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Toilets at Gwangjang, Namdaemun and Mangwon Markets: What Reviews Say

Travel Analysts

📄37 reviews mention the toilets at Gwangjang Market, Namdaemun Market and Mangwon Market. Where reviewers found them, which are clean, and the paper problem.

A crowded open-air market street in Seoul with awnings over the stalls and buildings covered in shop signs in Korean

💡Quick Answer

Are there public toilets at Gwangjang Market? Yes. Twenty-one reviews of Gwangjang Market mention them: eight call them clean and four complain. One describes a three-floor block with the ground floor for visitors with disabilities. At Namdaemun Market the toilets are inside the buildings and reviewers call them hard to find. Mangwon Market has a public toilet near the middle, and three reviewers found no paper or no soap there.

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Toilets at Seoul’s Markets: What 37 Reviews Say

A market visit of two or three hours, with children or with an older relative, depends on a detail guidebooks skip. We read every review of Gwangjang Market, Namdaemun Market and Mangwon Market that mentions a toilet.

🚻 What reviewers say about the toilets	Gwangjang Market	Namdaemun Market	Mangwon Market
Reviews that mention toilets	1.4% (21)	0.7% (9)	0.6% (7)
✅ Call them clean	8 reviews	2 reviews	none
⚠️ Complain	4 reviews	2 say they are hard to find	3 reviews: no paper, no soap
📍 Say where they are	4 reviews	4 reviews: inside the buildings	2 reviews: near the middle
🧻 Mention paper	2 reviews	1 review	2 reviews
Raise safety for women at night	2 reviews	none	none

Thirty-seven reviews mention toilets, and 21 of them are about Gwangjang Market. All nine at Namdaemun Market and all seven at Mangwon Market are from 2024 or later.

The trade-off: people write about a toilet when it surprised them, in either direction. Thirty-seven reviews in 3,923 show what stood out, not the average state of the facilities.

Gwangjang Market: Mostly Clean, With Exceptions

Eight reviewers of Gwangjang Market call the toilets clean and four complain.

Clean toilets are available. — Google Maps review of Gwangjang Market, 4 stars, June 2026

Loved the clean bathrooms. — TripAdvisor review of Gwangjang Market, 5 stars, August 2019

Toilet we went to was also acceptably clean. — Google Maps review of Gwangjang Market, 5 stars, October 2025

The most useful description is from an Indonesian reviewer in September 2026: a very clean toilet block on three floors, the ground floor for visitors with disabilities, the second for men and the third for women. A reviewer writing in Chinese places toilets on the right after entering by the east gate, where the tour buses stop. Another uses the coffee shop on the second floor, above the market, to sit down and use the toilet. A Japanese reviewer in 2019 notes they are free.

The complaints are fewer and stronger.

Also the bathroom situation is atrocious. — TripAdvisor review of Gwangjang Market, 4 stars, September 2026

Remember to grab toilet paper outside the bathroom and bring it in with you. — TripAdvisor review of Gwangjang Market, 4 stars, September 2026

A Korean reviewer in 2020 calls getting to a toilet a little inconvenient. Another Korean reviewer complains about the smell of the toilet inside one of the restaurants, which is a different toilet from the public ones. And one three-star review contradicts all the rest:

No toilet in anywhere — Google Maps review of Gwangjang Market, 3 stars, October 2025

The trade-off: the public toilets exist and most reviewers who used them were satisfied, and a visitor who does not know where they are can walk the food aisles without seeing one.

Paper, and Two Warnings From Japanese Reviewers

Two reviews of Gwangjang Market are about paper. One says to take it from outside before going in. The other, by a Japanese reviewer in 2025, says the paper cannot be flushed and recommends carrying tissue that can be, along with wet wipes for the food samples.

Two Japanese reviewers raise something more serious. One, in August 2026, says the toilets are in a dim place like a back alley, fine for men, and suggests that a woman alone or a group of women use a nearby hotel instead. The other, a year earlier, describes an evening at the stalls when a friend was approached by a man at the public toilet and followed back to the stall. The stallholders were told, the police came, and it took about an hour to resolve. That reviewer advises women against visiting at night.

The trade-off: these are two accounts in 1,458 reviews, and both are specific. They are about the evening, not the daytime visit most reviewers describe.

Namdaemun Market: Inside the Buildings

At Namdaemun Market the toilets are indoors, and that is why visitors think there are few. Four of the nine reviews say where: in most of the buildings, in an air-conditioned basement, in a flower market.

Restroom are available in most buildings and these are clean. — Google Maps review of Namdaemun Market, 4 stars, November 2024

Toilets can be tricky to find. — Google Maps review of Namdaemun Market, 4 stars, April 2026

Two reviewers were pointed to one. A Dutch reviewer says the market’s information staff help with exactly this, and another was sent to toilets that turned out to be inside a flower market:

so for a change they smelt amazing — Google Maps review of Namdaemun Market, 5 stars, April 2025

A Japanese reviewer has a simpler plan: use the toilet at the department store next to the market before going in. Another Japanese reviewer, in 2026, warns that in some toilets the paper cannot be flushed and that some have none.

The trade-off: a toilet inside a building depends on that building being open, and on knowing which building to walk into.

Mangwon Market: One Public Toilet, Near the Middle

Four reviewers of Mangwon Market, all writing in Chinese, mention a public toilet. One says it is the only one, in the middle of the market near a well-known hotteok stall, with opening hours posted on it. Another saw a sign for it at the crossing halfway along the market. A third notes a café next to it where visitors can bring in food bought at the stalls, as long as each person orders a drink.

Three reviews complain, and all three are about supplies.

Very bad toilet situation. No handsoap which is nasty — Google Maps review of Mangwon Market, 1 star, November 2024

Two Korean reviewers, one in 2024 and one in 2025, say there was no toilet paper, and one of them asks the market to provide it.

The trade-off: a toilet with posted hours is a toilet that closes. We did not verify the hours.

Methodology

Figures come from the SeoulFoodTour research corpus. This article uses three samples of rated reviews from Google Maps and TripAdvisor, each collected without filtering by rating: 1,458 reviews of Gwangjang Market, 1,376 of Namdaemun Market and 1,089 of Mangwon Market.

What was counted. Two searches for toilets, restrooms and bathrooms, in every language in the samples, matched 40 reviews. Each was read in full. Three use the word for something else and were set aside, leaving 37: 21, 9 and 7. The second search added four reviews written in Chinese that the first had missed.

Counts are floors. The percentages in the first row are shares of each market’s sample; the other rows are counts, because they are too small to be rates.

Quotations. Every quotation is from a review written in English and is reproduced exactly as it appears in the original record, spelling included. Reviews in other languages are counted and described in our words, never quoted.

What this article does not do. It does not verify where the toilets are today, their hours, their state or whether they are accessible. It does not name the restaurant in the one complaint about a private toilet.

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❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Are there public toilets at Gwangjang Market?+

Yes. Twenty-one reviews of Gwangjang Market mention toilets, and eight call them clean. One review from 2026 describes a toilet block on three floors: the ground floor for visitors with disabilities, the second for men and the third for women. One three-star review says there is no toilet anywhere, against the other twenty.

Where are the toilets at Gwangjang Market?+

Reviewers give three pointers. One says they are on the right after entering by the east gate. One describes a three-floor block. One uses the coffee shop on the second floor, above the market, to rest and use the toilet. A Japanese reviewer says the public toilets are down a dim passage.

Are the toilets at Gwangjang Market clean?+

Eight reviews say so, in words from “acceptably clean” to “very clean.” Four complain. The harshest, from September 2026, calls the situation atrocious, says the toilets smelled and warns that the toilet paper is outside the stall.

Where are the toilets at Namdaemun Market?+

Inside the buildings. Four reviews of Namdaemun Market say so: in most buildings, in an air-conditioned basement, and in one case inside a flower market. Two reviewers call them hard to find, and two were pointed to one by the market’s information staff. One Japanese reviewer uses the department store next door before going in.

Is there a toilet at Mangwon Market?+

Yes. Four reviewers writing in Chinese mention a public toilet at Mangwon Market. One says it is the only one, near the middle of the market by a well-known hotteok stall, with its opening hours posted. Another saw a sign for it at the crossing halfway along. Three reviewers found no toilet paper or no soap.

Should you bring toilet paper to Seoul’s markets?+

Reviewers suggest it. At Gwangjang Market the paper is taken from a dispenser outside the stall, and one Japanese reviewer says it cannot be flushed there and brings flushable tissue. At Namdaemun Market another says some toilets have no paper. Two reviewers of Mangwon Market found none.