Seoul has an amazing system of underground shopping malls. Most of the shopping malls are connected to major department stores like Shinsegae and Lotte. You can find entertainment, shopping, and restaurants all in one place. Perhaps the reason for this is that Korea has pretty extreme temperatures in the winter and summer, and coupled with the bad air quality pretty much year round. If you live in Korea or if you’re visiting Korea, you are bound to be looking for places to hang out indoors. This is where the underground shopping malls come into play. You can pretty much spend the whole day in these complexes, and you don’t even have to leave the subway station. Some of the malls extend to above-ground indoor malls so you can get some sunlight through the windows if you venture upstairs.
A couple of the malls have bargain shopping centers where you can buy $10 “fast fashion” clothing. They may not wash well, but they are trendy and cheap. The range of quality varies, and you get what you pay for. If you can, try to bargain at these shops. A lot of these vendors will sell designer knockoffs – in Express Bus Terminal for example, you will find runway knockoffs, as well as counterfeit products. In the department stores, you can find name brand clothes ranging from Christian Dior to Prada to Kenzo and more.
Entertainment wise, you can find movie theaters, tourist attractions such as the Seoul Sky Tower, Lotte World Amusement park, aquariums, ice skating rinks and more. Most malls have a children’s indoor playground. The price is usually anywhere from 15,000 KRW to 25,000 KRW per child for 1-2 hours. I find that they do a better job of keeping these places clean than American indoor play areas, but my kids will still get sick after playing in these indoor playgrounds. If you feel comfortable leaving your kids with the staff, they often offer babysitting for older kids while you shop.
In terms of restaurants and places to eat, you can find a wide range of cuisines and price ranges.
Express Bus Terminal (스터미널 )
My favorite underground mall is Express Bus Terminal, or in Korean, 고속버스터미널 역 pronounced “gosok terminal”. This is a major transportation hub for taking buses to other parts of Korea. But it also has so many different places to shop, things to do and eat. It’s one of my favorite places to hang out in Seoul on bad weather or bad air days. There are both high end and cheap places to shop here.
On the cheaper end, the Express Bus Terminal Goto Underground Mall is probably my favorite ghetto underground shopping mall. I feel like they have the best prices and they carry a good selection of women’s clothing.
You can also find perhaps the biggest DAISO store here, a Hangarm art store, the wholesale flower market, the Christmas market and craft market. There’s also an Artbox store, tons of restaurants including 김선생 Kim Sonsaeng (Teacher Kim in Korean) my favorite kimbap place, Shake Shack, Japanese food, and Chinese food restaurants – all kinds of restaurants.
There’s also a Shinsegae department store which is always nice. Shinsege’s basement floor has a lot of places to eat. At Shinsegae, you can find high end stores and brands, and a kids play area that is pretty affordable. I’ve never done this but you can leave your kid there and they will baby-sit while you shop.
Directions: Express Bus Terminal Station (Seoul Subway Line 3, 7, 9)
Jamsil (잠실)
Jamsil is a super family friendly area. At Jamsil station you’ll find Lotte World, Pororo Land, an ice skating rink, an aquarium, the Lotte Sky Tower, and Lotte Mall which has a ton of restaurants and shops. I think this is one of the best places for families to stay in Seoul, but the only caveat is that it’s far from places like Hongdae or Insadong or Myeongdong.
Lotte mall is super upscale and nice, and there’s a really nice kids play area here. I would just come with Valentina to hang out here some days, before she went to preschool.
I took my kids to Pororo Land and I was not impressed, but if your kids like Pororo they will love it. At Lotte Mall, you can find a $100 per person seafood buffet if you want to gorge yourself on seafood. and also a Bruxie!! Anyone from California know this place? The menu is different here though. There is a Donguri Republic store here and you can get on the cat bus! This complex basically has everything.
Directions: Jamsil Station (Seoul Subway Line 2, 8)
Coex Mall
Coex Mall is in Gangnam. You can take the subway to either Samseong station or Bongeunsa station.
The most famous thing here is the Starfield Library. You know that big library from Beauty and the Beast? They have one in real life at this mall. But they also have lots of shops and places to eat.
Like Jamsil, COEX is not a ghetto bargain shopping mall. There are a lot of underground passageways but you’ll find ordinary Korean stores and a few foreign brands. Its not as upscale as Jamsil, but it’s not a super local shopping mall either. It’s more midrange.
There is an aquarium here. If you are a Kpop fan, you can visit SM town. I also like to stop by Aland for my favorite Korean skincare products.
Parnas mall is connected to the Starfield mall and it has some nicer stores and places to eat, including Japanese, American and other foreign brands.
Directions: Samseong Station (Seoul Subway Line 2), connected to Exits 5 & 6, or Bongeunsa Station.
Times Square Mall (타임스퀘어)
Times Square Mall is located at Yeongdeungpo Station. This is another shopping mall that has a large underground shopping area, but this is not my favorite because I feel like the underground mall carries outdated and tacky clothes for the most part, for Korean ahjummas.
The shopping mall itself is really big and there are a lot of stores here. There is an E-mart on the basement floor. They have a Din Tai Fun so that is why we came here, and also a Sushi Ro (conveyor belt sushi).
The thing that I noticed was that there was a kids role playing play area here called Kids and Keys, where kids can pretend to be different professions, kind of like Kidzania in Japan. It seems pretty cool and I plan to bring my kids here to check it out.
Directions: Yeongdeungpo Station (Seoul Subway Line 1)
Gangnam Station Underground Shopping Mall
Gangnam station has an underground clothing shopping mall which I like. I find it a little more manageable then the Goto Mall at Express Bus Terminal (which is also in Gangnam). But unlike the other malls I mentioned, Gangnam Station isn’t connected to a major department store like Shinsegae or anything. You can actually walk underground all the way to Sinnonhyeon Station and exiting on to Gangnam-daero Road for more shopping, but that’s going to be outdoors.
Directions: Gangnam Station (Seoul Subway Line 2, Shinbundang Line)
Concluding Remarks
These are the top 5 underground shopping malls in Seoul. There are a ton of other mini underground shopping areas in subway stations, but I think these are the biggest and most popular. I believe there are also underground shopping areas in Myeongdong, Namdaemun, Dongdaemun, and other stations. A lot of times in random subway stations you’ll see a K- beauty chain shop, or a bakery which is nice. Not all stations have underground shopping areas though.
I hope you enjoyed this guide and found it helpful.