A gay couple take a trip to Seoul, South Korea – here’s what they found
The Korean wave has spirited us to a nation that is taking the world by storm – from pop to skincare. We explore South Korea’s capital Seoul
When Virgin Atlantic announced direct flights from London to Seoul, I knew it was time to finally venture to the nation radiating “hallyu” – aka the “Korean Wave”– of K-pop, K-drama, K-film and K-beauty.
My partner and I book one of the airline’s first flights in early April, which happily coincides with the cherry blossom bloom. While it is most associated with Japan, South Koreans treasure their abundance of flowering trees too, and there are plenty to admire on our trip.
After arriving in Seoul, we meet with Ryan Choi, an American-based travel agent who organises group trips to his homeland. I know him through various travel conventions, and our stays happen to overlap.
The season of the Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival
He takes us to the Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival along a street lined with an incredible 1,600 of the trees. It runs parallel with the broad Han River that splits the capital into its northern and southern regions.
A country of contrasts
The sun is shining, and people are peacefully strolling and stopping for photos of the flowers that are popping against the blue sky. When we near the end of the street, we see an old lady holding an official-looking sign with text printed on it in Korean. It is only when I see Choi’s face that I realise something is amiss.
He tells me that the sign says: “Homosexuality is not a special right. Oppose the anti-discrimination law.”
It is so odd to see a sign promoting discrimination, and this woman is on her own in the crowd, at a family-friendly festival of nature of all places. As we turn and look across the street, we spot a huge circular brick church, and we suspect this is where this person’s views were formed.
Around 30 per cent of the South Korean population is Christian, with roughly 16 per cent practising Buddhism and around half of the nation being non-religious. Despite being a relative minority of the overall population, the Christian proportion is a powerful lobbying group.
South Korea and homosexuality
Homosexuality in South Korea is legal – except when serving in the military, which all able-bodied men must do for about two years. But opinion polls on LGBTQ+ rights don’t paint a pretty picture, with a recent survey showing 56 per cent of South Koreans still view homosexuality as “morally unacceptable”.
Thankfully, there are signs of change: in late 2025, the Population and Housing Census officially recognised same-sex couples for the first time. Also, in March this year, the first official LGBTQ+ committee was formed to tackle bullying of queer pupils and lack of inclusion within the school curriculum. And in June, the 27th Seoul Queer Culture Festival took place.
Finding LGBTQ+-friendly places to stay in Seoul
Knowing about these mixed attitudes before our trip, we used Booking.com’s Travel Proud programme to choose our hotels. This filter allowed us to find accommodation where the staff have received diversity training. Although the programme has proved a success internationally, the selection of hotels that has taken up the free training in South Korea is surprisingly limited. In Seoul, we find the Aloft by Marriott in the Myeong neighbourhood very accommodating.
The area is tourist-central, with lots of pedestrian-friendly shopping streets and huge malls. In the evenings, as the neon signs flicker on, food stalls line numerous streets, offering flamethrower-cooked salmon and octopus, sticky honey hotteok pancakes and other local delights.
Attitude received hotel and flight support from Booking.com and Virgin Atlantic.
This is an excerpt from a feature appearing in issue 371 of Attitude magazine, on sale in print and digital now. Order Attitude magazine issue 371 in print now, or in digital on the links below on Apple News+ and the Attitude app.