Customer Reviews

LUXE Seoul (Luxe City Guides)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a very good guide. It is very small (size of about 10 small envelopes) and easily fits in the back pocket. It contains no maps or detailed description of any one place of interest. But it does contain a good overview of places to go and few tidbits on why a destination is recommended.

Contrary to what some may suggest (much to Luxe's own marketing), this guide does not contain the secrets which the Seoulites would not know. For example, although the guide provides some good places to visit in ChunDamDong (hip and expensive section of Seoul), my relatives in Korea had far greater knowledge of the area and places to visit.

It should also be noted that Korea is very peculiar about one's age and one should choose its destination carefully because entering a night club, for example, unsuitable for one's age is not accepted (you will not be able to enter if you look like you do not belong).

This almost happened to me when I went to HongIk (college town) nightclub recommended by this guide and I found it was for college students and a proper attire was a revealing bikini or lingerie for the college ladies. This was fine except I was too old (haha).

I highly recommend visiting Seoul as it is one of the most exciting cities in the world. It has world class restaurants, entertainment, and low crime (you can walk around at night without fear), and ultraclean. Plus, it is ultramodern and its skyline is comparable to Manhattan without the occassional urban blight and trash. The service level is also generally high. You do not need to rent a car since the cab fare is very low (subsidized by the government) and Seoul's efficient and worldclass subway system is amazing in its coverage of the entire city and beyond and is easy to use for English speaking foreigners. Finally, you do not need to worry about being stuck in the "wrong" section of the city since there is no such thing as "slum" in the city. All the old "slums" have been systematically bought out and developed by the government.

This is a good guide if you are totally new to Seoul. But the best guide is still a friend or relative who have been living in the city for a while.

There are not many guidebooks available for Seoul, but thank goodness for this little book. It really is all you need to see the sights of Seoul. Great recommendations on restaurants and hotels. I also had the Lonely Planet book for Seoul but I found myself consulting the Luxe guide more. Overall, it was a great trip because of this book.

A few years ago I used the Tokyo LUXE guide and was amazed at how dead-on it was. Great insights that even the locals are amazed at. I am excited to use the Seoul guide during my upcoming trip. I even bought a dozen to give to my various hosts as gifts. Sounds crazy to give a Korean guide to Koreans, but it's that good!

Don't spend your money on this! This $10 pamphlet is a total waste of money! I've spent lot's of time in Seoul and this booklet provides nothing you can't get from a generic travel guide; plus travel guides give you maps of the City itself and the Seoul subway system that you can easily use to get everywhere. The LUXE guide only gives a very limited and biased sample of shops, hotels, spas, restaurants and cultural sites to go to and they are all, with the exception of the DMZ, in downtown Seoul. Seoul has so much more to offer. Buy another book.

It's pretty useless. I would say its comparable to some free guide you can pick up at the airport tourist help desk. Don't waste your money.

I am a big user of popout maps and lonely planet guides.
This luxe guide may seem compact but its contents are literally full-of-bull. It's as if someone from another planet landed in Seoul and then wrote this guide.
If you were to follow it's recommendations, you would
end up in all the tourist traps and overpriced restaurants. A huge waste of $. I am never purchasing
a Luxe guide again.