The Best Places to Drink and Stay in 효자동

A cocktail bar inside a converted hanok, the traditional Korean timber house, that has landed on both Asia's 50 Best Bars and the World's 50 Best Bars lists. The concept is soju, treated seriously, with the bar team building signature cocktails from both classic and fruit-forward versions of Korea's national spirit. The low wooden rooms do most of the atmospheric heavy lifting, and the drinks handle the rest.

1. The 50 #53 · The World's 50 Best Bars
2. The 50 #6 · Asia’s 50 Best Bars
3. The Infatuation Where To Eat & Drink When You're Visiting Seoul

A cocktail bar set inside a traditional hanok, with a leafy courtyard at its center and milk-white walls that make the whole room feel like a deep breath. The drinks are built around childhood memory, each one a loose translation of a smell or a moment, a trip to the market, honey pulled from a garden flower. Asia's 50 Best Bars has it on its Discovery list, which is the kind of quiet endorsement that tends not to stay quiet for long.

1. The 50 #63 · Asia’s 50 Best Bars
2. Difford's Guide Difford's Guide

A restored hanok in Bukchon's heritage district, paired with the Western-style house next door, makes up this small boutique hotel where guests choose between floor bedding in the traditional Korean rooms or a conventional bed. The courtyard garden is a genuine rarity at this density, and there's a terrace view to go with it. It's quiet in the way that makes you forget you're in the middle of Seoul, which takes some doing.

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