience where videos and photos are allowed.  This starts with the BTS X James Jean Seven Phases exhibition.  There is a video and written explanation for the inspiration behind the work as well as the sketches and small and large works of the artist. James Jean depicted each of the BTS members in their own piece, taking inspiration from their personality and public persona. I had seen these pieces online before but in real life they are so vibrant and have so much texture.  I was really glad we got to see these before the exhibition closed at the end of November. 

The next area was a virtual reality zone where we were invited to play a game through the app to win a small prize.  I didn’t fully understand the goal of the game but you held your phone up to different areas of the room and gained points for each area.  In this room was also a rhythm game and a device which presented the base of the song DNA.  If you touched it, you could feel the vibrations of the bass. 

The final area held clothing displays, a motion project and other memorabilia from artists.  The highlights for me were getting to see the Dior Hobi Mic Drop fit in person and seeing the Butter albums that the BTS members decorated themselves for a video a few months ago.  Before the exit there was a final film which highlighted various artists in HYBE and their personal journey with songwriting, music and artistry. 

The museum ended with a gift shop which of course me and Holly had to get too excited for.  I ended up purchasing a HYBE t-shirt to wear at home, a photocard set and the Peach Butter album since I didn’t own it yet.  I was so impressed with HYBE Insight and thought it was well worth the money to enter. The exhibitions were interesting and there was a lot of new content for fans to enjoy.  I’m also grateful that we were able to explore HYBE Insight whilst it is still quiet. Our tour group was not at capacity and meant we could enjoy the exhibitions without queues and crowds. I hope this stays the same for international fans in the future.

The tour took the whole two hours that were designated and we then headed straight back to Itaewon to drop our bags and relax. We went to Gry’s NY Pizza for dinner that night and enjoyed a terrace view out over the city. That evening we tried out a few cocktail spots and bars along the upper Itaewon streets and found that the area has so much to offer when it comes to cute dining and drinking places. ​

Day 2. 

The next day we headed out early after grabbing some breakfast at the Flying Pan in Itaewon.  We headed over to Seongsu on line 2 to visit the Permission to Dance pop up store. This was in a really odd part of town, the streets felt much older and more residential.  The pop-up itself is located underground by a car park and unless you knew it was there would be easy to overlook.  It seemed you could reserve a ticket but even without this we were able to walk straight in. The pop-up itself didn’t seem to have any related PTD merch but was rather a clever way to get rid of surplus stock.  There was merch from the collaboration with the Seoul tourism board, butter merch, McDonalds collab merch and Map of the Soul tour merch. I bought a BTS X Seoul t-shirt and a Map of the Soul Tour Photocard Book.  

Aside from what was on sale, the clothing from the PTD music video was on display to look at which was a fun addition.  There was also old tour footage being projected onto the wall and a Butter themed photo corner. Overall, I enjoyed the experience but we were disappointed that there wasn't any merch from the recent PTD online concert or offline concerts that were held in LA. 

To make our way back to Itaewon we thought we’d do a spot of Namjooning and hired Seoul city bikes to cycle along the Han River. The bikes were fairly easy to hire, we did get the help of a friendly local to get them started, but once we had them they were easy to ride and cheap! City bikes costs 2,000won for a two hour hike so we happily rode back along the river.  The bike lanes are clear and safe and I could instantly understand why RM and other members enjoy riding along the river so much.  This was one of the highlights of our trip for me and I can’t wait to go back to ride along the Han further.

Dropping off the city bikes at the bottom of Itaewon, we walked the rest of the journey back to our hotel. Our quick weekend in Seoul was almost over as we took the subway back to Seoul Station to catch the KTX to Daegu. 

Armed with a whole other bag that I didn’t have on the way there, we were both super satisfied with the weekend and what we had been able to do in the short amount of time. If you have a weekend in Seoul, this was the perfect itinerary to make for a fulfilling and fun weekend. 

This winter we are planning to spend a week in the Seoul area.  I can’t wait to share more about the capital city with you in the near future! 

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