“good (not great)”
good hotel. rooms could probably use an update but my wife thought it was just fine. had computer w/internet in the room which is wonderful as well as possibility to plug in my own laptop. staff speak english wonderfully which is very helpful. restaurant downstairs is expensive and mediocre food. subway is a bit of a walk (10 minutes at slow pace). there is a club in the basement or something that plays very loud music which can be somewhat annoying. we were on 9th floor and could hear it just fine, i can't imagine the lower floors. overall the hotel is very good. seems very nice at first glance but just could use some updating of rooms and better restaurant.
Area recommendations
Gangnam is a very nice area. all the nice hotels are here as well as the bus station. do not stay close to incheon unless you get in late or are leaving very early, incheon is not close to seoul really. itaewon is good (it's the foreigner area). Myeong-dong is good as well. Many areas are just fine and with the very extensive subway you can get almost anywhere pretty quick. Make sure to have a good subway map with you. don't take taxis unless you are going a very short distance. seoul is a huge city and taking a taxi will get very expensive if you are traveling alone or with just one other person.
Getting around
Use the subway. they are pretty cheap (around one dollar (US) per person, each way). taxis start at around 2 dollars and can get a little expensive as seoul is quite an enormous city.
What to pack
Seoul has all four season, in winter it will be very cold and probably snowing, in summer it will be hot and humid, there is also a rainy season to watch out for in mid-july through early august when it is hot, humid, and rainy. be sensible. you will probably walk quite a bit if you are vacationing so bring comfortable clothes that are season appropriate. in winter, you'll need a good coat, in summer not so much.
Must see
there are 5 main palaces in seoul that are all very different. at least hit up gyeongbuk palace, it's enormous, old, and important (the historical trifecta). for foreign restaurants go to Itaewon, it's a street where you can find everything from steak to burgers to kebabs to mexican food though you will pay very nicely for the foreign food (our mexican food bill was around 40-45 dollars). but it's nice if you live elsewhere in korea and can't get the food. the national museum of korea is extremely big (like 6th biggest in the world) and has important things to korea. if you are not very interested in korean history, you may want to just skip this but it still may be worth a peak if you have an afternoon. the N Seoul Tower is also very cool if you want a view of Seoul. It's a small version of the Space Needle from Seattle basically built on a mountain in Seoul so you can see everything. Also, the stream that goes through downtown (Cheongyechong or something like that, not that Han River (Hangang)) is very nice. A bit controversial for some Koreans but it's nice for foreigners and is very pretty at night if you go towards Gwanghwamun Plaza (look for the blue and red cone and walk there and it's right there off the subway stop across the street).
Dining
Korean restaurants mostly all taste the same. you can get samgypsol which is just fatty pork on a griddle served with kimchi, a semi-spicy bean paste, garlic (not very potent so eat up), and lettuce to wrap it all in. you'll also get many other side dishes depending on the restaurants but they'll all be vegetables that are pickled, smell funny, and are in ample supply. Kraze Burger is a burger place in Korea that makes a pretty good burger but it's kind of expensive. good if you're craving a non-fast food hamburger. there are many western restaurants like bennigans, tony roma's, papa johns, dominos, pizza hut, mcdonalds, burger king, starbucks (as well as literally hundreds of other coffee places), dunkin donuts, krispy kreme, and many many others. if you want western food, you're fine. just find a busy area and you're set. or just go to itaewon and you can find something. most waiters will speak at least passable english and all menus pretty much have english on them or they have an all english menu.
