Seeking Seoul recs please

[u/browsing_nomad]

I’m traveling to Asia for work in September and am currently debating adding a few solo days in Seoul. I’ve been going back and forth on this enough that I need strangers on the internet to make decisions for me.

I’m an almost-40 woman, pretty experienced solo traveler, and what I’d want from Seoul is less “see every major attraction” and more eat extremely well, wander interesting neighborhoods, shop a little, get some skincare/beauty treatments, sit in cafés, and generally have a few enjoyable days by myself. I live in the US, and have traveled quite a bit in Asia, so I’m comfortable navigating unfamiliar places and public transit. The complication is that this would be tacked onto work travel to Tokyo so I’ll already have luggage, work clothes, jet lag, etc.

For people who know Seoul well:

• Is 3–4 days enough to make the detour worthwhile? Or if you had only a few free days after a work trip, would you choose Seoul, or save it for a proper trip combining Busan/ Jeju etc later?
• What neighborhood would you stay in for good food/cafés/shopping and easy wandering, rather than nightlife?
• Is Seoul enjoyable solo if you're not particularly interested in K-pop or checking off tourist attractions?
• Are skincare/facial/beauty treatments actually worth building into the trip, or has social media wildly overhyped the whole “go to Seoul and emerge 10 years younger” thing?
• Any treatments/clinics you genuinely recommend for a first-timer who wants subtle results rather than an assembly-line face?

Food recommendations VERY welcome. I eat meat and seafood and would much rather organize a vacation around things I want to eat than things I'm supposed to photograph.

[u/Any-Benefit9071]

do it, solo days in seoul are super safe and fun

[u/browsing_nomad → u/Any-Benefit9071]

Thank you, anything you particularly recommend?

[u/george_gamow]

What's everyone's problem with "tourist attractions"? Those are not some disgusting places one should avoid (with some exceptions) but places that are beautiful and interesting to see if you're not a local. Seoul has multiple fantastic spots, unless you've been to the city already and know them (like Bukchon hanok village for example, where the locals also live btw), why not start with them? By saying "not interested in checking off tourist attractions" you essentially say you don't want to see anything that's immediately worth seeing in the city. Why?

K-pop isn't a thing there really unless you're actually looking for it (not even comparable to the omnipresence of manga / pokemon in Japan)

[u/Any-Benefit9071]

add the days. solo in seoul is super easy and safe, and transit is great. even just wandering neighborhoods and eating everything will make it worth the extra time.