If you like shopping and want to go on a treasure hunt at weekends, Seoul’s flea markets are must-go places for you. In this blog post, let’s talk about some of Seoul’s well-known flea markets.

Seoul Folk Flea Market (서울 풍물시장)

If you like things from the good old days, you should visit the Seoul Folk Flea Market. It has opened since April 2008, and is about 5  minutes’ walk from Exit 6, 9 or 10 of the Sinseol-dong subway station. Unlike the usual flea markets which open at weekends only, this flea market opens all year round from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. except the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month. In this flea market, apart from a variety of used everyday items, there are traditional goods and food and souvenirs – you may even find some rare traditional items which you cannot find in other markets.  There are also performances by the traditional Korean percussion bands in this flea market.

The Seoul Folk Flea Market is housed in a two-storey building which is divided into seven zones by colours: red (food court), orange (regional specialties), yellow (secondhand vintage goods like typewriters, telephones), green (antiques like antique furniture and arts), blue (fashion accessories), indigo (clothing, paintings, calligraphy, and hanji (traditional handmade Korean paper)), and violet (miscellaneous goods like electronics goods and tools). You can take a walk of this flea market by watching this video.

Hongdae Free Market (홍대 프리마켓)

Hongdae Free Market has opened since 2002 and is located in the Hongdae area, which is well-known as the mecca of creative arts by young artists. So, unlike the usual flea markets, this flea market does not offer used goods but only sells creative products (e.g., handicrafts, jewelry, accessories, handmade dolls) made by young artists, and anyone is welcome to participate in this flea market as an artist. There are also music and dance performances and workshops for you to enjoy.  It opens from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. every Saturday from March to November. It is located in the Hongik University Playground Park which is about 9 minutes’ walk from Exit 9 of the Hongik University subway station or about 8 minutes’ walk from Exit 1 of Sangsu subway station. You can have a quick tour of the Hongdae Free Market by watching this video.

Seocho Saturday Flea Market

The Seocho Saturday Flea Market is the largest and oldest flea market in South Korea. It runs down the entire 800-meter long street near Exit 14 of the Sadang subway station. This flea market sells all sorts of secondhand products (clothes, shoes, wallets, handbags, watches, hats, jewelry, gloves, books, etc.) at bargain prices but does not sell food. It opens from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Saturday. You can take a quick tour of this flea market by watching this video.

Next time you visit Seoul, please don’t forget to visit the flea markets in Seoul to get some good bargains.  Happy treasure hunting! 🙂

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References:

Seoul Best 100, Seoul Metropolitan Government, December 2016

Lee Sun-young, Kim Young-won and Sang Youn-joo, “Seoul’s best flea markets“, The Korea Herald, 2012-09-21