A city that works at child height.

What works, by kind of event

Theme park days anchor most family trips: Lotte World in Jamsil, half of it indoors, for younger children and bad weather days, and Everland in Yongin for the bigger rides, the safari and the pandas. Palaces and ceremonies are the uniquely Korean days out: the guard changing at Gwanghwamun, free entry for children in hanbok, and the free National Museum, which can absorb a whole rainy day. Light festivals and the Winter Festa are the perfect family evening: outdoors, spectacular at child height, and early enough to end before bedtime. Hangang park days carry the quieter time: bike hire, playgrounds, picnic deliveries and the river cruises from Yeouido and Jamsil.

The logistics that help

Convenience stores are on every corner with milk, snacks and suncream at all hours, and children under six ride the subway free with an adult. The subway beats traffic with a stroller and every station has lifts. Winter is properly cold, often well below freezing, so the indoor anchors, Lotte World Adventure, the aquariums and the museums, carry December and January; summer heat and monsoon rain argue for the same buildings at midday. Dress for the season and Korea with children is easy in the ways that matter.