Seoul

The capital runs on contrast. Six-hundred-year-old palace gates open onto glass towers; a lantern-lit hanok lane in Bukchon sits a subway stop from the neon of Hongdae. The Han River splits the city in two, and from the top of Namsan the whole sprawl glitters at night — old and new stacked on the same hill.

Spend a morning under the painted eaves of Gyeongbokgung, browse the food stalls of Gwangjang Market, then lose an evening to the back-alley barbecue and cafés of Euljiro. From royal shrines to designer flagships in Gangnam, this is where every Seoul thread — what to do, where to eat, sleep, and shop — comes together in one place.