Naksan Park is a small neighborhood located in a hill. It reminds more to a small village rather than a place in the center of Seoul. It’s quiet and narrow streets are full of cafes and paintings, which make this place unique. Also, I like that is not a very touristy place among foreigners and it’s very quiet, especially in weekdays.
Apart from the street art and the narrow streets, you can find a small part of the wall that used to protect Seoul in the ancient times. The wall seems to have been restored, but still is quite nice. Even though the mountain is just 100m high, it was one of the 4 mountain fortress that protected Seoul. The other 3 were Bugaksan, Namsan, Inwangsan.
On the top of the mountain you have a 360° view of Seoul city. You can also see the mountains and a small neighborhood on the back of the hill. This is probably the best views of Seoul. To enjoy the view, go to one of the amazing terraces of the cafes.
As you can see in the pictures, I was not very lucky with the weather. I hope you have more luck!
If you want to have a really unique experience, you can also rent the traditional clothes students used to wear in Korea in the past.
Hungry?
The area around Naksan Park is mostly residential, with many cafes but not a lot of restaurants. If the weather is nice, I would recommend buying take away food and eating out. There are several places where you can eat out.
We found the small square that you can see in the pictures. There were a group of locals having Korean pancake, kimchi spring rolls and Korean rice wine. So we decided to do the same! There was a small shop just in front with a lovely woman that told us to sit down and she brought us the food.
When to go
Maybe with sun light and see the sunset in the top would be the best idea. This way you can enjoy the view of Seoul in the day and at night. You can easily see the entire neighborhood in less than 3 hours, including a break to eat something or having a rest in a cafe.
How to get there
It takes about 15 to 20 minutes walking from Hyehwa station exit 2 to enter in the neighborhood. Then, there are some stairs and it takes about 20 minutes more to get to the top of Naksan Park. It is a little bit uphill but is not a hike or anything like that.
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