One of the largest parks in Seoul, Namsan Park could be considered the ‘Central Park’ of Seoul. Located in the heart of downtown Seoul, it’s described as “the hub of the metropolis”, according to Moon’s guide of South Korea (It’s beginning to show it’s age, but still an excellent guide). Complete with mountains, hiking trails, recreational areas, and lots of trees – in the middle of Seoul, no less! I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Namsan Park, although I took an odd way to get there! The various websites describing the park, as well as the guidebooks, didn’t give the best directions on how to get here – so I’m putting some out for everyone to read. Hopefully they make it into a future guidebook (with credit given of course! A little royalty wouldn’t hurt either) 🙂

After exiting the Myeong-dong subway station, I had a general idea of where to go, thanks to the ‘neighborhood map’ in the subway – these are great when you’re figuring out what exit to take or what area of town to explore. It’s such a large park that seeing everything would take days, if not weeks. After finding what appeared to be a way of entering the park, I climbed a long set of stairs and found… a dirt trail. Someone’s idea of a funny joke, I thought. Apparently this is one way up the mountain – off the beaten path. I later discovered that there were many dirt trails and areas where one could walk off the paved path if you so choose. It’d be a maze to go from one to the other, but you’d eventually find your way back to the paved path if you so chose.

I followed the dirt trail up the mountain until I came across the walking trail – paved, wide, and popular. At first it looked like a road, with all the road markings. I later realized that half the road has a rubberized coating to it – the kind that helps cushion your step. The ‘lanes’ theoretically regulate foot traffic direction.

I began walking the trail in an effort to find the Seoul Tower – easier said than done. While there were posts indicating the walking trail, everything was in Korean – and braille. Odd, I thought, would the blind actually hike a trail like this? It’s not a terribly steep or hard hike, and hiking is certainly a good way of staying active. As if on cue, I noticed the first person waving a white cane… then a second… and a third. A while later, I spotted a number of them taking a rest at a place to sit down.

The hikers are an excellent cross-section of Koreans. Old, young, people wearing suits, people wearing their Sunday-best dress, women wearing heels(?!), couples with strollers and small babies, stylish clothes, practical hiking clothes, and even a few wearing running gear.

Finally I reached the ‘normal’ starting point of the hiking trail. This area had a number of recreational areas – badminton, an outdoor weight room, a ‘mineral water’ station (great place to refill the water bottle), and so on. At this point, you can walk the paved and rubberized trail to the other end (roughly 3 kilometers long – about 1.8 miles), where I’m sure a number of other activities await – a trip for another day. Seoul Tower was 2.1 kilometers away (about 1.2 miles), according to one sign, and I had the choice to walk to it or take a bus to the top. I decided to walk – a good idea, but beware – it’s uphill virtually the entire way. Thankfully there was plenty of Korean company – something about a beautiful Saturday afternoon that makes you want to… oh, I don’t know, climb a mountain! There were also stops along the way – rest areas, bathrooms, wildlife areas, and so on. A few lookout points were scattered along the way, and I would imagine these are great places to take a picnic. Hmm, note to self….

Part of the original fortress wall from the era of King Taejo. Constructed in 1396, it was reinforced in 1422 and repaired several times. The wall is 12 meters high (about 39 feet) and 18 kilometers long (about 11 miles). Part of the wall ran along the hiking / road way towards the tower.

Eventually you reach the top, and the scene unfolds almost as a theme park. You see a parking area, many cars (and buses and taxis) idling on the roadside, hear music, and perhaps even smell some of the snacks and foods for sale.

Welcome to Seoul Tower – where most of the fun is surprisingly free. There is no ‘main gate’ – once you arrive you can get a bite to eat, enjoy the shade of the trees, buy a souvenir, or simply sit on a bench and watch the world.

A crowd had gathered around the front of the Seoul Tower – a performer was playing a pan flute and other percussion instruments to a pre-recording guitar track. An assistant handled the mixing and talked to the crowd between songs while he handled the instruments and playing.

I grabbed a bite to eat came from SweeTree, a restaurant on the ground-level floor of the Seoul Tower. Attempting to be both a fast-food place that makes things to order as well as a coffeehouse, it was a bit pricey (about $10 for some chicken tenders, a plate of fries, and a larger-than-expected Pepsi – but I was craving some American food!), but perfectly seasoned. Considering what one pays to get into a Six Flags and then pay for food, I didn’t complain.

On the back side of the Seoul Tower was an overlook, complete with tables and chairs and a fence filled with locks… Wait, what?! Apparently, couples buy a lock, put their name / date / other cutesy stuff, then lock the lock around the wire. It’s not only allowed, but encouraged – there’s at least one lock on every portion of the fence.

In front of the souvenir shop set up at the front of Seoul Tower is a store that sells… you guessed it – locks. They come with keys, which I sort of laughed at… I can just imagine someone coming back trying to find their lock amongst the thousands of locks all around…

Seoul Tower really felt like an amusement park without the roller coaster or other rides. Size-wise it’s a bit smaller, but all the other elements are there – a few different restaurants, music piped in throughout (including some rather overplayed American club / pop music), plenty of chances to buy souvenirs, and plenty of signs – many in English – giving the sightseer some direction. I noticed that I saw no other non-Koreans while hiking up the hill, but saw at least a handful of other foriegners once at Seoul Tower. Maybe they were the smart ones that took the bus, or perhaps it was nicer to smell the roses while making the hike.

The biggest attraction of Seoul Tower is the observation floor. At 236 meters, the tower ranks as one of the top 10 tallest in the world – and various places around the tower promoted that fact widely. This (along with food or souvenirs) is the only thing you have to pay for – entering the building and seeing the view from about 10 feet up is free. I paid 7,000 won (about $7) for a ticket that allowed me on the elevator up to the observation level. A higher floor promised a restaurant where one could take in the sights while rotating around Seoul, but I wasn’t in the mood. The aforementioned Moon guidebook remarked the restaurant was “plain but pricey” as well.

After finding my way to the elevator, I gave my ticket and lined up for the elevator ride. I’m not sure how high the floor was, but I’d guess you’re about 15-20 floors up. The observation floor has 48 windows, most with a major world city and it’s distance and a 360 degree view of Seoul. The view from each and every one was incredible, just incredible. You really can take in how incredibly large the city is up there, and it’s a wonderful sight. There are the typical sightseeing binoculars installed – a 500 won coin (about 50 cents) gives you about 2 minutes to sightsee – or just watch cars driving and people walking at street level.

When you’re finished on the observation floor, you’ll walk down a flight of stairs to a souvenir shop, a sandwich / chocolate restaurant, restrooms, another flight of stairs down leading to another restaurant, and the elevator going down.

After arriving at the main floor, I discovered that I wasn’t done exploring yet. Although the highlight of the day was the Seoul Tower, Namsan Park still had a few surprises to be had. The aforementioned Moon handbook mentioned a cable car from the top of the park to a landing station on the same level with the city. While walking to the cable car you’ll see a few more souvenir stands – and the original city wall. I can only imagine the number of arrows fired or the view of the land before roads and towers and officially named parks. The view from today looking down upon the undeveloped land, however, probably hasn’t changed much.

Getting a ticket for the cable car was automated and pretty easy to figure out. Push the button for the ticket you want, insert money, and out comes a ticket and your change. I saw a ticket agent booth but didn’t think it was open. About 10 minutes later, we’re shown onto the cable car – along with another great view of the city below us. If you’ve never been on a cable car before (like me), you’re in for a treat. You’re only going about 20 km/hour (about 12 mph), but the cables above you seem to descend at a much sharper angle than you will. Upon landing, we walk down a few flights of stairs to discover the line going UP the mountain is much longer. It went down all 3 flights of stairs, out the front door, and at least 100 feet on. If you’re going to go up to Seoul Tower via cable car, don’t do it on a Saturday night at 8pm without expecting to wait awhile.

Great, sounds like fun – now how do I get there? I’m so glad you asked. Take the subway to the Chungmuro station (line 3), then take exit #2. Wait just outside the subway exit for bus #02. This bus will make stops at Namsan Park (the beginning of the walking trail I described), and will climb the hill and stop near Seoul Tower. You’ll still have a couple hundred meters up a steep hill after exiting the bus – consider it the initiation to getting in.