One of the things we wanted to do for my daughter was to visit a raccoon cafe and a dog cafe. Samoyed Cafe ‘Winters Village’ is one of the more established dog cafes in Seoul we found reviews on various websites. They have an Instagram account and it is easy to find them via Google Maps.
Their opening hours are from 1pm to 10pm and they are closed on Tuesdays. The minimum age to enter is 10 years old due to health and safety. The nearest subway is Sangsu Station (Subway Line 6) exit 1. Once you exit, take the first right and then go left around the bend. Continue walking straight for 3 minutes until you reach the parking lot at the end of the road. Turn right again and veer left at the fork. Keep straight again until you reach the cafe on your right. The black building with a lot of Samoyed dog posters makes it stand out. Or you can exit via Hapjeong station (Subway Line 2). Walk for 10 minutes using KakaoMap and Naver Map, which provide reliable navigation around South Korea.
Even though this place is categorised as a cafe, it is not a cafe for people to sit and drink at the same time. It is a place where a group of Samoyed dogs play. Your entrance ticket (15,000 KRW) entitles you to enjoy their company, playing, feeding (you will be provided with a few dry dog kibbles) and taking a lot of photos with them.
To access the entrance, you need to navigate a lot of steep steps before you reach the black door, and more steps before the counter and gate on the first floor. I did not see any lift inside or around the building, hence this is not a wheelchair-friendly place.
Once you pay for your entrance ticket (a credit card is fine and they sell merchandise too), you will proceed to the resting/locker room on your right, where you have to leave your valuable belongings in their lockers which are free to use. You can choose to wear their slippers or your own shoes in this place.
Once everyone from your group is present, they give you a short briefing on their safety procedure. They did warn us that there was a small white Pomeranian dog who was unfriendly and loud. I have no idea why they have a Pomeranian dog in this cafe, maybe this dog belonged to one of their staff.
Then you are free to roam around the first floor or second floor. We started on the first floor where a lot of sleepy dogs laid on the floor. Even though there were many people taking photos of them, they were all very chilled and relaxed. I almost thought they were all fakes as they were all so still. Once we had our photo taken, we went upstairs.
On the second floor, the dogs are more alert, interactive and playful. The staff will provide you with dog kibbles to feed them or ice cubes during a hot day. There is a sink nearby to wash your hands.
The whole building is air conditioned throughout. The dogs are very well cared for and have time to out to do their business. Their fur coats are thick, fluffy and healthy-looking.
There is no time limit in this place and it can get quite busy. We went on a rainy day and there were so many of them waiting for the rain to stop before making their way out. We managed to take more photos with them and play with them before making our way to visit Meerkat Friends.