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Hi, I’m SeoulAslanJongno 3-ga Pocha Street: Which of 3 Areas to Pick (2026)
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Checked Oct 22, 2026
Jongno 3-ga has three pocha areas, not one, and the best one for a first visit is the tent street on Donhwamun-ro 11-gil (돈화문로11길), which starts at Exit 6 of Jongno 3-ga Station. If you are hungry and want a proper dinner, pick the Galmaegisal BBQ alley instead, about 40 m away on the map. The third area, Gwansu-dong, is across the main road near Exits 13 to 15 and suits a second visit. Time Out named the neighbourhood the coolest in the world on Sept 16, 2026, and the lanes have been busy since.
I used to go to Jongno a lot when I was young. I ate there, and I dated there. My job moved far away, so these days I hardly ever go. When I did go back near the end of COVID, the streets felt bleak and I had trouble finding a pocha at all. Now it seems to have turned into a night street full of visitors from abroad, so I looked into what is where. I have not been back at night since, so this is research from city and press sources, not a night report, and the photos are official ones with credits.
Jump to: Which area to pick · Side by side · Tent street · Galmaegisal alley · Gwansu-dong · Seosunra-gil · One evening, three stops · Getting there · Tips · FAQ
Which Jongno 3-ga pocha area should you pick?
"Pocha" is short for pojangmacha (포장마차), a tent bar with plastic stools. Most guides treat Jongno 3-ga as one street, but the area has three separate scenes, plus one calm street for afterwards. Which one suits you depends on your plan.
| Your plan | Go to | Why |
|---|---|---|
| First time, you want the classic tent scene | Tent street, Donhwamun-ro 11-gil | It is the stretch in the photos, and Exit 6 comes up right on it |
| You want dinner with a grill on the table | Galmaegisal alley | Restaurants with outdoor grill tables; foreign visitors are easy to spot here |
| Two people, or you want to be seated sooner | Galmaegisal alley | Built around restaurant tables, not tent benches |
| You want older owners and seafood | Gwansu-dong tents | Owners with 20+ years in the business; live octopus, sea squirt, sea cucumber |
| You don't drink much | Galmaegisal alley, or Seosunra-gil | The tent street is built around drinks |
| Round two, or a quieter finish | Seosunra-gil | Cafes and bars facing the Jongmyo wall, calmer than the tent street |
How do the three areas compare?
| Tent street | Galmaegisal alley | Gwansu-dong | Seosunra-gil | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feel | Loud, packed, the famous one | Lively, restaurant-style, hanok backdrop | Old-school tent bars | Calm, along a stone wall |
| What it is | Orange tents plus restaurant tables outdoors | Korean BBQ restaurants with grill tables in the lane | Tent pochas run by long-time owners | Cafes, bars, craft and jewellery studios |
| Typical food | Jeon (pancakes), sannakji (live octopus), dakbal (chicken feet), odeng-tang | Galmaegisal (pork skirt) and other grilled pork | Dakbal, odolppyeo (pork cartilage), chicken gizzards, live octopus, sea squirt, sea cucumber, ramyeon, udon | Drinks, light bites |
| Crowd | Busiest: queues at every stall on a weekday at 8 pm | Full on weekdays, many foreign visitors | Seats can be hard to get | Calmer than the tent street |
| Nearest exit | Exit 6 (starts here) | Exit 6, about 40 m | Exit 15 is closest on the map; sources also list 13 and 14 | Exit 11 |
| Best time | From 6 pm | From 6 pm | Early evening | After dinner |
Prices are posted on each stall's menu board, so ask before you order.
What is the tent street on Donhwamun-ro 11-gil like?
This is the one in the photos. The alley is about 200 m long and runs between the Nakwon Arcade end near Exit 5 and the Exit 3 and 6 end, with orange tents and restaurant tables mixed together. It exists because Seoul removed about 600 street vendors in 2009, and many of them regrouped here. In November 2024 Jongno-gu made it the district's first "sangsaeng" (shared-growth) street: street stalls are capped at 5.5 m by 3 m, trading runs from 6 pm to 4 am, regular shops keep to one row along their storefront, and three violations can get a stall dropped from the scheme. One lane was closed to cars in the evening when the scheme began.
Sales data from the city show how concentrated it is: 43.7% of the stretch's food and drink sales in the second quarter of 2026 came between 5 pm and 9 pm. On a weekday at about 8 pm on Sept 21, two or three of every ten people at the outdoor tables were foreign visitors, and a reporter found every stall full with three or four groups waiting at each.
What to order. Kimchi-jeon, sannakji, golbaengi (sea snails), dakbal and odeng-tang are the usual picks. What I like: it is the full pocha picture, and Exit 6 puts you in the middle of it. What to know: it is the busiest of the three, some stalls want a minimum order, and there are no restrooms in the tents. A public restroom nearby is open until 4 am.
Is the Galmaegisal alley a pocha?
Not in the tent sense. It is a lane of Korean BBQ restaurants, some in old shopfronts and some in converted hanok, with grill tables set out on the alley (갈매기살 is galmaegisal, pork skirt). The entrance at 돈화문로11가길 7 is about 40 m from Exit 6, between the tent street and Ikseon-dong. Jongno-gu made it its second sangsaeng street in October 2025, with the same 6 pm to 4 am window.
Foreign visitors are very noticeable here. An Australian visitor in her twenties told the Seoul Shinmun the outdoor Korean BBQ was clean and as tasty as she had hoped. This is the area I would send two hungry people to: you get a real meal and a table, rather than a bench and a plate of snacks. The trade-off is that BBQ costs more per head than jeon and soju, and it has less of the tent-and-stool look.
What are the Gwansu-dong tents?
Cross the main Jongno road and there is an older row of tent pochas in Gwansu-dong (관수동), between the Pascucci cafe and Gukilgwan (국일관). The Korea Tourism Organization says many of the owners here have more than 20 years in the business, and it lists live octopus, sea squirt and sea cucumber, plus udon and ramyeon. A 2023 Esquire Korea piece says you can walk into almost any tent here and eat well, names one that serves grilled dakbal, odolppyeo and chicken gizzards, and notes that seats were hard to get.
On the map, Exit 15 is closest, about 90 m in a straight line from the Gukilgwan end and a little under 200 m from the Pascucci end. The tourism organization names Exit 13 and a Daum feature names Exits 14 and 15, so any of the three works; walk toward the Pascucci cafe. Menus are mostly in Korean, so use a translation app and point.
Where does Seosunra-gil fit in?
Seosunra-gil (서순라길, spelled Seosulla-gil by Time Out) is not a pocha, and that is the point. The lane runs along the Jongmyo stone wall, and Seoul city's guides place it at Exit 11, about 3 minutes' walk from the station. It is calmer than the tent street, with cafes, bars, craft studios and jewellery workshops facing the wall, which is why I treat it as round two.
How to do all three in one evening
The tent street, the BBQ alley and Seosunra-gil are all on the north side of the main road and close to each other, so one evening covers them. Gwansu-dong is across the road, so save it for another night.
| Time | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| About 6 pm | Galmaegisal alley | Sit down for BBQ before the lane fills |
| About 8 pm | Tent street | Share a jeon and a bottle at the busiest hour |
| After 9:30 pm | Seosunra-gil | A calmer drink along the wall |
If you only have time for one, take the tent street. It has the most atmosphere, Exit 6 delivers you onto it, and it is the stretch the district now manages most actively. Go at 6 pm, because by 7 pm in late September a reporter found the alley already full. The BBQ alley is the better call if you are a couple, hungry or not fond of queues, and Gwansu-dong is the more interesting second visit.
How do you get to Jongno 3-ga from the airport?
Jongno 3-ga Station (종로3가역) is on Lines 1, 3 and 5. From Incheon, the AREX Express runs non-stop to Seoul Station in about 43 minutes from Terminal 1, and then Line 1 takes you three stops to Jongno 3-ga. From Gimpo, Line 5 runs straight there.
| From | Route | Changes |
|---|---|---|
| Incheon Airport, AREX Express | To Seoul Station (about 43 min from T1), then Line 1, three stops | 1 |
| Incheon Airport, AREX all-stop | To Seoul Station (about 59 min from T1), then Line 1, three stops | 1 |
| Gimpo Airport | Line 5, straight to Jongno 3-ga | 0 |
| Seoul Station | Line 1, three stops | 0 |
| Myeongdong | Line 4 to Chungmuro, then Line 3, two stops | 1 |
| Hongdae | Line 2 to City Hall, then Line 1, two stops | 1 |
| Gangnam | Line 2 to Gyodae, then Line 3 toward Daehwa | 1 |
The AREX Express is sold at the airport counter for 13,000 won, and it only goes to Seoul Station. If you would like the ticket on your phone before you land, Klook sells the same train as a voucher with a QR code, listed at US$8.50 on Oct 22 (AREX Express voucher on Klook). Our Incheon Airport to Seoul guide and the AREX Express vs all-stop comparison cover the other options.
The standard subway fare is 1,550 won with a transit card and 1,650 won for a single-use ticket, since the June 28, 2025 increase.
Getting home late. Subways wind down around midnight, so check your own line and direction on Naver Map before the second round, and read Getting around after midnight. Taxis add a surcharge from 10 pm to 4 am: 20% from 10 to 11 pm and from 2 to 4 am, and up to 40% from 11 pm to 2 am. Our Seoul taxi guide has the rest. Keep your hotel's address written in Korean.
What should you know before you go?
- Cash. Bring some. One Gwansu-dong tent that Esquire Korea recommended in 2023 did not take cards, so ask before you sit down.
- Ordering without Korean. Point at a neighbouring table's dish and hold up fingers for the number. Ask the price with 얼마예요? (eolma-yeyo, "how much is it?") and order with 이거 주세요 (igeo juseyo, "this one, please"). Start with two shared dishes and add more.
- Restrooms. None in the tents. There is a public restroom nearby open until 4 am, and the district is expanding a scheme that opens shop toilets to the public.
- Smoking. Jongno-gu has said it will designate smoking areas and add bins, so expect smoke at open tables for now.
- Manners. Stay in the pedestrian lane, tidy your table when you leave and keep to pocha volume.
Naver Map pins
| # | Place | Naver Map |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jongno 3-ga Station Exit 6, start of the tent street (종로3가역 6번 출구) | Open |
| 2 | Galmaegisal alley entrance (돈화문로11가길 7) | Open |
| 3 | Exit 15, for the Gwansu-dong tents (종로3가역 15번 출구) | Open |
| 4 | Exit 11, for Seosunra-gil (종로3가역 11번 출구) | Open |
What is changing on the street
Jongno-gu announced new measures on Sept 29: tougher action against stalls that spill past their permitted space, designated smoking areas with more bins, more shops opening their toilets to the public, and daily water cleaning around Nakwon Arcade and Songhae-gil (송해길, the road beside the tent street, not the pocha street itself). The crowds are also seasonal: merchants told iNews24 that colder weather cuts the visitors, so the summer and early autumn rush may ease by winter. I will watch how the rules and the queues change after the Time Out ranking.
Jongno was where I ate and dated when I was young, and I never expected to see it ranked first in the world. I hope the new rules keep the lanes easy to walk.
FAQ
Which Jongno 3-ga pocha area is best for first-timers?
The tent street on Donhwamun-ro 11-gil, for the classic look. If you want a full dinner instead of snacks, the Galmaegisal BBQ alley next to Exit 6 is the better call.
Is the Galmaegisal alley a pocha?
Not in the tent sense. It is a lane of BBQ restaurants with grill tables outside, but Jongno-gu manages it as a sangsaeng street alongside the tent street.
Which exit do I use for the Jongno 3-ga tent street?
Exit 6 of Jongno 3-ga Station. It comes up on Donhwamun-ro 11-gil, and the Galmaegisal alley entrance is about 40 m from it. For Gwansu-dong use Exit 15, and for Seosunra-gil use Exit 11.
What time should I arrive at the Jongno 3-ga pocha street?
Around 6 pm. The managed stalls trade from 6 pm to 4 am, and in late September the lanes were full by 7 pm and every stall had a queue by 8 pm.
Is Jongno 3-ga worth visiting in winter?
The stalls are outdoors and merchants say colder weather cuts visitors, so dress warmly and expect shorter queues. Time Out singled out autumn, when the ginkgo trees along the streets turn gold.
More Seoul guides
Sources
- Time Out: the world's coolest neighbourhood 2026, Sept 16, 2026 · Korea.net: Jongno 3-ga ranked first, third in 2021, Sept 18, 2026
- Seoul Metropolitan Government: a walk through Jongno 3-ga, day to night (Korean), Oct 6, 2026 · card news on Jongno 3-ga's alleys (Korean), Oct 13, 2026 · Jongno 3-ga walk including the pocha street and Exit 11 (Korean), 2021
- Kyunghyang Shinmun (Korean): Sept 23, 2026 field report · Sept 29, 2026, Jongno-gu measures
- Seoul Shinmun (Korean): Sept 23, 2026, sales data and visitors · iNews24 (Korean): Sept 30, 2026
- Hangang Times (Korean): sangsaeng street rules, Sept 29, 2026 · Money Today (Korean): July 16, 2024 · Hankyung Magazine (Korean): June 2023
- Korea Tourism Organization (Korean): Jongno 3-ga pojangmacha street · Jongno 3-ga Station pojangmacha street · Esquire Korea (Korean): 2023 · Daum (Korean): pocha streets around the station
- Exit positions: OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), cross-checked against Naver Map · Wikipedia, Jongno 3(sam)-ga station
- Airport and fares: our Incheon Airport guide · Incheon Airport Corporation, AREX Express (Korean) · Korea JoongAng Daily, subway fares from June 28, 2025 · Newsis, Seoul taxi night surcharge (Korean), Oct 2022 · Klook: AREX Express voucher, read Oct 22, 2026
- Photos: Jo Yeon and Seoul Metropolitan Government (KOGL Type 4, used unaltered with credit) · Korea Tourism Organization (KOGL Type 1 and Type 3)
— SeoulAslan
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