In my blog post dated 13 December 2018, I have introduced two interesting venues in Seoul where you could get a taste of art while doing other activities. Let’s talk about two more interesting venues in this blog post.

Arc N Book

This is a cultural space selling books and lifestyle products (e.g., stationery, bags, small home appliances, etc.).  Its decoration is of artistic vintage style with a “Harry Potter”-style feeling.  The bookstore area is divided into 4 themed sections, namely, Daily (family, daily living, career, investment, etc.), Weekend (hobbies, leisure, sports, etc.), Style (fashion, culture, art, etc.) and Inspiration (travel, philosophy, history, science, movie, etc.), and stocks around 30,000 books with a good collection of English books.  Book talks are also held in this place from time to time. Popular photo spots include archways built with books and red telephone kiosks housing computer stations for book search.  There are comfortable sofas and benches where you could grab your favourite book and read leisurely.   There are also several restaurants providing different styles of cuisine like Taiwanese style, pizza, Japanese style, etc. and a bread and coffee corner.

This is a good place where book-lovers could enjoy their time under an artistic atmosphere.  This is also the filming location of the Korean drama, “Romance is a Bonus Book” (로맨스는 별책부록). It is conveniently located at Exit 1-1 of Euljiro 1(il)-ga station on subway line number 2.

You can do a quick tour of this place by watching this video.

Seoul Botanic Park

The Seoul Botanic Park combines the concepts of “botanical garden” and “park”, and is divided into 4 sections, namely, Forest Field, Botanic Garden, Lake Garden and Marsh Garden, displaying over 3,000 types of plants. There is a greenhouse maintaining high temperature and humidity to house tropical and Mediterranean plants.  There is also a seed library where visitors could find seeds of different types of plants and borrow seeds for free.  Apart from plants, you could also find artistic objects and art exhibitions held in this place.   When I visited there in July 2019, there were some artistic decorations made with plants, umbrellas and artificial flowers, and an art exhibition of Roe Dong-sik entitled “Spring, Spring, Spring” showing works of cotton based on his memories of the cotton gin shop run by his mother.

The Seoul Botanic Park is conveniently located at the Exit 1, 2, 3 or 4 of Magongnaru Station on subway line number 9. You can have a quick tour of the Seoul Botanic Park by clicking this link.

Next time when you visit Seoul, don’t forget to visit the above two places to get a taste of art while enjoying other activities as well – good places to spend your time leisurely.

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