Drinking Coffee in Seoul

Seoul has got a crazy cafe scene. In addition to the chain cafes and the mom and pop shops found just about everywhere, there are loads of theme cafes like dog and cat cafes, cafes with sheep, cafes with birds flying around, Hello Kitty or Charlie Brown themed cafes and the list goes on and on.  If you're looking for unique places to sip your coffee, Hongdae Three Hundred has reviewed loads of places in the Hongik University area.    

During our vacation, we hit up Tom's Cat Cafe in Hongdae and the Board Game Cafe in Gangnam.  Both relatively 'easy' to find once you know where they are, but seem like you're searching for a needle in a haystack when you're wandering around with instructions like "its not far from the station", as so many kind bloggers have posted. Some photos for your viewing pleasure along with my attempt at directions, but my best advice to you is to just call 1330, Seoul's 24 hour (English) Tourist Information Hotline when you're not sure.  They are so helpful!

Tom's Cat Cafe, Hongdae

He was my absolute favorite one!

As the pictures suggest, you drink coffee, pet cats and take pictures.  I'm not much of a cat person, but for the experience I would suggest it at least once for anyone looking to change it up a bit from their regular cafe scene.  For Tom's Cat Cafe, take exit 9 at Hongik University... and... actually, I forget exactly, but you need to find the Lush and turn left there.  It's directly across from the Artbox, on the 3rd floor.   You order a drink and admission is included in the price.  I had the Red Velvet Latte for 8,000 won--it was really good!

The Board Game Cafe, Gangnam

We were disappointed to find out the board game cafe we were looking for in Hongdae had been closed for over a year, so we headed to Gangnam station where we heard there were lots.  1330 gave us instructions to this place, as it was the closest one to the station.  To get to The Board Game Cafe (the sign is in Hangeul) take exit 11 and walk straight until you see the Lotte Cinema.  Turn right and walk one block.  Turn right again, and you'll see it on the 3rd floor of the Mini-Stop building.  You pay 3,000 won per person per hour plus drinks, for two people we paid 16,000 won for an hour of playing various games (Jenga, Battleship and a German game called Geister).  Normally, the people working there explain the rules of the games, but our attendants that day didn't seem too confident in explaining the rules to us in English, so she asked us to pick a game we already knew.  Geister had instructions in German and English, so we could figure it out on our own.