Day five of our South Korean trip was a Saturday and both my children wanted to have a lie-in. Hence we decided to take it easy and visit the local area instead. We were within walking distance (maybe 30 minutes) of N Seoul Tower and booked the tickets with Namsan Cable Car via Klook (costs £76.16 for four people). As the Wonder Trip ticket office only opened at 1pm on Saturdays, we had plenty of time to explore the nearby area before picking up the tickets.
We first went to the Seoul Animation Center, thinking it was a museum and for all ages. But we misunderstood. The target audience is young children and the library books were all in Korean. Hence it wasn’t much of a tourist attraction. We went in but quickly turned back as there was nothing suitable for us.
Then we walked for another 15 minutes before we reached the largest traditional market in Korea, Namdaemun market. This market is very near to Hoehyeon Station (Seoul Subway Line 4) – take Exit 5. I bought four delicious Kkwabaegi (twisted Korean doughnuts for 4,000 KRW). The market sells a lot of fashion items, pet accessories, food and health products, etc.
As it was super hot, we decided to drop by to Shinsegae department store to cool down! The mall was very packed! We then picked up our tickets and walked to the Namsan cable car. It was quite a challenge as the road was very steep! I was almost out of breath.
This cable car was built in 1962 and spans 605m across from the Hoehyeon-dong platform to the Yejang-dong platform near the top of Namsan Mountain and the N Seoul Tower. As it was the weekend, the place was packed with visitors. We had to queue for at least 20 minutes before boarding the cable car. The cable car was quite small and the staff packed everyone in like sardines. The cable car had no air con and it was so hot. There were two small windows opened for ventilation. Luckily it didn’t take long to reach the platform. I was so glad when the door opened!
Once we were out, there were a lot of steps to conquer before reaching Lovelock Bridge. This is where couples or families lock their padlocks to the railing, symbolizing the love and harmony of their own family. They do sell different variety of padlocks (around 10,000 KRW onwards) if you wish to do it.
We then walked passed the Mongmyeoksan Beacon Hill site, which was the final destination of all the beacon fires lit to warn of an enemy invasion approaching the border areas.
Shortly after, we reached the N Seoul Tower (also called YTN Seoul Tower/Namsan Tower/Seoul Tower) entrance. The place was packed with stalls as they were preparing for the night walk event on that day. Anyway, after we exchanged our QR code tickets for paper tickets, we took the lift to the observation deck at 5F. The journey was super short, but it does come with an animated video projected onto the lift’s walls.
N Seoul Tower measures 236 metres tall and marks the second highest point in Seoul. The observation deck is quite small and there were no explanations or maps of the locations. The weather was a little hazy that day hence most of our photos look washed out.
Then we went down to 4F but it was almost the same as 5F but not as impressive as most of the floor was packed with food outlets instead. I did visit the toilet and each toilet comes with a massive window, enabling you to view outside. To be honest, I was not comfortable using it as I didn’t like the idea of being exposed even though we were so high up no one could see me anyway.
We didn’t spend much time there as it wasn’t very impressive at all, unlike 101 Taipei or the Empire State Building. If I had a choice, I probably wouldn’t go again. Also, I didn’t enjoy the cable car ride because it was so packed.
