How do you connect to Seoul's free public Wi-Fi?

Choose the network SEOUL and log in through the landing page that opens, or choose SEOUL_Secure for an encrypted connection and enter seoul as both the ID and the password. City buses use their own network names with the route number added. Seoul counted about 34,000 public Wi-Fi units in February 2025 and planned 280 more that year.

How long can you stay in a Seoul café with Wi-Fi on one drink?

No citywide rule sets a limit. A 2019 calculation for a small independent café found that each table had to turn over within 1 hour 42 minutes to break even. In 2023 some Ediya franchise cafés posted notices asking guests who stayed over three hours to order again, though the head office said that was not company policy.

Which Seoul neighborhoods have the most cafés with Wi-Fi?

Hongdae and Yeonnam-dong lead, with more than a fifth of them, among them Anthracite and VRVC off Tojeong-ro and Beliefcoffee roasters on Yanghwa-ro 11-gil. Mangwon-dong, Seongsu-dong and Gangnam come next: Mesh Coffee is on Seoulsup-gil, and Koffee Sniffer is at Teheran-ro 231, on the 3.5 km avenue nicknamed Teheran Valley.

Seoul Cafés with Wi-Fi: Hongdae, Seongsu and Teheran-ro

Wi-Fi in Seoul is not only a café perk. The city government counted about 34,000 public Wi-Fi units across Seoul in February 2025, planned 280 more that year for crowded streets and for facilities used by people with little digital access, and set 450 older units to be replaced with Wi-Fi 6 equipment.¹ The network's brand, Kkachi On (까치온), joins 까치, the magpie, with "on" for a signal that is switched on.³

Its open network is called SEOUL and logs you in through a landing page; the encrypted one, SEOUL_Secure, takes "seoul" as both ID and password, and city buses use their own names with the route number added.² So a café's password is rarely the only reason to sit down: what you pay for is the table. Hongdae and Yeonnam-dong hold more than a fifth of the cafés with Wi-Fi, with Mangwon-dong, Seongsu-dong and Gangnam next, then Jamsil and Apgujeong.

Local tip: If you plan to stay past two hours, order a second drink: in the 2019 break-even calculation, a small café needed each table to turn over within 1 hour 42 minutes.⁶

Where these cafés are: Hongdae & Yeonnam-dong (48), Mangwon-dong (13), Seongsu-dong (13), Gangnam & Yeoksam (12), Jamsil & Seokchon Lake (9), Apgujeong & Cheongdam (7), Ikseon-dong & Insadong (6), Yongsan & Yongridan-gil (6), Seocho & Seorae Village (5), Bukchon & Samcheong-dong (5), Euljiro & Chungmuro (5), Sangbong & Mangu (5), Yeonhui-dong (4), Sillim & Nakseongdae (4), Hyehwa & Daehak-ro (4), Itaewon & Hannam-dong (4), Yangjae & Dogok (4), Mullae-dong & Sindorim (3), Gwanghwamun (3), Gongdeok & Mapo (3), Mok-dong (3), Wolgye & Gongneung (3), Hoegi & Imun-dong (3), Eungam & Gajwa (3), Anam & Jegi-dong (3), Huam-dong & Haebangchon (3), Seoul Station & Jungnim-dong (2), Bangbae-dong & Sadang (2), Sinchon & Ewha (2), Seochon (2), Gireum & Mia (2), Yeonsinnae & Bulgwang (2), Yeongdeungpo & Dangsan (2), Dongdaemun & Sindang-dong (2), Myeong-dong & City Hall (2), Sinsa & Garosu-gil (2), Sangam & DMC (1), Jangan-dong & Dapsimni (1), Noryangjin & Sangdo-dong (1), Yongdu-dong & Sinseol-dong (1), Junggok & Yongmasan (1), Guro & Gasan Digital Complex (1), Konkuk University & Gunja (1).

At a glance

208Cafés listed

92With opening hours

07:00Earliest opening

02:00Latest closing

Opens earliest: 브로벨커피로스터리, from 07:00 (Daily 07:00–18:00).

Closes latest: 제비다방, until 02:00 (Daily 10:00–02:00).

Most common features: open late (26%), outdoor seating (20%), card payment (19%).

Tojeong-ro, Hongdae and Yeonnam-dong

Hongdae takes its name from Hongik University, a private school known for its fine arts program, and the neighborhood spreads from Seogyo-dong across Hapjeong-dong and Seogang-dong.⁴ Hongik University station is served by Line 2, the Gyeongui–Jungang Line and AREX, the railroad from Incheon International Airport.⁴

Off Tojeong-ro, Anthracite (엔트러사이트) is at Tojeong-ro 5-gil 10 and VRVC at Tojeong-ro 3-gil 17. To the north, Always August's workshop café (올웨이즈어거스트 제작소) is at Yeonnam-ro 71 and Hit Coffee Roasters at Donggyo-ro 146. Beliefcoffee roasters on Yanghwa-ro 11-gil opens daily 09:30–23:00, and AIYa Café at Jandari-ro 62-1 serves until 23:30 every night.

Teheran-ro and the Gangnam office blocks

Teheran-ro runs 3.5 km east from Gangnam Station to Samseong Station and is nicknamed Teheran Valley for its internet companies; Naver, Daum and Google all have operations along it.⁵ The avenue owes its name to a street-name exchange with Tehran, proposed in 1977 while the Iranian capital's mayor was visiting Seoul.⁵

Koffee Sniffer is on the avenue itself at Teheran-ro 231, open Monday to Saturday 08:00–20:00. Brovel Coffee Roastery (브로벨커피로스터리) on Teheran-ro 25-gil opens daily at 07:00 and closes at 18:00, Select Coffee LAB is on Teheran-ro 39-gil, and Book Cafe LEBEN at Hakdong-ro 116 keeps Monday to Saturday hours of 09:30–21:00.

In Seongsu-dong, Mesh Coffee at Seoulsup-gil 43 opens at 08:30 on weekdays and closes at 17:00. For a Wi-Fi table after dark there, Daerim Changgo (대림창고) on Seongsui-ro serves daily until 22:00.

How long one drink buys a table

No citywide rule sets a limit, but owners do the arithmetic. A 2019 calculation from the Korea Foodservice Industry Research Institute modeled an independent café with eight tables, a 29% takeout share, 12 opening hours a day and an average menu price of 4,134 won, and found that each table had to turn over within 1 hour 42 minutes for the café to break even.⁶⁷

In 2023 some Ediya franchise cafés posted notices asking customers who stayed more than three hours to order again; the chain's head office said the signs were the franchisees' own and not company policy.⁷ Other owners have tried running the air-conditioning colder or covering power outlets, as one café near Jongno 3-ga station did.⁷

Study cafés for a full working day

For a whole day of work, Seoul has a separate kind of room: the study café (스터디카페), a paid study space with a more modern design than the dokseosil (독서실), the older partitioned reading room.⁸ Study cafés offer power outlets, strong Wi-Fi, printers and laptop zones, allow talk only in set areas, and stay open 24 hours.⁸

Most have no staff on site and take payment at a kiosk, with hourly, night, weekly and 100-hour passes. As of 2023 two hours cost about 4,000 won and a day pass about 10,000 won, varying by location.⁸

Wi-Fi cafés in Seoul

At a glance

AL NUOVO

Alver

Anthracite

Bamvoo

Beliefcoffee roasters

Cafe Comma

Cafe Gondry

Compile

Culcom Cafe 24 Hour Coffee Shop

eastwood

Fikee Cafe

Florte Flower Cafe

Grove 177

Identity Coffee Lab

Knickerbocker Bagel

Koffee Sniffer

La douce

LOCOLAB

Moscent

Otter

Stand Up Plz Euljiro

Thanks Nature Café

The House 1932

vonzrr

Wicker Park

그로밋 커피하우스

낙타날다

다이아몬드세탁

독수리다방

라 카페 갤러리, 서촌

레몬버베나

레브커피

로덴드론

마담티라미수 용리단길 쇼룸

맥심1층카페

메쉬커피 Mesh Coffee

Tojeong-ro, Hongdae and Yeonnam-dong

Teheran-ro and the Gangnam office blocks

How long one drink buys a table

Study cafés for a full working day

Sources

Other ways to browse Seoul

Specialty coffee

Open late

Outdoor seating

Bakery cafés

Wi-Fi in Seoul: questions

How do you connect to Seoul's free public Wi-Fi?

How long can you stay in a Seoul café with Wi-Fi on one drink?

Which Seoul neighborhoods have the most cafés with Wi-Fi?

Your café deserves better than a pin someone else dropped