Spotlight On
Welcome to a special South Korea-focused edition of our newsletter. I’m just back from a week in Seoul for Virtuoso’s annual Symposium, a luxury-travel-industry meeting of the minds. My first visit to South Korea’s megacity – population 10 million! – was an immersion in K-beauty (top find at Olive Young, the country’s answer to Sephora: Round Lab Birch Juice sunscreen), street food (I loved the hodugwaja, walnut cakes with custard filling), and gracious hospitality. Highlights included a morning run along the Han River, a traditional 18-step head spa session at a Park Jun salon (my scalp is glowing), and wandering through shops and cafés in the 600-year-old alleyways of Jongno-gu near Gyeongbokgung Palace – a spot-on recommendation from Conrad Seoul chief concierge Chloe Kim, who shared her hometown insider’s picks.
South Korea’s capital keeps leveling up its cool factor. These days, Seoul draws travelers seeking the viral Rejuran (salmon DNA) facial’s lit-from-within glow, post-treatment skincare products recommended by bubbly staff at any of the city’s hundreds of Olive Young branches,
How to Spend a Day in Coastal-
Take Seoul's cosmopolitan energy, buzzing markets, and epic shopping, throw in some balmy weather and gorgeous beaches, and you’ve got Busan. South Korea’s second-largest city, which sits on the southeastern edge of the Korean Peninsula, pairs street food with seaside breezes, traditional artisan shops
Four Must-Visit Cocktail Bars in Seoul
For a long time, Seoul’s bar scene was dominated by beer, Korean spirits soju and makgeolli, and etiquette such as receiving drinks with two hands. Then, in 2015, Speakeasy Mortar opened in the city’s glamorous Hannam-dong neighborhood, marked by all the usual trappings (discreet address, robust whisky selection, no-photos-allowed policy). The bar quickly captured the attention of a younger, more creative generation of entrepreneurs eager to rewrite the nightlife norms in their hometown.
, founder of Korean home fragrance brand
, shares what she’s been loving lately. Photography by Ninevon Studio.
Packing:
– the best way to make instant friends abroad.
Reading: Nietzsche’s
– one page at a time, for years now.
Watching: Drive to Survive , the
Dreaming of: Darjeeling, India. I want to watch tea-leaf harvesting under a full moon.
