Having a pet in Asia is not as common as it is here in the States. People in South Korea tend to live in relatively small apartments, and many don’t even allow pets. Well, what’s a person to do when they want to pet cats, listen to cats meowing, or just hang out with groups of cats?
Also see: The Best Places to Stay in Seoul
Visit a cat café, of course! Here you can cuddle with dozens of cute kitties, feed them, or just watch them sleep, all while enjoying a drink. A cat lover’s paradise! Plus, when you get tired, you can just go home and leave the litter box cleaning to someone else.
After you've figured out the best time to visit Seoul, you'll want to make a note of checking out one of more of these cat cafes below!
Also make sure to check out what to eat in Seoul and Korean travel blogs to help your travel planning.
1. Cat Café MyeongDong
This cat café is centrally located in the busy Myeongdong area, which is quite popular with tourists and locals alike. After a long day of shopping in Myeongdong, take a break and cuddle up with some cute kitties.
The cats in the café are super chill and friendly and seem to be clean and healthy. The shop features a wide variety of breeds including American Shorthair, Norwegian Forest, Siamese, and Exotic Persians.
The café owner is extremely friendly and meticulous about caring for her cats and customers and makes sure that the place is odor-free at all times. An interesting feature in the café is a wall displaying a picture, name, and interesting fact about the café’s 41 cats.
Interesting and fashionable teenagers attend to the café’s customers and help make the environment warm and inviting. The café even offers free wi-fi, so you can upload your pictures to Facebook or Instagram as soon as you take them. #CatLife
Address: 8-5 Myeongdong 8-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Hours: 1PM – 10PM
Price: $8USD, includes a drink (9000 KRW)
Tel: 02-3481-3123
Website: Facebook Page & Official Website
Source: Instagram @f_cheokwai
2. Cat Cafe GangNam
This café is hard to miss…just find the dancing guy in a giant cat suit standing near a sign and pointing in the café’s direction.
Managed by Godabang, the same company that manages the café in Myeongdong, this café has a similar vibe and is super clean and entirely odor-free…pretty impressive for a place filled with cats!
For those overzealous cat lovers, you will find stacks of cat-related books lying on shelves for your reading pleasure. Also, the biographies and pictures of the café’s 21 cats is a feature that is sure to captivate visitors.
The cats are very friendly and eager to interact, as are the staff. There is no time limit, which is pretty cool; you can stay with the cats until the café closes, if you so desire. It can get very busy, especially on the weekends, and sometimes you have to wait for a table, probably because there is no time limit.
Address:
Hours: 1PM – 10PM
Price: $7USD, includes a drink (8000 KRW)
Tel: N/A
Website: www.godabang.com
Source: Instagram @civ_d
3. Table a Cat Cafe
What’s better than friendly cats? Friendly cats AND friendly people. That’s what you’ll find when you visit Table A Cat Café.
The café has about nine cats and two kittens (of course that’s subject to change). They are of varied breeds including Scottish Fold, Calico, Tortoiseshell, and Siamese. An interesting chart on the wall includes the cats’ picture, their name, breed, and gender.
The cats are all super friendly and ready to interact; they don’t need to be lured in with food. They also seem to be healthy and are not obese.
There is no time limit to how long you can stay, so if you decide to stay the whole day, you can choose a dish from the café’s menu, including chicken teriyaki, chocolate cheese cake, and fruit juice.
What we loved most about Table A was its setup—raised platforms, little ladders, tons of pillows, and low tables allow you to actually interact with the cats in their environment, not just chase after them as they try to escape.
Address: 162-17 Wausan-ro, Donggyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Hours: 11AM – 10PM
Price: $8USD, includes a drink (9000 KRW)
Tel: +82 70-7764-5542
Website: https://www.facebook.com/tablea2nd
4. Cat Cafe Goyangi Noriteo
When you first walk in, the friendly English-speaking staff ask you to remove your shoes and change into some slippers they provide. They also suggest that you place your belongings in a plastic bag (which they provide) to keep your stuff free from cat pee and hair and to prevent cats from rummaging through your belongings.
Cat Café Goyangi Noriteo is filled with a bunch of different cat breeds, and most of them are pretty friendly. If you want to attract the attention of some furry feline friends, you can purchase kitty treats for less than $3USD (3395 KRW).
The best part is that there is no time limit, so you can caress kitties until close. The drink menu is relatively extensive and delicious, so there’s no need to rush out.
Considering that the café houses dozens of cats, it smells great, and lint rollers are provided upon departure to help you remove excess fur and hair.
Address: 3F, 37-14, Myeongdong 8-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul 04536, South Korea
Hours: ?-11pm
Price: $8, includes drink (9000 KRW)
Tel: +82 2-3789-2207
Website: www.godabang.com
Source: Instagram @shamnana_
5. Lily Cat
This café is super cute! It features plush pink sitting chairs, piles of books, and even doubles as a board game café. Upon entering, you have to switch into slippers. Admission is about $7, and lockers are available for your belongings.
The cats are in a separate room, which is cool if you’re not 100% a cat person. You can watch them while you eat or drink without having them super close by.
Tons of natural light floods the room thanks to the wall-to-wall window, and the cats love it! Many of them lounge on the window sill just soaking up the sun. There are tons of cute cats here, but most of them kind of just want to be left alone.
Several cats had icky eye goo, making me wonder if they were sick, but I didn’t bother to ask. Nevertheless, the café didn’t smell bad, and one of those little robot vacuums zooms around picking up cat hair, which is pretty great.
Address: 53-11 Myeongdong 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Hours: 11AM – 11PM
Price: $7USD (8000 KRW)
Tel: +82 2-318-2464
Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lily-Cat-Cafe/564958603531163
Source: Instagram: @jacquikyl
Source: Instagram @jdoublej
6. Cat Cafe Hongdae
This café’s super amicable owner is probably what made this place so great. Unlike many other cafés where you have to purchase kitty treats, the owner prepared a batch of wet cat food and went around smearing it on customer’s hands so that they could get a little more interaction with the cats.
The café’s design is simple but sufficient. It features several shelves and bookcases on which the cats love to hang out. The place does not reek of kitty litter and is very clean, as the owner is constantly walking around tidying it up.
There are a wide variety of cats including Russian Blues, Short Haired Persians, and American Short Haired. For the most part, they are pretty friendly and don’t mind coming up to you for some loving.
The café also has a wide selection of drinks available, and there is no limit as to how long you can stay in the café.
Tel: 02-3481-3123 (in Korea)
Website: www.godabang.com
Source: Instagram @ zommiisk
7. Y Cat Cafe
Located at the former location of Gio Cat Café, this café is neatly decorated with splashes of vibrant color. It is very popular among university student and tourists. The café was clean and did not have any foul odors, except near the room where litter boxes were kept. The cats also appeared to be healthy and well taken care of.
The café features a very elaborate playground that the cats obviously love, and there are shelves and walkways that the cats can jump onto if they need a break from people. There is also a really cool giant hamster wheel that cats occasionally use.
A variety of expensive cat breeds including Persians, Himalayans, Bombays, and Russian Blues can be spotted at the Y Cat Café. A total of 23 cats roam about the café (though that’s obviously subject to change).
It is mostly staffed by young girls who are very attentive to the cats and customers. Most of them do not speak English very well, if at all.
Address: 3F, 358-125, Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea
Price: $7USD, includes a drink (8000 KRW)
Website: http://cafe.naver.com/ycatlove
Source: Instagram @lynn_501
8. Cat Cafe
If you’re a cat café newbie, this may be a good option for you. This café does not have as many cats as do some of the other cafés; subsequently, it is generally not as crowded, so you won’t feel overwhelmed.
The cats that are there are very well taken care of, though they are not too interested in hanging out with people. Instead, they just kind of do their own thing. You can try to lure them toward you, though, by purchasing kitty treats from the staff.
Cat Café’s staff are very friendly and cater well to the needs of the customers. The owner is also very kind and meticulous in making sure that the café is neat and orderly at all times.
The atmosphere is super chill and laidback, probably due to a lack of people. The design of the place is stunning. A wall-to-wall window allows tons of natural light to flood in, something that both visitors and cats can appreciate.
Address: 44-1 Insa-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Hours: 11AM – 9PM
9. Cat Playground
The Cat Playground is a great place to come and get your feline fix, and it’s easy to find; just look for the two guys dressed in giant cat suits. There are tons of cats, (about 40 at the time of our visit, though that is subject to change) and they are all super adorable and ready to interact with customers. They all seem to be healthy and well taken care of.
The atmosphere of the cafe is super chill, and there is no limit as to the amount of time you can spend in the café. The staff members are rather helpful, though they are not necessarily the friendliest people in the world.
There are a variety of delicious drinks to choose from (we recommend the sweet potato latte), and the café also offers a menu in English.
And not that you’re there to use the internet, but the wi-fi works great as well.
Address: Level 3, 37-14 Myeongdong 8-gil, Jung-gu, SeoulHours: 12PM – 11PM
Price: $7USD, includes a drink (8000 KRW)
Tel: +82 2-3789-2207
10. Cats Living Hongdae
Located near Hong Gik University, this was the most disappointing café we visited. It had a pretty foul stench, and the cats did not look as if they were well taken care of. Several of them looked as if they had eye infections, and one even had a deep cut behind her ear. Even still, the owner allowed people to pet the wounded cat, which likely caused infection for the cat.
Most of the cats were typically sleeping and out of sight, and whenever they were awake, they seemed to be lethargic. The lethargy, perhaps, was due to the fact that most of them were extremely overweight.
The owner of the café was not necessarily friendly and did not give much thought to the care of his cats or customers.
On the bright side, though, the cats were super cute, and there was a wide variety of breeds. The drinks were also pretty tasty.
Address: 2F 358-111 Seogyo-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Hours: Mon – Friday 11AM – 11:30PM; Sat – Sun 11AM – 10:30PM
Price: $7USD, includes a drink (8000 KRW)
Tel: +82 10-7319-1320
Website: http://www.catsliving.co.kr/
Source: Instagram @rayediography
