Seoul Drama Filming Locations: Itaewon Class and CLOY

August 27, 2026Researched, not visited

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Seoul drama filming locations for Itaewon Class and Crash Landing on You don’t cluster the way Gangneung’s do. One show’s spots sit blocks apart in a single Yongsan-gu neighborhood; the other’s two confirmed Seoul scenes sit on opposite sides of the city, and both of them are Seoul standing in for somewhere else — Pyongyang, not itself.

A street in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, lined with the bars and small shops that gave the Itaewon Class neighborhood its look — A street in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu — the neighborhood Itaewon Class is built around, still recognizably itself since the show aired. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization — ⓒ한국관광공사 사진갤러리-한국관광공사 이범수, Photo Korea · KOGL Type 1

Getting around: our guide to data and map apps in Korea covers what public wifi misses and what Kakao Map or Naver Map can tell you that Google Maps still can't.

Itaewon Class: one set is gone, the restaurant it copied isn’t

The show’s central pub, Danbam, was built as a set inside a real building in Huam-dong, Yongsan-gu — formerly a café called Oriole, once owned by singer Jung Yeop. The building sold for roughly ₩2.2 billion after filming and has never reopened to the public; there is nothing to visit there now beyond the outside of a private building.

What is still open is the restaurant the show was named for in the first place. Kkulbam Pojangmacha, in Itaewon-dong, is the real tented bar-restaurant run by webtoon author Gwangjin — the person who wrote the original Itaewon Class webtoon before it became a drama. It serves the same kind of food the show put on screen (sundubu-jjigae, stir-fried bean sprouts and pork belly) and takes walk-ins most nights, a few minutes’ walk from Itaewon Station.

The other spot that holds up on the ground is Noksapyeong Overpass, a pedestrian bridge a short walk from Itaewon that carried several of the show’s street scenes between its two leads. It’s a public bridge with a view of Namsan Tower over the neighborhood rooftops, free to walk any time of day, and one of the few Itaewon Class locations that needs nothing more than showing up.

Crash Landing on You: two Seoul scenes, both playing Pyongyang

Most of what people remember from Crash Landing on You — the alpine village, the lake, the mountain pass — was filmed in Switzerland, not Korea. Seoul’s own tourism board lists exactly two confirmed filming locations inside the city, and the joke in both is the same one: Seoul pretending to be the North.

Seoul Star City, a shopping-and-office tower in Gangdong-gu, filled in for a café in Pyongyang for an Episode 8 scene — its upper-floor river view across the Han standing in for a city its production never had access to film for real.

The Han River at night with its bridges lit up, the kind of skyline view Seoul Star City's café level looks out on — A Han River view at night — the kind of skyline Seoul Star City's upper floors look out on, the setting the show borrowed to suggest a Pyongyang café window. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization — ⓒ한국관광공사 사진갤러리-한건우, Photo Korea · KOGL Type 1

Buam 7, an event and exhibition space in Buam-dong, Jongno-gu, played a luxury mansion in North Korea for another scene — a real venue near the base of Bugaksan, not built for the show and not torn down after it.

A hanok-style cafe on Buam-dong's café street, the Seoul neighborhood that stood in for a North Korean setting in Crash Landing on You and filmed Coffee Prince a decade earlier — Buam-dong's café street, a few minutes from Buam 7 — the same neighborhood that filmed Coffee Prince back in 2007, long before CLOY used it. Photo: Korea Tourism Organization — ⓒ한국관광공사 사진갤러리-한국관광공사 김지호, Photo Korea · KOGL Type 1

Buam-dong’s own drama history runs deeper than one 2019 hit. The neighborhood’s hanok-style café street was already known as a filming location for Coffee Prince in 2007 — one of the shows credited with starting Korea’s café-drama genre in the first place. CLOY didn’t discover Buam-dong’s photogenic quality; it borrowed a reputation the neighborhood already had.

What these Seoul drama filming locations don’t include, on purpose

No stills from either show appear on this page. Every photo here is a current, real photograph of the location as it stands now, not a frame pulled from the broadcast — both shows are still under copyright, and someone standing at Noksapyeong Overpass today sees a pedestrian bridge, not the show. A page claiming to be a “filming location guide” that shows you a screenshot from the drama instead is showing you something it doesn’t have the right to show you.

Getting there, and what’s nearby

Itaewon Class’s spots sit within Yongsan-gu — Kkulbam Pojangmacha and Noksapyeong Overpass are a short walk from Itaewon Station on Line 6, and the neighborhood itself is covered in our Seoul in three days guide. CLOY’s two Seoul locations don’t sit near each other — Star City is in eastern Seoul, Buam 7 in the northwest, near Bukchon and the other hanok districts rather than Itaewon.

A Korean eSIM earns its keep here — these four spots span most of the width of Seoul, and knowing which subway line gets you between them matters more than any single address. Our guide to getting around Korea covers the map-app and transit-card basics before you need them on the ground.

The short version

Itaewon Class — Danbam: Set inside a private building in Huam-dong, sold after filming, not open to visitors
Itaewon Class — Kkulbam Pojangmacha: The real restaurant the show is named for, still open, run by the original webtoon author
Itaewon Class — Noksapyeong Overpass: Public pedestrian bridge, free, Namsan Tower view, several street scenes filmed here
CLOY — Seoul Star City: Gangdong-gu tower, stood in for a Pyongyang café (Episode 8)
CLOY — Buam 7: Buam-dong event venue, stood in for a North Korean mansion — also filmed Coffee Prince in 2007
On this page: Original location photos only — no drama stills, ever

Most of Crash Landing on You’s most photographed scenery is in Switzerland, not Seoul — worth knowing before planning a Seoul day around the show alone. If Gangneung’s Goblin-and-BTS coastline is more the trip you’re after, our Gangneung filming locations guide covers that cluster instead.

Quick answers

Can I visit Danbam, the pub from Itaewon Class?

Not really — it was a set built inside a private building in Huam-dong, Yongsan-gu, sold after filming for roughly ₩2.2 billion, and it has never reopened to the public.

Is Kkulbam Pojangmacha, the restaurant behind Itaewon Class, still open?

Yes — it’s the real restaurant run by webtoon author Gwangjin, who wrote the original Itaewon Class webtoon before it became a drama. It takes walk-ins most nights, a short walk from Itaewon Station.

Where was Crash Landing on You filmed in Seoul?

Only two confirmed locations, according to Seoul’s own tourism board: Seoul Star City in Gangdong-gu, which stood in for a Pyongyang café, and Buam 7 in Buam-dong, which stood in for a North Korean mansion. Most of the show’s famous scenery was actually filmed in Switzerland.

Was Buam-dong used in any other K-dramas?

Yes — its café street was already a filming location for Coffee Prince back in 2007, more than a decade before Crash Landing on You used the same neighborhood.

Checked 27 August 2026. Danbam’s real filming building in Huam-dong, its sale price and its closure to the public, and Kkulbam Pojangmacha’s role as the restaurant behind the original webtoon, from Korean entertainment and local-business reporting. Noksapyeong Overpass as an Itaewon Class filming location from multiple independent Korean travel and location-guide sources. Seoul Star City and Buam 7 as Crash Landing on You’s only two confirmed Seoul filming locations, and what each stood in for, from Seoul’s own official tourism site (english.visitseoul.net). Buam-dong’s role in Coffee Prince from Korean tourism-board photo documentation of the café street. Businesses close and buildings change hands — confirm a spot is still there before building a day around it.