During cherry blossom season, popular cafes in the Yeonnam-dong and Hapjeong-dong neighbourhoods are busy with reservations and wait times. Due to their popularity, some places have a one-hour time limit for your visit, but I like to spend at least one day in a place with lots of cherry blossom petals to enjoy the fleeting romance of the ten days when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.
We’ve rounded up some of the best hidden cherry blossom cafes that go a little bit under the radar, perfect for when you want to enjoy the blossoms outdoors but don’t want to wait in line for hours.
1. Four Stones Coffee Roasters
There is a café in a converted mansion between the buildings of Samseong Station. When you walk into the backyard of Four Stones Coffee Roasters’ Samseong Headquarters, you’re greeted by blooming cherry blossoms, magnolias, and manicured landscaping.
It’s not too overcrowded yet, so you can have a secluded coffee outside, and the pastries that are baked daily by the in-house pastry chef offer another reason to go here! When you want to enjoy the cherry blossoms and feel the crisp spring breeze, head to Four Stones.
☕ Four Stones Samseong Main Branch (map)
✅ Daily 8am-9pm
2. City Gallery Café
If you walk by the cherry blossoms at Gangnam Station’s Kukkiwon intersection, you’ll find City Gallery Cafe with its yellow awning. The café has a sizeable terrace where you can enjoy the cherry blossoms in the open air.
The City Gallery Café serves not only coffee, but also beer and other alcoholic beverages, so why not have a drink under the cherry blossoms on a cool spring day?
☕ City Gallery Café Main Branch (map)
✅ Weekdays 8am-midnight, Sat 10am-midnight, Sun 10am-10pm.
3. Songjeong Coffee
There is a café that overlooks the cherry blossoms in Jungnangcheon, Songjeong-dong. Songjeong Coffee consists of two floors and a small rooftop. From the large windows on the second floor, you can see the cherry blossom paths of Jungnangcheon, and if you go up to the small rooftop on the third floor, you can enjoy the cherry blossoms at a similar eye level to the walking path.
☕ Songjeong Coffee (map)
✅ Daily 10am – 10pm
4. CoffeeSmith Headquarters
Everyone who works around Gangnam Station knows CoffeeSmith’s headquarters, a café with a cherry blossom view that stands out at the beginning of the Kukkiwon intersection. All the front windows are wide open to create a sense of openness among the buildings of Gangnam Station.
☕ CoffeeSmith (map)
✅ Daily 8am – 2am