Parks of Seoul: Green Escapes in the Heart of the City

Seoul, South Korea is one of the most populated cities in the world. However, the city has made room for so many parks in the bustling city. Read below to learn more about some of the parks found across Seoul and how to enjoy them! Despite being a city, there are some beautiful parks that can be visited along the Han River that cuts through Seoul. Here are some of my favourite ones.

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Haneul Park

Located near the World Cup Stadium, Haneul Park is a popular park for several reasons.

1. The park is covered in tall grass – this grass which is a light tan during winter months – makes for beautiful backdrops for photos.
2. Sometimes nicknamed Sunset Park, this park offers a variety of lookout points to view the sunset over Seoul, and the Han river right next to it.
3. There are miscellaneous things to do around the park – a birds nest, an arch covered in vegetable vines with hanging vegetables, rock foot massagers – ultimately you could spend awhile just at the park.

Get there about an hour before sunset and enjoy a stroll through the park. Then head to one of the lookout areas to see the sunset over the Han river. This is a great place for a picnic. I brought some Macaroons!

This Park is a crowd favorite during the fall time! The tall grass is extremely tall, and makes for lovely backdrops to Fall photos. Expect there to be massive crowds during the iconic sunset photos. I went one evening on a Saturday and there was a line to climb the 400 stairs to the top! If you are not dedicated to the sunset photo then go early in the morning during fall. There will still be a crowd but not nearly as much as evening.

If you are looking for that sunset photo in fall then you are best to arrive late afternoon and picnic at the top until sunset. Otherwise there is a chance you may miss sunset if you are showing up 30 minutes to an hour before sun down.

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Location: 95, Haneulgongwon-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul 03900, South Korea

Subway Stop: World Cup Stadium

Seoul Forest

A lovely little park if you are looking for somewhere to stroll through. During summertime, you will find a lot of people visiting here with picnics and tents to enjoy a day at the park with the kids. This park offers playgrounds galore – so Seoul Forest is perfect for any of those travelling with children.

Location: 273, Ttukseom-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul 04770, South Korea

Subway Stop: Seoul Forest Station

Banpo Hangang Park

Another popular park during the spring and autumn time frame. This is where you can find performers – dancers, rappers, singers, any performing art really. It is especially popular for bicyclist – you will find bike rides, and people doing stunts.  Check out my other post below to read more about biking along the Han River. You will start from this park!

Additionally, Banpo is known for the food truck options! So the park is a great place to grab a snack.

But, Banpo is most well known for the bridge where the name is from Banpo Bridge. At night time the bridge lights up and has a water fountain that is turned on. This only occurs during the summer months and is typically scheduled at 8 pm and 830pm. Try to enjoy it from the beer garden!

Location: 40 Sinbanpo-ro 11-gil, Banpo 2(i)-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul

Subway Stop: Express Bus Terminal

Namsan – N Seoul Tower

An icon in the city. This Park is home of the Namsan – N Seoul Tower – which can be viewed from most locations across Seoul. This park has numerous options for getting to the peak: a hike or a cable car ride. The lift up can offer great views of Seoul as you ascend to the top! Check out your options for the ride here.

Once at the top take the opportunity to walk around and explore the area. There are some great view out points from Namsan that are not difficult to reach at all!

At the top, you will find numerous places to eat at or grab snacks from. Heading up to the tower there is a lovely beer garden that overlooks the city. At the base of the tower, you can find plenty of little snack shops to get soft served ice cream and other deliciousness.

If you are feeling a bit fancy you can make reservations at two main dining restaurants at the tower.

• n. Grill – is a french restaurant located at the highest point of the tower.
• n. Terrace is a bar at the highest point of the tower!
• THE PLACE is a more casual Italian on the lower level of the tower – but still panoramic views!

Additionally, make sure to check out in front of the tower – there is always some sort of performances going on!

Location: 105, Namsangongwon-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Subway Stop: Myeong-dong Station if you want to take the Cable Car.

Olympic Park, Seoul

While this park is not as lush in vegetation as the above mentioned one – this has historic value. This park celebrates the Olympics that were held in Seoul in 1988. A stroll through this park will feature beautiful structures and statues.

Start from the Olympic Park Station, and enter the park there. From there you will pass by statues and the old stadiums from the Olympics. Follow the path along and you will get the best views (and they are labelled as camera spots!) of Peace Village. Head over to Peace Village to see all the nations flags and then grab some photos of World Peace Gate.

If you’re hungry at this point there is a Lotteria right there – which is a classic Korean burger king / McDonalds type of establishment.

Additionally, from here you are walking distance to the Lotte Tower.

Location: 424 Olympic-or, Oryun-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul

Subway Stop: Olympic Park

Naksan Park

The Seoul Fortress Wall can be found surrounding Seoul. You can opt to walk the entire trail which will take a total of eight hours and will walk around the entirity of the main Seoul center. Or you can do what I did and opt for one of the scenic and popular portions of the Seoul Fortress Wall at Naksan Park!

This portion of the wall can be easily reached by the subway. You can start at Hyehwamun Gate which is near the Hansung University Station walk the Fortress trail (there are signs) towards the Heunginjimun Gate which is next to Dongdaemun Station. This route takes you through the Naksan Park which is a small peak ~400m and a very easy walking trail.

The best time of year to visit? Fall! The Fortress Wall has trees planted on one side and the leaves change color during fall making for a lovely backdrop to the wall. Enjoy the lovely weather and the beautiful scenery for this walk which only takes about 1 hour.

Location: 54 Naksan-gil, Ihwa-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul

Subway Stations: Hansung University walk to Dongdaemun Station.

Apps to Navigate Seoul

So I gave you a lot of places to visit, now how to get there? Here are some apps for your phone that will greatly assist in navigating Seoul:

• Seoul Subway – you can route plan and see the map on this application.
• Naver – this is the commonly used navigation tool in South Korea. You may find your google maps to not be very accurate so this is helpful. However, the map is still having loaded English versions of places so you may have to copy and paste over the Korean name.
• Waze – the more commonly used expat navigation tool. Be warned though, this one sucks the battery of your phone. Naver is preferred but if a location is not populating on Naver, then try this one after.