Namdaemun Market
남대문시장
A district of independent shops rather than a single venue. Plan your visit around what you want to buy, and check the hours of the specialist arcades separately.
Language
Place information
- Korean name
- 남대문시장
- Address
- 21 Namdaemunsijang 4-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul
- Nearest station
- Hoehyeon (Namdaemun Market) Station (회현역, Line 4) (Exit 7)
- Opening hours
- Mon~Fri 00:00–23:00 varies by shop
- Closed
- Every Sun
- Hours notes
- Visit Seoul lists weekday hours only and gives no hours for Saturday.
- Admission
- No entry fee — you pay each vendor
History
1414
Began as government-supervised shops
Its origin is traced to the state letting a few merchants trade from government-leased shop spaces, in the fourteenth year of King Taejong.
1608
Regional produce arrived with the Seonhyecheong
The Seonhyecheong, the office created to handle the rice, cloth and coin collected under the new tribute-tax law, was set up in what is now Namchang-dong, and goods from the provinces began to be traded here as well.
1897
The first modern permanent market
1964
Run as a company owned jointly by landlords and traders
After a merchants' federation formed following liberation in 1945, the market became a joint-stock company funded together by building owners and traders.
What to see
Specialty alleys
The market's own site groups its best-known alleys and streets by what they sell or serve: the food alley, the children's wear street, the women's wear street, the souvenir street, the military-goods alley, the bedding alley, the eyewear street, the stationery alley, the camera street, 1414 Bon Market, the braised-cutlassfish alley and the kalguksu alley.
Children's wear street
The centre of Namdaemun's children's clothing trade. Traders here make the clothes they sell, which keeps prices competitive, and the street is busy with wholesale buyers before dawn and retail shoppers during the day.
1414 Bon Market
The old Bondong street, renamed through a specialty-street programme. Around 60 shops in six trades — produce, snacks and side dishes, seafood and dried fish, daily necessities, butchers and general restaurants — line its A-block and B-block alleys, and it connects to the braised-cutlassfish alley.
Clothing arcades
Visit Seoul points to arcades such as Daedo, Daedo Lady, Queen Plaza and Jangttimoa for men's and women's clothing, and describes the market's children's wear arcades as large enough to account for 80% of Korea's children's clothing market. It adds that most goods traded at Namdaemun are made by the merchants who sell them.
Specialty alleys selected
Nearby
Frequently asked questions
How is it different from Gwangjang Market?
Gwangjang is built around a food alley you sit down in; Namdaemun is a shopping district where you eat while moving. Gwangjang's general market also closes on Sundays, but its food alley stays open until 23:00.
Do I need cash?
Whether cards are accepted varies from shop to shop. If you plan to stop at small stalls or snack stands, bring a little cash.
Stories about this place
- A Day Beyond Myeongdong's Shopping Streets: Four Walkable Stops
Browse Namdaemun's specialist streets, look inside Myeongdong Cathedral, explore Shinsegae's buildings and finish at N Seoul Tower. The route links four different stops in one day.
- Six Seoul Traditional Markets, Compared: Food, Opening Days and Tips
Gwangjang, Noryangjin, Namdaemun, Tongin, Gyeongdong and Mangwon compared on what to eat and buy, who each suits, Sunday opening, opening hours and which station to use. The six do not stand in for one another, so choose by day and hour rather than by what they sell.
