Blind Alley Racoon Cafe - Gina Bear's Blog

UPDATE: Due to COVID-19, the Blind Alley Racoon Cafe had to close their doors for good. All the raccoons in the cafe have been taken to a safe zoo where they can live out the rest of their days in peace. If you’d like to go to a unique animal cafe, then check out the Meerkat and Friends Cafe in Hongdae.

I don’t know about you, but where I come from, raccoons are a mischievous party crasher. With those precise and sneaky little fingers, they always seem to be prying the lids off trash cans, stealing cat or bird food, and eating whatever they find. You may think, why would I go to a raccoon cafe where these mammals can have a free go at my belongings and take my food? Well, if you take one look at their cute yet devious faces and pet their fluffy coats, you might want to try it out.

Table of Contents

Blog Posts You Might Like

Recommendations

Did you know raccoons are nocturnal creatures? They thrive at night and are usually asleep during the day. If you go during the afternoon, chances are they’ll be really sleepy. I went to Blind Alley twice with Linda Goes East because the raccoons decided to crawl up in their bunker and ignore the world after they were fed their snacks. Sometimes raccoons are productive during the day, but not most of the time. If you go, I think around 5-6PM would be the best time.

Also, if you’re a bit skittish around animals, I wouldn’t suggest going. The white raccoon loves to playfully bite and try to intimidate you. The black one is really nice and will try to jump on your leg if it wishes for attention. If you show you’re afraid, well, animals are animals and will try to show you who is the more dominant one.

About the Blind Alley Experience

While dog cafes are totally still raging all over Seoul, you will love the atmosphere. Blind Alley is dimly lit and very cute. The main area has many chairs and tables, but the best seat to have is the table by the window so you can watch the raccoons and how people interact with them. There is a separate area for the play pen for the raccoons. The raccoons don’t enter the cafe area unless accompanied by their owner. She usually puts them on her head or back and takes them around for a photo session.

The raccoons are able to do one cool trick so just learn two words of Korean and you’re set to go! Say “son juseyo” meaning hand please and they will eat dried fruit from your hand. They grab the food quickly so have your camera ready! Their play area is really well maintained and doesn’t smell. There are paintings of raccoons on the wall and pillows to sit on while you feed them. You can tell these animals are well cared for because their fur is fluffy (they’re a bit chubby too), they have space to play and they have warm beds and fluffy blankets.

My favorite drink from the cafe are the ades. I highly recommend the lemonade and grapefruit ade. They come in a glass mason jar with a bunch of ice (bummer in the winter and winner in the summer). The ades are really sugary and if you have a major sweet tooth like me, it’s highly satisfying. Judging by these two drinks, I’d assume everything in the cafe is pretty good!

How To Get There

From Sookmyung Women’s University Station (Line 4) go out exit 10. Make a U-turn as soon as you leave the exit. Walk for a about 7 minutes and you’ll see a tunnel. Go under the tunnel and keep walking up the street. The street has an incline so it’ll take another 7-10 minutes. Blind Alley will be on your right, tucked away behind the street view.

Hours: 9AM-10:30PM

Address: 서울시 용산구 청파동2가 63-20 (63-20 Cheongpa-dong2ga, Yongsan-gu, Seoul)

Would you be down to tango with some fuzzy-wuzzy raccoons? Let me know about your Blind Alley experience or if you’d ever step foot in this cafe!

This post contains affiliate links which means at no additional cost to you, I make a small commission to help keep Gina Bear’s Blog running. Thanks for your support!

Free Seoul E-Book

Do you love South Korea?

Enter your name and email address and click the button below to receive your Easy Seoul Travel Guide so you can travel like a local!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.