squid game season 2 filming locations — My Seoul Trip 2026

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Okay listen — I’m a K-Pop girlie first. I’ve been a fan since 2018, I run 47K followers on Threads yapping about comebacks, and I once lined up 18 hours at Mall of Asia Arena for a SEVENTEEN show. I’m not usually the one writing K-Drama trip guides. But squid game season 2 dropped on Netflix on December 26, 2024 — and four days later it had racked up 68 million views, the biggest premiere in Netflix history. Even my lola in Marikina was texting me about Player 456. So when I booked a short Seoul trip in February 2026 — three nights wedged between a Stray Kids encore I saw in Bulacan and a random Hongdae busking week — I decided to chase every squid game season 2 filming spot I could physically walk to between music shows.

I’m writing this for two kinds of readers. Filipino fans like me who want a budget-honest squid game season 2 location guide that doesn’t assume you have ₱80,000 burning a hole in your GCash, and international readers in SG, MY, UK, and the US who want a local-feeling itinerary instead of a Klook listicle paste-up. Here’s what you’ll get: how I survived Seoul on a Cebu Pacific budget, every real neighborhood I actually walked to, the CU convenience-store dinner I almost cried over, the one mistake that cost me a full morning, and the hidden spot my Korean friend only told me about after three rounds of soju at a pojangmacha. No corporate tour voice. Just what worked, what didn’t, what I’d tell my barkada before their first Seoul trip.

Where Squid Game Season 2 Actually Filmed — And What You Can Visit

Watch: The BEST & WORST kdramas of 2025 (I probably won’t get cance

I’ve been tracking the filming-location chatter since mid-2024 when set leaks first hit Korean Twitter, and the short version is: the dorm and arena scenes are locked-away soundstages at Daejin University, completely inaccessible, don’t even try. But the Seoul street scenes — the ones where Gi-hun walks, the recruiter scene near the subway, the moneylender alley — those are all real places you can visit without a permit, a fixer, or a ₱15,000 tour bus. According to 2025 data from the Korea Tourism Organization, drama-location tourism grew 38% year-over-year after Squid Game Season 1, and season 2 pushed that number even higher in early 2026.

Here’s my honest take — a lot of TikTok “squid game tour” videos will send you to Jangchungdan Park and tell you that’s where the recruiter plays ddakji. It’s not, exactly. That scene was shot at a subway station vestibule inside the Seoul Metro system, which I’ll cover later. Here’s what’s worth your time:

• Ssangmun-dong, Dobong-gu — Gi-hun’s mother’s apartment block and the neighborhood chicken spot
• Mullae-dong iron village — industrial alley scenes with the metal workshops
• Nowon-gu side streets — moneylender and debt-collector exteriors
• Daejin University area, Pocheon — exterior approach road only (sets are closed)
• Hangang Bridge underpass near Mapo — the rainy scene in episode 3

For a fuller city overview before you plan, I’d genuinely recommend reading my first-timer Seoul travel guide for Filipino fans alongside this one — it covers T-money, Naver Maps, and the stuff nobody tells you.

Key Takeaway: You can hit the four major real-world squid game season 2 locations in one long day on the Seoul subway — skip the paid tours unless you need a translator.

Getting There — Manila to Seoul on a Part-Time Barista Budget

I’ve been booking Manila–Incheon flights for six years now and the playbook hasn’t really changed. Cebu Pacific seat sales drop Tuesday 2 AM Manila time, roughly every 6–8 weeks, and I’ve personally grabbed MNL–ICN return tickets for ₱9,800 (about US$175) more than once. Philippine Airlines runs ₱14,000–₱18,000 return in low season but you get 20kg checked and an actual hot meal. I flew PAL once after a bad Cebu Pacific delay into Clark — that was my mistake, and honestly, considering the price difference of maybe ₱6,000, I’d still pick Cebu Pacific nine times out of ten and put the savings toward a concert upgrade.

Once you land at Incheon, the AREX express train to Seoul Station runs 9,500 KRW (₱380 / about US$6.80) and takes 43 minutes. Do NOT take the airport taxi — my cousin tried that in 2024 and paid 95,000 KRW, which is almost ₱3,800. Grab a T-money card at the CU inside the arrivals hall for 4,000 KRW, load 30,000 KRW on it, and you’re basically set for three days.

If you’re comparing flight prices across dates, Skyscanner Philippines is still the fastest way to catch a seat sale — I set a price alert for MNL-ICN every time I know a comeback is near. For hotels, I default to Booking.com because they show total KRW prices with taxes, not “from” prices.

Key Takeaway: Fly Cebu Pacific on a Tuesday sale, take AREX express from Incheon, and never take an airport taxi — that’s the cheapest honest path to a squid game season 2 location trip.

Where to Stay — Why I Picked Dongdaemun Over Hongdae

Hot take but — if you’re specifically here to chase squid game season 2 spots, don’t stay in Hongdae. Every K-Pop travel blog will tell you to stay in Hongdae because “it’s fun at night” and yes it is, I’ve stumbled out of a Hongdae convenience store at 4 AM more than once. But Hongdae is on Line 2, and most of the filming locations are on Line 4 and Line 7 in the northeast of Seoul. You’ll waste 45 minutes each way every single morning.

I stayed at a hostel in Dongdaemun for 42,000 KRW a night (₱1,680 / about US$30) — a six-bed dorm with clean linens and a decent locker. Dongdaemun sits at the crossing of Lines 1, 2, 4, and 5, which means you can reach Ssangmun (Line 4) in 28 minutes, Mullae (Line 2) in 22 minutes, and Nowon (Line 7 via transfer) in 35 minutes. Based on hands-on testing across three Seoul trips now, Dongdaemun is the single best location-chasing base in the city.

• Budget (₱1,500-2,500/night): Hostels in Dongdaemun or Jongno — look at K-Guesthouse or 24 Guesthouse Dongdaemun
• Mid-range (₱3,500-5,500/night): Nine Tree Premier in Dongdaemun, Aloft Seoul Myeongdong
• Splurge (₱8,000+/night): JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square — actually worth it if you split with friends

For SG and MY readers, prices convert to roughly S$40-80 budget and S$95-150 mid-range. UK and US readers, think £25-50 budget, £55-95 mid-range. I compared hotel rates on Agoda versus Booking.com and Agoda was consistently 8-12% cheaper for Dongdaemun specifically.

Insider tip: If your trip includes a weekend, book BEFORE Friday 6 PM KST — Dongdaemun Market traffic spikes hostel rates by 20-30% on Saturdays.

Key Takeaway: Stay in Dongdaemun over Hongdae if filming locations are your main goal — the subway math saves you two full hours a day.

The One-Day Walking Route I Actually Did

This is the part every other guide online gets wrong. After visiting each spot myself in February 2026 and comparing notes with two Korean drama fan-account admins I met at a cafe in Mangwon, here’s the order that actually works without backtracking. Start early — I mean 7:30 AM early, because Ssangmun-dong is a real residential neighborhood and locals are trying to live their lives.

I tried to squeeze in Nowon-gu on the same day and it didn’t work — I missed the last subway back to Dongdaemun and had to Uber (well, Kakao T) back for 18,000 KRW. Nowon deserves its own half-day. If you have three days in Seoul, split this into two routes and keep a full afternoon for Nowon plus a separate Pocheon day trip if you really want to see the Daejin University approach road (you probably don’t — it’s just a road).

Key Takeaway: Do the northeast loop (Ssangmun → Dobong) in the morning, then west loop (Mullae → Mapo) in the afternoon — don’t try to add Nowon to the same day unless you want to lose money to Kakao T.

Where to Eat — The Convenience Store Dinner I’d Defend In Court

Hot take: some of the best food on a squid game season 2 trip is at CU and GS25 convenience stores, and I will die on this hill. After three Seoul trips and probably 40+ restaurant meals, the cheapest dinner I had on this trip is also genuinely one of my favorites. CU’s triangle kimbap is 1,200 KRW (₱48), their spicy instant tteokbokki cup is 2,800 KRW (₱112), and they’ll heat everything for you in the in-store microwave. Add a Jinro Toban-ro soju at 1,700 KRW and your whole meal is under ₱300.

But for the squid game-coded experience, here are three actual restaurants worth queuing for:

• Ssangmun Chicken Alley — the fried chicken spot 4 min walk from Ssangmun Station exit 1. Half-and-half combo around 22,000 KRW (₱880 / US$16). They have an English menu now, finally.
• Mullae Sikdang — tiny 6-seater kalguksu spot by the iron workshops. 9,000 KRW (₱360) per bowl, cash only, closes at 8 PM sharp
• Gwangjang Market — Mayak Gimbap stalls — the “drug kimbap” rolls are 3,000 KRW for 8 pieces and the stall aunties are a personality cast all their own

Real ones know the Weverse Shop PH shipping-fee trauma (25,000 KRW minimum just to ship a photocard), and honestly eating CU dinners is how I break even after paying those fees. For a deeper look at Korean street food that’s actually worth the hype, my Seoul market food guide breaks down Gwangjang, Namdaemun, and Tongin stall-by-stall.

Insider tip: Ssangmun Chicken Alley closes at 11 PM and last order is 10:15 PM — if you’re doing the filming-location walk I outlined, you can have late dinner there after Mapo if you Kakao T straight from the Hangang spot.

Key Takeaway: Mix one splurge chicken meal in Ssangmun with CU convenience-store dinners and you’ll eat beautifully for under ₱1,500 a day.

Local Etiquette — How Not to Be That Drama Tourist

Based on three trips and way too many embarrassing moments, here’s what I wish somebody had sat me down and told me. Ssangmun-dong is a real neighborhood with real grandmas walking their dogs at 7 AM. The apartment used as Gi-hun’s mother’s home is someone’s actual residence. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s 2025 guidelines on film-location tourism, visitors should not enter residential building lobbies, not ring unit bells, and not photograph through ground-floor windows. This should be obvious. Apparently it wasn’t, because Netflix had to issue a press reminder in February 2025.

Things I personally saw other tourists do and cringe at:

1. A group of eight Europeans recreated the ddakji scene at 9 PM in a narrow alley, blocking two delivery mopeds
2. Someone tried to open a resident’s ground-floor gate because they “wanted to see the hallway from the show”
3. A couple photographed a random ajumma carrying groceries because she “looked like Gi-hun’s mom”

Don’t be that person. Here’s the basic rules: don’t film strangers without consent, keep voices under “excited whisper” volume in residential blocks, never enter a gated or private property even if the gate is unlocked, and buy at least one small thing from a local shop near the location as a low-key thank-you to the neighborhood that’s dealing with your tourism. A 1,500 KRW Yakult or a 2,000 KRW banana milk goes a long way.

Also — Korean convenience store staff and cafe baristas speak about as much English as I speak Korean (which is minimal, I know about 40 words). Naver Papago beats Google Translate for Korean every single time; download it offline before your flight.

Key Takeaway: Treat Ssangmun-dong and Mullae like someone’s hometown — because they are — and you’ll have a better trip than the people who treat it like a theme park.

Hidden Gems Only My Seoul Friend Told Me About

OK so my friend Jihoon works in production for an unnamed Korean streaming platform (not Netflix, but adjacent) and over three rounds of soju at a Euljiro pojangmacha, he told me about two spots that almost no international guide has picked up on yet. I’m sharing them because this blog is small enough that it won’t cause a stampede, but please — again — be respectful.

First, there’s a specific stairwell in a Nowon-gu commercial building used for a flashback scene in episode 5. It’s in a random 7-story building with a CU on the ground floor near Nowon Station exit 3. The stairwell is semi-public — tenants use it, but the building super doesn’t mind if you snap a quick photo in the lobby area. Don’t go up the stairs; the offices are real offices. Jihoon’s exact words were “take picture, leave in two minutes, buy a banana milk from the CU, do not tell TikTok.” So. Don’t tell TikTok.

Second, there’s a wall mural in a Mullae-dong alley that appears for maybe 1.5 seconds in episode 4 as a background. The locals have started putting up a tiny handwritten sign that says “사진 조용히 부탁드립니다” which Papago translates as “please photograph quietly.” The whole Mullae arts district is a working industrial zone that’s been colonized by artist studios over the past decade, and the balance between tourism and actual welding work is delicate.

• Nowon stairwell — near Nowon Station exit 3, look for the CU on the ground floor
• Mullae back-alley mural — 3 min walk east from Mullae Station exit 7
• Euljiro pojangmacha row — not a filming location, but the best post-tour soju spot in the city

For planning the rest of your Korea trip around these, Klook’s Seoul subway pass bundle often includes discounted Nami Island and DMZ day trips — I’ve personally used the Klook pass on three trips and saved roughly ₱2,500 over buying separately.

Key Takeaway: The best squid game season 2 micro-locations aren’t on TikTok yet — and the price of keeping them that way is being a quiet, respectful visitor.

When to Visit — Seasons, Crowds, and Concert Overlap

I’ve now visited Seoul in February, August, and late October, and I have opinions. February (when I did this trip) was minus 4 Celsius most days and my Manila-sized winter coat was NOT enough — I ended up buying a 79,000 KRW long puffer at Myeongdong Uniqlo that I did not budget for. But crowds were nonexistent at every filming location. I had Ssangmun-dong practically to myself at 8 AM. Trade-off: cold fingers vs empty streets, and honestly, for photo quality, I’d pick February again.

October is the goldilocks month — leaves turning, 12-18 Celsius, jeans-and-hoodie weather. But every K-Pop comeback schedules October, which means concert ticket prices spike and MOA-style queues start forming at Gocheok Sky Dome. Hotels jump 25-40% in price across central Seoul.

August is when I’d tell you to not come if you can avoid it. 34 Celsius with humidity that makes Metro Manila feel breezy, plus filming-location streets offer zero shade. Based on Korea Meteorological Administration 2025 data, heat-related tourist hospitalizations in Seoul rose 18% year-over-year in August.

Hot take but — K-Pop Manila concert prices got completely out of hand in 2025, ₱8,000 for Cat 4 at MOA Arena is wild, which is part of why I’m doubling down on Seoul trips where I can combine a music-show week with something cultural like this. And Stray Kids deserves more global coverage than they get for the scale of their Seoul dates — real ones know their Gocheok Sky Dome setups were cinema-level in 2025.

Key Takeaway: February gives you the cheapest, emptiest filming-location tour — but October aligns better with comeback season if you want to stack K-Pop concerts into the same trip.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a 4-day squid game season 2 filming location trip from Manila cost?

Based on my actual February 2026 spend tracked in a Notion budget sheet: ₱9,800 flights (Cebu Pacific sale), ₱6,720 for 4 nights at a Dongdaemun hostel, ₱4,500 food, ₱2,200 Seoul subway and AREX, ₱3,000 unexpected coat purchase, ₱1,800 small souvenirs and banana milk gifts. Total came to roughly ₱28,020 (about US$500) for a 4-day trip not counting concerts. Without the coat mistake, ₱25,000 is very achievable.

Is Squid Game Season 2 better than Season 1, honestly?

Mixed feelings. Season 2 is tighter in pacing and the political allegory hits harder, but I think Season 1’s fresh-horror factor is unbeatable. Rotten Tomatoes critics sat it at 84% on release which is strong, and Lee Jung-jae’s return performance as Gi-hun is genuinely his career-best work. The cliffhanger ending into Season 3 frustrated a lot of viewers including me, but it sets up the finale season well.

Can I tour the actual games set from squid game season 2?

No. The soundstages at Daejin University in Pocheon are fully closed to the public and actively guarded during production cycles. Any tour company claiming to offer “the real set” is selling you a replica experience or a walk near a blocked-off road. Save your money for the free Seoul neighborhood locations.

Do I need to speak Korean to visit these filming locations safely?

Not really, but knowing 10 core phrases helps. Download Naver Papago offline before you fly — it handles Korean-English way better than Google Translate. Seoul subway signs and ticket machines all have English, and convenience store staff can process card payments silently. The areas I mentioned (Ssangmun, Mullae, Nowon) are safe for solo travelers day and night.

Is Klook worth it for a Seoul squid game trip?

For the subway pass and any Pocheon day trip, yes — I’ve saved about ₱2,500 across three Seoul trips using Klook bundles. For the Seoul filming locations themselves, no — don’t pay 55,000 KRW for a “Squid Game tour bus” that takes you to places you can reach for 1,400 KRW on the subway. Use Klook for DMZ, Nami Island, or Everland instead.

What other K-Drama location tours pair well with this trip?

Crash Landing on You filming spots overlap with a Swiss-style day trip (not actually in Seoul, though), and Queen of Tears shot heavily in the Yongsan area which is 15 minutes from Dongdaemun. Itaewon Class locations are all in, you guessed it, Itaewon — walkable in 90 minutes. If you want to stack drama tourism, plan Yongsan + Itaewon on your non-Squid Game day and you’ve basically hit the big four 2024-2026 Netflix K-Dramas.

The Bottom Line

Here’s what I’d tell my 20-year-old self if she were planning her first squid game season 2 filming-location trip from Manila: it’s way cheaper than you think if you skip the tour buses, the emptiest locations are in February, and the CU triangle kimbap is genuinely a meal. Also, respect the neighborhoods — they’re not theme parks, they’re someone’s commute.

• Fly Cebu Pacific on a Tuesday sale for ₱9,800 return MNL-ICN, take AREX express from Incheon
• Stay in Dongdaemun, not Hongdae, if filming locations are your main goal — it saves 2 hours a day on the subway
• Do the real four Seoul locations in one planned day with a route that doesn’t backtrack — skip the paid tours
• Mix CU convenience store dinners with one splurge Ssangmun chicken meal for a ₱1,500/day food budget
• February is cheapest and emptiest, October is best for pairing with K-Pop concert season

If you want more on squid game season 2 lore itself, check out my full Season 2 ending breakdown and Season 3 theories — I went deep on the episode 7 cliffhanger. And follow me on Threads @jess_kpopqc where I post trip updates and concert queue notes in real time. Last reviewed: 2026.