Seoul: Fire and the Haetae – A Walk Through Royal Seoul
12 stops 150 min 5.9 km
Things to do in Seoul
106 attractions in Seoul, including 63 Building, Kansong Art Museum and Gyeonggyojang. Map, details and practical tips before you go.
Audio guide
Explore Seoul with an audio guide
A narrated walk on your phone: map, GPS and stories you won't find on the signs. No app — it runs in your browser.
Viewpoints
63 Building
서울특별시
The 63 Building is a 249.6 m skyscraper on the Han River at Yeouido, Seoul. When it opened in 1985 it was the tallest building in the world outside North America, and for years it was the image of modern Seoul. In June 2026 its 60th-floor…
60–120 min
Museums
Kansong Art Museum
서울특별시
At the end of a lane in Seongbuk-dong, a white two-storey building shows through the trees. This is where the Kansong Art Museum began, the first private museum in Korea. At a time when Korean heritage was being shipped abroad under Japane…
45–90 min
Historic sites & memorials
Gyeonggyojang
서울특별시
The two-storey villa attached to the front of Kangbuk Samsung Hospital is Gyeonggyojang. After liberation, independence leader Kim Ku lived here from November 1945, using it as the last seat of the Korean Provisional Government, and on 26…
40–60 min
Other
Gyeongdong Market
서울특별시
Step out of Jegi-dong Station in Dongdaemun-gu and the smell of medicinal herbs greets you before anything else, from lanes stacked with sacks of ginseng, liquorice, jujubes and goji berries. Gyeongdong Market, opened in 1960, is one of Se…
60–120 min
Palaces
Gyeongbokgung Palace
서울특별시
Gyeongbokgung was the first palace built after the Joseon dynasty moved its capital to Hanyang, today's Seoul, in 1395. Its name, taken from a line in the Chinese Classic of Poetry, means roughly "palace of great blessings", and the schola…
90–180 min
Gardens & parks
Gyeongui Line Forest Park
서울특별시
When the railway went underground, a long, narrow park 6.3 km in length appeared on top of it. Gyeongui Line Forest Park is a linear park running from Yeonnam-dong in Mapo to Wonhyo-ro in Yongsan, and the Yeonnam-dong stretch near Hongik U…
60–120 min
Palaces
Gyeonghuigung Palace
서울특별시
Gyeonghuigung stands next to the Seoul Museum of History in Jongno-gu. Because it lay west of Gyeongbokgung, it was also called Seogwol, the "West Palace". Of Seoul's five royal palaces it was the most thoroughly destroyed, and very little…
45–90 min
Mountains & peaks
Gwanaksan Mountain
서울특별시
Gwanaksan is a 632 m granite mountain rising on Seoul's southern edge, and you can start hiking straight from a subway station. At the summit, Yeonjudae, a small hermitage clings to the top of a sheer cliff – one of the most dramatic sight…
180–300 min
Other
Gwangjang Market
서울특별시
Gwangjang Market is Seoul's best-known traditional market, founded by Korean merchants in the early 1900s. Under its covered lanes, the smell of frying mung bean pancakes and customers perched on stall benches fill the centre, while shops…
60–120 min
Old towns & squares
Gwanghwamun Square
서울특별시
Gwanghwamun Square stretches south along Sejong-daero from Gwanghwamun, the main gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace, and is Seoul's best-known public square. It occupies the site of Yukjo-geori, the "Street of Six Ministries" lined with governme…
30–60 min
Fortresses
Gwanghuimun Gate
서울특별시
A short walk along Toegye-ro from Dongdaemun History & Culture Park brings you to a small gate with a single-storey pavilion standing beside the busy road. Gwanghuimun is the southeastern gate of the Seoul City Wall that enclosed Hanyang,…
15–30 min
Historic sites & memorials
April 19th National Cemetery
서울특별시
In Suyu-dong in Seoul's Gangbuk district, with the peaks of Bukhansan rising behind it, lie the victims of the April Revolution of 1960. This national cemetery honours the students and citizens who took to the streets against the rigged el…
60–90 min
Museums
National Palace Museum of Korea
서울특별시
If a walk through Gyeongbokgung leaves you wondering what the kings actually used, the answer is in the building next door. The National Palace Museum of Korea gathers the treasures of the Joseon royal court and the Korean Empire. It stand…
60–120 min
Museums
National Folk Museum of Korea
서울특별시
The National Folk Museum of Korea stands in the north-east corner of the Gyeongbokgung Palace grounds, on Samcheong-ro in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Instead of royal treasures it shows the everyday objects and customs of ordinary Koreans, so in one…
60–120 min
Historic sites & memorials
Seoul National Cemetery
서울특별시
Seoul National Cemetery spreads over a hillside in Dongjak, just south of the Han River. Independence activists, fallen soldiers and four former presidents are buried here. Paths and a stream run between seemingly endless rows of white hea…
60–120 min
Museums
National Museum of Korea
서울특별시
The National Museum of Korea is the country's flagship museum of history and art, covering everything from prehistory to the Korean Empire under one roof. Its collection runs to more than 310,000 objects, with about 15,000 on display at an…
120–240 min
Museums
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (MMCA Seoul)
서울특별시
MMCA Seoul is the city-centre branch of Korea's National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, on Samcheong-ro just east of Gyeongbokgung Palace. It is one of four MMCA venues, alongside Gwacheon, Deoksugung and Cheongju, and opened in No…
90–180 min
Churches & monasteries
Gilsangsa Temple
서울특별시
Gilsangsa, on a hillside in Seongbuk-dong, began life as Daewongak, one of Seoul's best-known high-end restaurants for entertaining guests. Its owner Kim Young-han donated the land and buildings to the monk Beopjeong, and it became a templ…
45–90 min
Mountains & peaks
Naksan Park
서울특별시
Behind Daehangno, a low hill follows the Seoul City Wall up to its crest: this is Naksan (about 125 m), laid out as Naksan Park. From the wall you look across downtown Seoul to Namsan, and the hill is best known for its night view, when th…
60–120 min
Historic sites & memorials
Nakseongdae
서울특별시
On the way to Seoul National University, at the foot of Gwanaksan, there is a park with a red-pillared shrine. Nakseongdae means "the place where a star fell": legend says a great star dropped here when Gang Gam-chan (948–1031), the celebr…
30–60 min
Other
Namdaemun Market
서울특별시
Right next to Sungnyemun Gate, about 10,000 shops are crammed into a maze of alleys. Namdaemun Market traces its origins to 1414, when the royal court built shops near the gate and leased them to merchants, making it Seoul's best-known tra…
60–120 min
Other
Namsan Cable Car
서울특별시
Climbing from the hillside behind Myeong-dong to just below the summit of Namsan in a little over three minutes, this is Korea's first passenger cable car. It opened on 12 May 1962 and has run on the same line above central Seoul for more…
30–120 min
Old towns & squares
Namsangol Hanok Village
서울특별시
A few steps from Chungmuro Station the office blocks give way to tiled roofs and earthen walls. Namsangol Hanok Village, on the northern slope of Namsan, is a group of five Joseon-era hanok, traditional Korean houses, moved here and restor…
60–120 min
Viewpoints
Namsan Seoul Tower (N Seoul Tower)
서울특별시
Namsan Seoul Tower (officially YTN Seoul Tower, widely known as N Seoul Tower or Namsan Tower) is a broadcasting and observation tower near the summit of Namsan in the middle of Seoul. The structure is 236.7 m tall and reaches about 480 m…
60–120 min