Namdaemun Market

Sprawling beside the site of the old Namdaemun gate, this is Korea's biggest and oldest market — a maze of some 1,700 kinds of goods, from kidswear and eyewear to ginseng and imported odds and ends. Come hungry: the food lanes are famous for galchi-jorim (braised hairtail), hand-cut kalguksu noodles and griddle-fresh hotteok. Retail stalls trade by day; the wholesale market runs through the small hours.