Time to cue Seoul’s newest and hottest trend for the summer: the Meerkat Cafe Hongdae! Korea is already a million years past the dog and cat cafe trend, and has reinvented a good time in the form of exotic animals. Now you can meet the real Timon from The Lion King. What is life?
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About the Meerkat Cafe Experience
Meerkat and Friends Cafe has strict rules you must adhere to. All patrons must remove their shoes and purchase a drink. Guests under age 15 are not allowed in. This is for the protection of the animals. Meerkats are sensitive creatures. Any terrible experience can easily traumatize them.
The walls are painted soft colors to set a relaxing mood. Many tables are available for sitting and lounging. There are also toys and little houses all over the cafe for the animals. Leave these alone as well. In the middle of the cafe you’ll see two meerkat play pens. Patrons are allowed to interact with the animals for only ten minutes.
If you would like to interact with the meerkats, you must:
- have your hands santized
- sit down immediately
- have a sheet on your lap at all times
- make sure you never pick them up
- make sure to empty your pockets
These adorable creatures are extremely fast and love to play. Sometimes the staff will even give you their toys so you and the meerkats can have an enjoyable experience. You can pet these furry babies and let me tell you, they are soft.
In addition to the meerkats in the cafe, they also have an Arctic Fox, raccoon, kitten, wallaby, and a South African Genet. I’ve never seen a Genet up close and I think it’s such an amazingly beautiful and agile creature.
Recommendations
Meerkats love to dig, so I recommend you wear clothes you don’t mind getting wrecked. By nature, they begin to forage when they’re one month old. Digging is an innate instinct they use to create burrows, get food or create dust clouds to distract predators.
Can’t get enough of these adorable animals? The Meerkat Cafe has an Instagram so you can get your daily explosions of cute.
Cost
Drink prices range from 8,000 – 11,000 won. Included in the price is the entrance fee which helps take care of the animals and run the cafe.
How To Get There
Take Line 2 (the green line) to Hongik University Station and walk out exit 9. Walk down one block until you get to the major intersection, cross the street and turn left. Walk down three blocks and turn right when you see the pharmacy after the Lotteria. Go up the alleyway and make a slight left. You’ll see it on your right. (Or you can just be lazy and type in Sang Sang Puppy Cafe in Google Maps. It’s right next door.)
Address: 19-12 Wausan-ro 21-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul (3rd floor)
마포구 와우산로21길 19-12 (3층)
Phone: 02-333-4683
Hours: 12 pm – 9:45 pm
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28 Comments on Unique Seoul Cafe: The Meerkat Cafe Hongdae
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I have been in love with these creatures since Meerkat Manor was a thing. They are just way too adorable! This cafe looks like it treats its animals well and ethicallly.
I totally remember that show. I always thought they were cool because of the Lion King! The cafe does its best to make sure the animals are comfortable.
Oh this is a very unusual and unique concept. Meerkats are so cute and looks in happy mood. Let them allow the children above 10years as they will also enjoy. A place for animal lovers
No way a Meerkat cafe exists!! My son is 1 and the first animal he ever reacted to was a Meerkat. He fell in love with them. I would love to take him to this place to check them out!! Wow thanks for sharing
Happy to hear that your son likes Meerkats. Unfortunately, children under 15 are not allowed in the cafe.
I’ve never seen the appeal in cat cafes, but this is definitely something I can get on board with! Meerkats are the best. It’s great that they have a ban on under 15s, kids and tiny fluffy animals tend not to be the best mix haha.
Totally. I don’t like children either so I’m glad kids 15 and under are banned. They scream too much and they’re unintentionally rough with animals.
The first picture left us rapt and we started looking for more pictures of those adorable meerkats. We had heard about cat and dog cafes but this is completely new and fascinating. The cafe too looks like a great place to be with the pleasant ambiance.
I LOVE MEERKATS!!! Wow I think I could be crazy enough to travel to Seoul just to enjoy this experience but I feel pretty bad about it. I love animals out in their natural environment. But if the animals are well taken care of and they enjoy frequent human contact there’s something to be said about them living their days in this environment.
The meerkats are really cute, but it makes me sad to see them in a cafe. I’m not even really a big fan of the cat or dog cafes just because it sounds really stressful to be in such a small environment with numerous other animals and humans that keep on coming and going all day long. Do they have a place to go if the meerkats didn’t want human contact?
Wow that’s new! I did not know meetkats can be pets, that too in a restaurant!
Hope they also enjoy being there and don’t miss their homeland.
What an innovative USP of the cafe ! The meerkats look real cute and the fact that one can play with them while dining, is really cool.
The Meerkats look so cute. I am happy that they are taken care of well. But I do hope that they enjoy the experience as much as the visitors to the cafe do.
It’s definitely a unique cafe. Not only has it sheltered the animals but even created an environment with toys and all where they feel comfortable. I will definitely like to visit here once.
The meerkats are cute and neat. I like that the staff has provided a clear set of rules. The cafe looks comfortable and pleasant. I do not think that I would be able to order a cup of coffee here because I will just play with the meerkats. : )
And here I was thinking that us Aussies had cornered the market in ‘weird’ with our cane toad racing and singing, piano playing dingoes! But this cavern of cuteness manages to out-weird us without even trying!!! If I ever make it to Seoul, this’ll go straight to the top of my ‘must do’ list!
It’s definitely super popular and if you ever come up, it’s definitely a must see! 🙂
It is quite unfortunate that these meerkats have to “entertain” people in such an unnatural environment. Can’t imagine how they cope since meerkats would leave their burrows every morning as the sun comes up; they would then face the sun to warm up (their tummies are almost like solar panels) and then go about their day to find food etc.
Just like any wild animal, they are DEFINITELY not pets and should never be domesticated as such.
I would love to know how the cafe owners obtained the meerkats and if they have all the legal paperwork in order; not that it justifies this inhumane situation.
Same goes for the genet; how on earth did a single genet end up in Korea?
I urge you to please read up about the dangers of animal interactions, not for humans, but for the animals. And this goes for anything, from dolphin shows to feeding/petting lion cubs to elephant riding, posing with a tiger, and the list goes on and on.
As a South African (who also lived in Korea for 4 years), I can’t tell how sad this makes me to see such a themed cafe in Korea; they took it too far this time.
Thank you for posting this, it saddens me that yours is the only comment addressing how cruel is to use animals for entertainment.
Exactly, how much I would squeel and love to pet a meerkat, but even just being at the aquarium makes me stop and think how unnatural it is for the animals. But now the meerkat cafe, raccoon cafe and owl cafe, that’s a whole different dimension… hopefully at least there are trained people with them but still. Then to think of an animal like a meerkat who normally hides for everything… a cafe full of people is so unnatural for them, even if you leave the kids at home.
They were INSANELY RUDE to our group while there. The staff didn’t care for foreigners AT ALL.
What is The best time of day to visit for the most interaction as I know cat cafes are recommended as an early morning activity. Thanks
I would say in the early afternoon because that’s when I went and they were pretty active.
Hello, we went to the meerkat cafe in Myeongdong and it was a lovely experience. However we ended up with some scratches on our neck area. Do you know if these animals have been vaccinated ?
I’m not a medical professional. If you feel that there is something wrong, it’s very cheap to go to a doctor here in Korea.
Hi Gina, I brought my family to see the Meerkats at the cafe. As I will not be going into the cafe, I thought I could wait at the entrance shoe area. Apparently l can’t even wait there. Either i pay the money or l wait outside the cafe at the lift landing. By the way it’s winter time.
Maybe there should be a small coffee area for people to buy a drink and where they can wait for the family.