A Book Lover's Guide to Seoul

If you are a book lover, you must know how heavy books can be. Specifically, when you are packing for a study abroad experience, you would want to bring as many books as you can, however, to save room, it's impossible to bring all the books you would like. 

So, if you are coming to Seoul, here are some places that will satisfy your love for books while you are here.

BOOK CAFEs

If you did not already know, cafes in Korea are on a whole other level. The beauty of the spaces, the creative themes, the elaborate and unique drinks, and the desserts (so many yummy options to choose from). 

Seoul has many book cafes located around the city which makes the city a perfect place for book lovers. 

My favorite and number one cafe recommendation is Check_grow. This cafe has nine floors and a rooftop so there are many places to sit and relax. The cafe has a rustic aesthetic as all the walls are wooden and it has beautiful amber lights hanging around. The best part is that there are books on almost every floor of the cafe which are free to use by the guests. There are endless comfy spaces and reading nooks for people to relax in. It is seriously any book fiend’s dream cafe. One of the perks of this cafe are the big glass windows that show a view of the Han River. I recommend going later in the day so you can eat a dessert, while watching the sunset and reading a new book.

Another notable cafe to mention is Cafe Comma, which has six floors and an amazing view of Seoul as well. It carries many books for customers as well, although most of them are in Hangul I still recommend visiting at least once!

STARFIELD LIBRARY

Starfield library is located at the Coex mall, one of the biggest and coolest malls in Korea. Although Starfield tends to be filled with tourists coming in and out, it should be on your Seoul bucket list because it is worth seeing at least once. The entire walls are filled with stories and stories of different novels. The books there are free to use, and they carry many English books for people to read. It is one of prettiest libraries I have seen in my life, and it is like a reading wonderland. 

BOOK STORES

Seoul has bookstores all around the city, though it can be hard to find ones written in English, there are still options. I recommend checking out Itaewon Foreign Bookstore, which is dedicated to having books for foreigners, so they carry many languages. The selection there is great as the whole shop is stacked with books and there are many unique finds. Other places to check out would be Kybo books, and Youngpoong Bookstore. They have great selections of books that are in English and hangul. They also carry other items such as magazines and magna.