JULY 2024: SEOUL | BUSAN | GYEONGJU
We visited Korea in July 2024 and during the trip I got very interested in collecting stamps and stickers. I couldn’t find much information on where to locate stamps so I thought I should share those we came across in Seoul, Busan and Gyeongju. Will include some info on stickers too cos stickers rock.
Visit Korean heritage campaign
It’s worth knowing there is a program called the Visit Korean heritage campaign / Korean heritage passport tour where you can apply for a stamp passport before your trip and collect it when you arrive. We didn’t do this as we didn’t know about it beforehand.
More info about the passport tour:
Ten paths & visiting courses to Seowon and mountain temples in Korea
Note: Some of the location links below are Naver based, cos once you’re in Korea, these will be the most useful to help you find how to get somewhere. You’ll probably need the Naver app to open those links.
SEOUL
Incheon airport promotion hall
Address: Terminal 1, Transportation Center, B1, 271 Gonghang-ro, Jung-gu, Incheon Metropolitan City. Nearer to airport subway side and near to Burger King.
Visit Korean heritage campaign > Promotion hall (Incheeon airport)
Address: Public parking lot, Saraga Shopping Center entrance, Yeonhui-mat-ro 23
This was the first stamp tour box we chanced upon during our trip! It was #2 of 5 stamps in the Seodaemun district’s stamp tour. We happened to pass by after visiting the amazing knitting store Banul Story.
Address: 161 Sajik-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Inside Sarang art shop & cafe inside the palace compounds.
Visit Korean heritage campaign > The royal road > Course 2 > Gyeongbokgung palace
National Palace Museum of Korea
Address: Seoul Jongno-gu Sejongno 1-57.
1st floor of the building.There were 3 stamps and beautiful bookmark-like papers were provided for visitors to stamp on.
Address: 99 Yulgok-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul. At the Changdeokgung information center / Sarang art shop and cafe which is outside the palace compounds.
Visit Korean heritage campaign > The royal road > Course 1 > Changdeokgung Palace
Address: 157 Jongro, Jongro-gu, Seoul. Go through the entrance and the stamp is on the side.
Visit Korean heritage campaign > The royal road > Course 1 & Course 2 > Seeds
Address: https://naver.me/xKEz1QBj. Stamp is at the information booth on 2F, between exit 2 and 3.
One has to ask the staff at the information counter for the stamp, which is a Korail stamp.
Address: Seoul Jongno-gu Nuha-dong 1-10
A stationery shop with beautiful aesthetics, gorgeous merchandise and displays. Friendly and inviting, there is a table for customers to play with the shop’s stamps and stationery.
Address: Seoul Seongdong-gu 1(il)-ga Seongsu-dong 16-39
A stationery shop that we had to queue to get in! Incredibly beautiful decor like a museum gallery. They had many stamps which were free to use.
Address: Seoul Jongno-gu Pirun-dong 146-1
A cute stationery and fancy shop with generous free stickers and stamps.
Address: Seoul Mapo-gu Donggyo-dong 155-20
A stamp shop with lots of stamps for sale, and a section with free stamps.
Address: Seoul Jung-gu 2(i)-ga Hoehyeon-dong 87
A stationery shop with beautiful stamps but the atmosphere was unfriendly.
Address: Seoul Mapo-gu Seogyo-dong 347-30
A very cute coffee shop with great coffee and pretty free stickers.
This was one of my scrapbook spreads with stamps and stickers from some of the above shops:
BUSAN
Busan has a program called Galmaetgil with a variety of walking courses and stamps to collect. I came across a detailed pdf map, but it might since be outdated. Check for the latest location information on their website here.
Haeundae tourist information center
Address: Busan Haeundae-gu 1(il)-dong U 620-3
This tourist center was along the Haeundae beach and the stamp features the iconic Sky Capsule. This location was a stop on Durunubi, a walking trail of approximately 4,500 km that connects the outskirts of Korea. It has an accompanying Durunubi app with the locations of stops and stamps, but the app was all in Korean and required a local’s login. My guess is that the stamp is at the last stop of each walking route. This stamp was part of the Haeparang-gil Course 2.
Gwangalli Tourist Information Center
Address: Busan Suyeong-gu Gwangan-dong 192-20
They had 2 stamps, 1 of the iconic Gwangalli bridge and one with that day’s date. Image of the information center building taken from Naver.
Address: 35.15229° N, 129.15257° E
There was a stamp booth on the island, part of the Galmaetgil 2-1 walking course. The stamp design was probably simpler as it was a midway point.
Gamcheon village stamp tour
You can buy the Gamcheon culture village stamp map at the Gamcheon village information center for 2000 won, and walk around the gorgeous village in search of the 12 stamps to complete the stamp course.
Address of Gamcheon village information center: Busan Saha-gu Gamcheon-dong 1-14
There was a shop called Daljip / 달집 in Gamcheon village that sells special postage stamps with beautiful Gamcheon-themed art. You can also choose to have your postcards sent at a date of your choice.
Address: Busan Saha-gu Gamcheon-dong 9-74
Busan tourist information center
Address: Busan Jung-gu 4(sa)-ga Nampo-dong 18-2
3 cute stamps inside, 2 of which feature Boogi, a seagull that is Busan’s mascot.
A beautiful blue themed village along the coast. If you happen to venture to this area, there is also a shop selling special local design postage stamps, called Maeumeul Damda .
Address: Busan Yeongdo-gu 4(sa)-ga Yeongseon-dong 984
And a cat themed shop, Huinnyeoul art shop / Sosohan Huinyeoul, with a stamp for customers.
Address: Busan Yeongdo-gu 4(sa)-ga Yeongseon-dong 1045
Jeolyeong coastal walk entrance
Address: 186-84 Yeongseon-dong 4(sa)-ga, Yeongdo-gu, Busan, South Korea
This was at the base of the Huinnyeoul village and had another 3 Galmaetgil stamps! By this time I was hooked on stamps and made sure to take proper photos of the booth and location.
The stamps are from Galmaetgil 3-2, 3-3 and 4-1.
BEXCO / Suyeong stamp
Address: 35°10’02.2″N 129°08’09.0″E
We stumbled upon this out of nowhere by a path, close to the BEXCO 1st exhibition gate 6. It looks like it might be part of the Galmaetgil but has no number on it. Perhaps loosely associated with course 8-2? The third photo is a screenshot from Google maps, it’s where I think the stamp station was.
GYEONGJU
From what I could see and understand, there are 3 stamp programs in Gyeongju.
1. Gyeongju cultural heritage stamp tour
Has 16 round shaped red stamps that can be stamped onto a booklet provided at stamp locations. I’ll refer to this as the “Cultural heritage stamp tour”. this is what I found from instagram:
I forgot to take a photo of our booklet before I defaced it in my travel sketchbook, these were the 4 red stamps we collected:
2. Gyeongju Famous Mountain Silla Oak Itgi stamp tour / 경주 명산 오크잇기 스탬프투어
Comprises 20 rectangular shaped stamps that we came across in red, blue and green inks, housed in an iconic wooden holder with a mountain ridge design. Locations and more details here. I’ll refer to this as the “Famous mountain stamp tour”
Part of a program created by Gyeongju city to promote smart tourism, but I wasn’t able to participate without a local login.
Gyeongju (express railroad) aka Singyeongju train station
Address: https://naver.me/xNLv0dgl
Had two areas with stamps:
1. Gyeongju tourist information centre has a stamp under the Famous mountain stamp tour.
2. Korail ticketing counter had 4 stamps though the ink was a bit diluted. The stamps feature:
– Korea railroad 100th anniversary stamp
– Nawon > Old Nawon Station, Nawon-ri Five-story Stone Pagoda
Tour guide and tourist information
Address: Gyeongsangbuk-do Gyeongju-si Poseok-ro 1080.
Located in the Gyeongju city center, this had a stamp under the Famous mountain stamp tour.
Daereungwon / Daereungwon Ancient Tombs Gyeongjusi Historical Park
Address: Gyeongsangbuk-do Gyeongju-si Hwangnam-dong 31-1. Near #2 on the map, Cheonmachong tomb.
There were 3 stamps here!
1. Visit Korean heritage > The way of the millennium spirit > Gyeongju Daereungwon
2. Famous Mountain stamp tour
3. Cultural heritage stamp tour
The rolling green hill tombs here as well as scattered around Gyeongju were my fav thing about this city.
Address: Gyeongsangbuk-do Gyeongju-si Inwang-dong 839-1
There were 4 stamps here! 3 from Visit Korean heritage passport tour > The way of the millennium spirit > Cheomseongdae observatory, Gyeongju Gyerim, and Gyeongju Wolseung. And 1 from the Cultural heritage stamp tour.
Gyochon village / Gyeongju Gyo Village Hanok Village
Address: Gyeongsangbuk-do Gyeongju-si Gyochon-gil 39-2
There were 2 stamps here. 1 from Famous mountain stamp tour and 1 from Cultural heritage stamp tour.
Donggung and Wolji (Anapji Pond)
Address: Gyeongsangbuk-do Gyeongju-si Inwang-dong 506-1
A beautiful palace grounds nestled among lakes, with 1 stamp from the Cultural heritage stamp tour. The stamp station is on the right of the entrance.
Address: Gyeongsangbuk-do Gyeongju-si Bukjeong-ro 50 (customer lounge in the parking lot)
This was the most unexpected place to find a stamp in! It was inside a market, by the carpark, with a used cigarette placed neatly by the side. Part of the Famous mountain stamp tour.
Central market / Jungang Market
Address: Gyeongsangbuk-do Gyeongju-si Geumseong-ro 295
This was the hardest stamp location to find, it felt hopeless and we almost gave up! We had to translate the floorplan and search the map inch by inch lol. The stamp station was unexpectedly tucked in the middle of the wet market?! It is at section 6 near the carpark entrance. Look for the dark blue text where my finger is pointing in the map below to find it. “안내소” translates as “information bureau”.
Zero per zero / Zero Space Gyeongju
Address: Gyeongsangbuk-do Gyeongju-si Hwangnam-dong 278-2
A stationery shop with lots of cute stickers and free stamps + a paper to stamp on. It’s the left page in the 4th image below, obscured by scrapbooking graffiti unfortunately.
Address: Gyeongsangbuk-do Gyeongju-si Sajeong-dong 36
Lovely cafe with lots of outdoor space and free stickers.
Address: Gyeongsangbuk-do Gyeongju-si Nodong-dong 43-1
Our fav coffee in Gyeongju, in fact I thought it was one of the best coffees in the world! Has a cool view of the ancient tombs as well as both a sticker and stamp.
Address: Gyeongsangbuk-do Gyeongju-si Hwangnam-dong 229-12
This pretty hanok cafe with interesting desserts had some of the most gorgeous free stickers.
END NOTES
I have never noticed stickers everywhere so much in my life. At some point I started peeling off stickers from packaging whenever I came across them. This was one of our fav coffee places in Seoul btw, Abu coffee. Spot the Abu sticker in the spread!
Address: Seoul Jongno-gu Gyeonji-dong 68-19
This was also the first time I actively collected stamps, stickers and washi tape during a trip, and got to dip into my partner’s stash as well! I tried scrapbooking on the go, using Posca markers to create layers. The act of collecting added an exciting dimension to the trip, and interweaving what we collected with what we continued to create upon, turned out to be such a fun and meaningful way to travel. My sketchbook was a Traveler’s notebook 027 watercolor paper btw, here are a couple more spreads:
I hope this was useful for someone. Please leave a comment if you’ve come across more stamps in Korea we should know about!