Search for animal cafés in Seoul and the top results are still blog posts from five years ago. The trouble is, the law changed while those posts sat there untouched. When the Wildlife Act was amended in December 2023, cafés that let visitors handle wild mammals like raccoons, meerkats, and foxes became illegal in principle — and a good number of the places still lingering in your search results have since closed, or pivoted to showing their animals only through glass.
So this guide runs in two directions. First, the places you can actually visit right now, sorted by type. Second, why certain cafés vanished, down to the specific legal clauses. The point is to save you a wasted trip.
The short answer
- Right now you can safely visit cat cafés, dog cafés, and parrot cafés in Seoul. Entry fees run ₩9,000–20,000.
- Raccoon, meerkat, and fox cafés have been banned since December 2023. Any that remain lose their grace period on December 13, 2027 — and even before then, touching and feeding are illegal.
- The densest cluster of animal cafés is around Hongdae's Wausan-ro. Cat, dog, and sheep cafés all sit within a 10-minute walk of each other.
- Don't choose by price alone. Two details — whether the animals have places to hide, and how early the café closes — tell you more about animal welfare than any review score.
Which types of animal cafés are still around in Seoul?
The short version: pets (dogs and cats) are fine, wild mammals are blocked, and birds and reptiles are open. The amended Wildlife Act, in effect since December 14, 2023, drew that line.
🐾 Can you visit these Seoul animal cafés today? (as of September 2026)
| Type | Can you visit now? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cat cafés | ⭕ Yes | Cats are pets, not wildlife — not restricted |
| Dog cafés | ⭕ Yes | Same as above |
| Parrot & bird cafés | ⭕ Yes | Birds are exempt from the display ban; under 10 species and 50 animals, no zoo permit needed |
| Reptile cafés | ⭕ Yes | Reptiles (except venomous snakes) get the same exemption |
| Sheep & alpaca cafés | △ Limited | Classified as livestock, outside the Wildlife Act — but few survive in central Seoul |
| Raccoon, meerkat & fox cafés | ❌ Banned in principle | Displaying wildlife at non-zoo facilities is prohibited (effective Dec 14, 2023) |
Where should you go for cat cafés?
The overwhelming majority of Seoul animal cafés are cat cafés — and most of them cluster along one alley on Wausan-ro 21-gil in Hongdae. The ones below have distinctly different personalities, so pick to match your mood.
🐱 Seoul cat cafés compared (as of September 2026 · fees and hours can change)
| Name | Area | Entry fee | Hours | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MAO | Hongdae (36-10 Wausan-ro 21-gil, 3F–4F) | ₩9,000 | 13:30–22:00 | Run by a cat rescue group; Nintendo & VR available |
| Jipsaui Haru | Hongdae (19-8 Wausan-ro 21-gil, 2F) | ₩10,000 | 12:00–22:00 | Long hours, linger-friendly |
| Roof Cat Me Hongdae | Near Hongdae Univ. Station | ₩20,000 adult / ₩15,000 minor | Check the shop | Large indoor space |
| Camping Cat Yangjae | Yangjae (Gangnam area) | ₩12,000 / all-day ₩25,000 | Check the shop | Camping theme, re-entry allowed |
| Mocha Cat Café Gangnam | Near Gangnam Station | ₩10,000 weekday / ₩15,000 weekend | Check the shop | Drink included |
📍 Open in Naver Map — Jipsaui Haru
📍 Open in Naver Map — Camping Cat Yangjae
The best times to visit a cat café (and when to skip it)
- Avoid 2–4 p.m. That's cat nap time — they'll all be perched on top of the cat towers.
- They're most active right at opening and after 7 p.m.
- Hand sanitizing and coat storage are usually mandatory on entry. Skip the knitwear — it collects fur.
How are dog cafés different from cat cafés?
The biggest difference is intensity. A cat café is a place to sit quietly; a dog café is closer to ten large dogs rushing you all at once. That’s why dog cafés add two safeguards: age limits and rest periods.
📍 Open in Naver Map — The House Where Winter Stays
📍 Open in Naver Map — Deo-gwiyeowo
Animal café vs dog-friendly café — two different businesses in Korea
In Korean, a dongmul café (animal café) is where you play with the shop's resident animals, while an aegyeon-dongban café (dog-friendly café) is where you bring your own dog. The latter are more common in the suburbs — Namyangju, Yangju, and the like — with big yards, and they price by the number of dogs (around ₩5,000 for the first, ₩3,000 per extra), not by people. Mixing up the two terms will send you to the wrong place.
What about sheep, parrot, and other unusual animal cafés?
They exist. But there are very few of them, and the ones left are there because of specific legal carve-outs.
- Sheep cafés — Thanks Nature Café in Hongdae has long been known for keeping sheep on its terrace. Sheep are livestock, so they fall outside the Wildlife Act. But raising large grazing animals in the middle of a city is hard, which is why this is basically the only one in Seoul — and its setup changes often, so check their Instagram before you go.
- Parrot cafés — Birds are exempt from the display ban, so these remain fully legal. Seoul Parrot is a well-known one. That said, after an endangered parrot was rescued from a Seoul café in 2025, it’s wise to steer clear of any shop that won’t say where its birds come from.
- Reptile cafés — Reptiles other than venomous snakes are exempt too. Under 10 species and 50 animals, no zoo permit is required.
- Alpacas and raccoons — don’t count on these inside Seoul. Alpacas live at facilities in the countryside like Hongcheon, Gangwon-do, and raccoons are being phased out as described below.
Why did raccoon and meerkat cafés disappear?
In one line: since December 14, 2023, displaying wild animals without a zoo permit has been illegal.
When Korea’s zoo registration system became a permit system, any facility without zoo status — a café, a restaurant — that displayed live wild animals became subject to up to 2 years in prison or a fine of up to ₩20 million. Businesses operating before December 2022 could apply for a four-year grace period, but that grace period ends December 13, 2027.
Even during the grace period, you can't touch them
The grace period wasn't given so shops could keep operating as before — it was time to draw up an animal welfare and management plan and register it. Even within this window, touching and feeding are prohibited. Field reporting right after the law took effect still found cafés allowing both, but those are enforcement targets. For a traveler, any shop advertising "you can pet a raccoon" is operating illegally.
When the law passed, four of six wild animal cafés in Seoul said they would apply for zoo permits, and two were considering closing. What would happen to the animals left behind became the hardest part of the debate — and it still hasn’t been fully resolved.
How to tell if an animal café treats its animals well — in 5 minutes
There are signals more reliable than entry fees or star ratings. Walk in and check these five things.
Five things to check on the spot
- Do the animals have places to hide? Cats need high shelves or separate rooms where human hands can't reach them. If every animal is stuck at customer eye level, there's nowhere to escape.
- Is holding them banned? A café that posts "please don't pick up the animals" is better than one that lets you. More rules usually means the shop is on the animals' side.
- Are there rest periods and regular closing days? A place open 365 days a year until late night gives its animals no days off.
- Are water bowls and litter boxes clean? If the parts customers can see are neglected, the parts they can't are worse.
- Is there enough space for the number of animals? Too many animals in a small room is itself a stressor. Cafés that cap visitor numbers tend to be the better ones.
Want to go one step further? Pick a café run by an animal rescue group, or one that arranges adoptions. At places like Hongdae’s MAO, run directly by a protection association, your entry fee goes straight to rescue and treatment. Same ₩10,000, same hour of your time — but the money ends up somewhere different.
Animal café etiquette: the rules to follow
These are what most Seoul animal cafés ask for in common. The signs at the door are often Korean-only, so it helps to know them in advance.
| Rule | Why |
|---|---|
| Sanitize your hands on entry | Stops disease spreading between animals |
| Put coats and bags in lockers | Keeps fur off clothes and stops animals swallowing things |
| Don’t touch sleeping animals | A startled animal’s defensive bite or scratch is the most common incident |
| Don’t pick animals up | Risk of fall injuries — many cafés explicitly ban it |
| No outside food | Human food is often toxic to dogs and cats |
| No flash photography | Visual stress; ordinary photos are usually allowed |
| Order at least one drink | Many cafés charge it separately from entry — confirm before you pay |
Sources
- Financial News — wild animal café ban takes effect (2023.12.14)
- Kyunghyang Shinmun — field report on raccoon cafés and Seoul businesses
- Kyunghyang Shinmun — zoo registration becomes a permit system
- Hankook Ilbo — wildlife café ban Q&A, grace period, and the animals left behind
- Hankook Ilbo — endangered parrot rescued from a café (2025)
- Biz Hankook — field report two weeks after the touching/feeding ban
- Tour Toc Toc — Hongdae cat café fees and hours
- Dining Code — The House Where Winter Stays info
- Entry fees and hours are based on online information as of September 2, 2026. The
checkeddate will be updated after on-site confirmation.