N Seoul Tower
Broadcast And Observation Tower On Namsan; Opened To The Public In 1980 · Seoul, Seoul
The slim concrete broadcast tower on the summit of Namsan, the wooded mountain in the middle of Seoul, and the city's best-known viewpoint. Built from 1969 as a transmission tower and opened to the public in 1980, it was renovated and renamed N Seoul Tower in the 2000s; with the mountain beneath it, its observatory stands several hundred metres above the city and looks across the palaces, the Han River, Bukhansan and, on a clear night, the lit grid of a city of ten million. Around its base are terraces hung with tens of thousands of love locks, the octagonal Palgakjeong pavilion, restored beacon fire mounds from the Joseon signal network, and sections of the Seoul City Wall that climb the ridge. Most visitors ride the Namsan cable car up from near Myeongdong or take the small circular buses, while others walk the forest roads and stairs from Namsangol Hanok Village, Itaewon or the free inclined lift. Sunset and the first hour of darkness are the prize, and they are also when the queues are longest and when a bad fine-dust day turns the whole view to grey haze.
105 Namsangongwon-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Seoul, 04340, South Korea
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED. The typical pattern: the observatory deck opens from late morning, roughly 10 or 11 am, until about 10 or 11 pm, often later on weekends, with last entry about 30 to 60 minutes before closing, and it is open every day of the year. The cable car runs roughly 10 am to 11 pm; the Oreumi lift and the circular buses stop earlier at night. The park, terraces and city wall are open at all hours. Namsangol Hanok Village usually closes on Mondays. Traps: arriving at sunset into an hour-long cable car queue; paying for the deck on a fine-dust day; the last bus or lift gone when you walk down late; high winds or maintenance closing the cable car without notice.