I’ve been in Seoul for almost 3 Months this year. From what I’ve seen there are quite many rooms being rented on Craigslist and many of the posts are serious and not some rip-offs like in other places. I’ve stayed in a room from Craigslist and it was great and I saw there were quite a few others too.

Personally I would not recommend Itaewon because it’s really a foreigner ghetto there. I’ve been in Songpa (one of the less central areas) and I was quite happy there. Obviously many people do not speak English, but I’ve had the impression they usually try their best to be able to communicate, and learning the Korean characters is super easy which also helps (took me about 4 hours).

One of the things I really enjoyed in Seoul is that there are tons of 24h cafes, which was great for me because I usually work at night.

Ok let’s go to Hanoi this year

I lived in Seoul for 4 years.

Its a tough housing market because of the key money concept. Basically, the landlord asks for 6-8 months rent up front as a security deposit.

You could look for goshiwon/goshitels. They are one room places that cater to students. I just found this site http://www.habang.co.kr/b_go_se_en?ckattempt=1

The other thing you could do is look into Itaewon/Haebangchon, the foreign ghetto. It can suck, but the language barrier won’t be so bad.

Good luck.

Hi @kathrynoh, I am also planning to visit South Korea for 3 months from July to October this year. Have been looking through AirBnb and Couch Surfing but yet to find any good deals. Most of the Couch Surfers are looking at a few days while longer term would be AirBnb and hostels. Do you think house sitting is available in Seoul or something?

I’ve been thinking about going to Seoul for a while this year and would be interested in knowing too.

I have had a look through Airbnb listings and some are by companies that you can google and book with direct, possibly making it a bit cheaper.

I lived in Jamsil, Song-pa for a year and it was quite oppressive. I would recommend Bundang for sure.

Hello, James.

I’m from Seoul, South Korea, so I might be of help to help you understand those areas to some extent.

Dobonggu is a less fancy district compared to other two areas. There is a mountain called ‘Bukhansan’ known for a beautiful hiking trail. But shops/restaurants/gyms and other facilities could be less various. Rents in Dobonggu are one of the cheapest in Seoul.

Songpagu is one of the four infamous districts in Gangnam (which literally means the southern area of Han River but it is more conceived of as the area in which rich and wealthy people live) where rents are the highest and the fervor for education is just frantic. The education level in these areas is top-notch in the whole country and parents can be very demanding. But it could be good in terms of living as there are so many entertaining/leisure/cultural facilities around you.

Bundang is outside of Seoul and it takes about 40-50 minutes to enter Seoul area with public transport. Bundang is a very well-established new town and people who choose to live there are more likely to have preference to a laid-back lifestyle within urban surroundings. Although it’s less crowded than Seoul, the so-called ‘education fever’ is as high as the districts in Gangnam.

I haven’t lived in these areas in person so I can’t give you more detailed information. But hopefully this will help you guys decide where to live. And don’t worry about finding gyms, restaurants, or cafes wherever you choose to live. They are everywhere. Cheers.

Hi @gonchs,

I can thoroughly recommend the co-working space Hive Arena (http://en.hivearena.com/) in Seoul. I’ve only managed to make it there a couple of times as I’m not living in Seoul, however every time the people there have been super friendly. You can just turn up and pay for a day at at time if you don’t want to get a membership.

They also have a Slack team, which is a nice way of keeping in touch with people.

Hope that helps!

Simon