Namdaemun Galchi Alley: Which Day Is It Closed, and How Do You Get There?
Bottom line: There is only one day to avoid when visiting the braised-hairtail-fish (galchi-jorim) alley at Namdaemun Market — Sunday. Take subway Line 4 to Hoehyeon Station, Exit 5, turn right and walk straight ahead; across from the Sungnyemun Import Arcade you will find an alley of more than 15 specialty hairtail-fish restaurants. The whole alley closes along with the rest of the market every Sunday.
If you didn't know: Show up on a Sunday without knowing this, and every restaurant in the alley will be shut, leaving you no choice but to turn around. Between walking back to Hoehyeon Station and hunting down a replacement meal, you lose at least 20 minutes on the spot — and your whole lunch or dinner plan falls apart.
Name Namdaemun Market Galchi-jorim (braised hairtail) Alley · Location around 16-17 Namdaemunsijang-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, across from the Sungnyemun Import Arcade · How to get there Subway Line 4, Hoehyeon Station Exit 5, turn right and walk straight · Number of restaurants 15+ · Closed every Sunday (same as the whole market) · Opening hours, individual prices and card acceptance vary by restaurant and are not covered by one official source — check the sign at each shop or ask staff on the spot.
The location, directions, the fact that more than 15 restaurants operate here, and the name of an actual shop in the alley, Jeonju Sikdang, come from an introduction to the Namdaemun galchi-jorim alley published by Seoul Media Hub (mediahub.seoul.go.kr), run by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The market's overall hours and Sunday closure were confirmed in the same Seoul city source. That source does not cover individual restaurants' hours, prices or card acceptance, so this article states plainly that those details could not be confirmed from official sources. This was checked on the 2026-11-09 screen of that Seoul Media Hub article.
Journey stage: During the trip · Verified 2026-11-09
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